You could make an argument for any number of years but I'm seriously doubting that it'll start with in the $3m range even as a one year deal.
Back in January from Comix:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
Bridge deal.
3 years, 2.85M per season seems fair value.
Comparables:
Nazem Kadri - 2 years, 2.9M per season
Brayden Schenn - 2 years, 2.5M per season
Sean Couturier - 2 years, 1.75M per season
Ryan Strome - 2 years, 2.5M per season
Alex Galchenyuk - 2 years, 2.8M per season
I think you take Schenn's deal, add a year and a slight bump in AAV. I think ending up at 2.85M per for 3 years is a fair bridge deal.
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Adding in Galchenyuk as well since he was in a similar situation as Bennett (bounced between wing and centre, was bridged after his ELC)
Comparing point totals in their years leading up to the bridge deal:
Nazem Kadri - 98GP, 26G, 37A, 63P (0.64PPG)
Brayden Schenn - 183GP, 40G, 45A, 85P (0.46PPG)
Sean Couturier - 205GP, 30G, 51A, 81P (0.39PPG)
Ryan Strome - 189GP, 32G, 64A, 96P (0.50PPG)
Alex Galchenyuk - 193GP, 42G, 62A, 104P (0.53PPG)
Sam Bennett - 158GP, 31G, 31A, 62P (0.39PPG)
Naturally there are still loads of other variances and differences between each of these young players (time spent playing C vs W), linemates, year to year development and overall game outside of offensive production.
I can say that almost all these players produced their best season, around 40pts in their last ELC year with the exception of Strome. Bennett and Galchenyuk are the only ones to go straight full-time NHL and not spend any AHL time.
The Bennett camp will likely be looking at 1 or 2 years. 5 year deal straight to UFA is obviously out of the question. It's obvious that Bennett doesn't have much in the way of negotiation so anything short to get to the big dollar deal (assuming Bennett turns heads consistently starting this season) is ideal.
The Flames will want to push for a 3 year deal. While there will be a key player with an expiring deal every year (Backlund 2018, Tkachuk 2019, Brodie 2020, Hamilton 2021), in 3 years it'll be a combination of Brouwer (4.5M), Frolik (4.3M), Brodie (4.65M), Hamonic (3.85M) and Stone (3.5M) which gives this team incredible flexibility to reassess and readjust depending on how the next three years go.
A 2 year deal lining up with Tkachuk's extension which could easily be a big one might be bad but would require the best case scenario. Even with Tkachuk earning a potential 4-6M per year long term deal, Bennett would have to perform at a 2nd line C or better over the next two years before the Flames have to really start sweating about the cap. Buying out Brouwer at that point is a possibility (save $3M for 2019-2020) but there's so many if's and but's at that point that it's hard to really say especially with so many long term question marks at goaltending. There's roughly a $5M difference in which the Flames either end up regretting the two year bridge deal, again potentially mitigated by a Brouwer buyout (costing 1.5M on the cap for 2019-2020 and 2020-21).
Lots of words, basically the same summation as before: Flames want 3 years. Bennett wants 2 or less. Deal highly unlikely to be anything past 2.5M even with the 5% increase in salary cap since 2014-15 unless the deal is super long (6yrs+)