What will Sam Bennett get?

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

When Treliving has to negotiate Bennett and Tkachuk in two years, he's going to be able to point to Gio, Johnny and Monahan as players who took less than $7M.

Bennett and Tkachuk have to be the two best players on the team to get north of $7M on their next deals. Which is great for us if that happens, but I don't see either being able to do enough to say they deserve more than Johnny or Gio.

Treliving may have given up two years of control on Johnny, but he also protected his cap from our next wave of contracts.

If Bennett, Tkachuk or anyone else prove to be better players than Gaudreau or Giordano, wouldn't they expect to be paid more and in line with their peers around the league? I'm not as confident that players will only look to comparables on their own team.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

I believe there are 49 of us who are always right.

We are the 8%ers.

Edit: If 99% of CP are also 1%ers does that make us 9%ers??

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

If Bennett, Tkachuk or anyone else prove to be better players than Gaudreau or Giordano, wouldn't they expect to be paid more and in line with their peers around the league? I'm not as confident that players will only look to comparables on their own team.

If they prove to be better by all means, pay them more.

But If they're as good, or Johnny is still outscoring Tkachuk, and Bennett can't leapfrog one or both of Monahan/Backlund, they aren't going to get more than $6.75.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

If they prove to be better by all means, pay them more.

But If they're as good, or Johnny is still outscoring Tkachuk, and Bennett can't leapfrog one or both of Monahan/Backlund, they aren't going to get more than $6.75.

I hear you and that certainly makes sense. Bigger picture though, I believe a player's salary is more determined by the broader market than comparisons within the team.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I hear you and that certainly makes sense. Bigger picture though, I believe a player's salary is more determined by the broader market than comparisons within the team.

To a degree - for example, Auston Matthews is getting $12M. After the McDavid deal, that became assured.

Conversely, the McDavid deal is the reason Draisaitl gets a contract that starts with an 8. If they'd done Leon first, he would've come in around $7-7.5M - Tarasenko numbers.

Instead, you have a guy on the same team going 'well I may not be Connor, but I'm not $5M worse than Connor either. So pay me my money'.

Sam and Matthew will get theirs - I simply think the contract situations of the other star players on the roster play a role. Last year, we were told over and over that there was no Gio cap. Well, there's a Gio cap. And for players in their early 20s, I'm fine with that.

[wingmaker]

Team numbers mean more than league numbers. The only exception is when signing free agents from another team.

There are a very small number of players to whom team numbers don't matter. I'm thinking of a Ryan O'Reilly. He is a mercenary. He is out for the highest get. He will hold out, will change teams, will force a trade. No matter, he's getting paid.

In hockey, the Ryan O'Reillys are the exception. For the most part, a young player is drafted and developed, they go through RFA deals or arbitration, and they sign the deals put in from of them by the team. They might fight for more, but at the end of the day, they either sign or don't play, and so they sign. For the most part, the deals that the person sitting across the table from them has signed are the deals they have to contend with. They can bring up other players on other teams, but the the GM can say "I didn't sign those deals. This is what I am offering". Few players have the talent and the O'Reillyness to sit out games if they don't like the offer.

Look at Bennett. He has the pedigree to be a top centre in the league but hasn't achieved it. If he had the stuborness, he could reject offers until the Flames caved or he was traded. But that takes serious trust in your own abilities. It also takes a lot of things going right. It can easily de-rail your career if things don't pan out. It is a massive gamble. Much safer bet to take the deal the GM is offering and try to earn a raise on the ice. And at that point, the deals that GM has signed are much more significant than what another player got in a different organization.

So when Treliving keeps Johnny at 6.75, he sets a bar with every other player he signs a contract with. This is even true of UFAs from his own team. Look at Backlund. On the open market, he might get over 6 or even close to 7. On the Flames, the team he has loyalty to and familiarity with, he might get low sixes or high fives. Maybe they hold him to mid 5s. It might be worth it for him, seeing how the team has fairly set up the other players' salaries on the team, to fall in line and continue the journey he has started with the Flames. If Johnny gets 7+ and Bennett gets 4+, he sits there and says "I should make close to 7". As it is, Treliving can sit across the table with a clean conscience. Backlund got less than 3.5 on his last deal, but he can feel ok with that when Bennett gets less than 2 for showing much less. Backlund can negotiate a new salary without having to prove a point on his own team.

This is why you keep contracts down even if it costs you a year or two of certainty with one player. Overall, you are in much better bargaining position. No way Draisaitl gets 8+ plus without McDavid getting 12+. I can't imagine Treliving giving Draisaitl 8+.

[s_procee]

2 years 4 million

[AC]

Originally Posted by s_procee

2 years 4 million

Wrong.

[TheScorpion]

The above two posts could be Brad Treliving's contract negotiation strategy.

Bennett: 2 years, 4 million.
Treliving: Wrong.