[Signing] Habs sign Cole Caufield (8 yrs, $7.85 mil AAV)

[bigrangy]

Imagine front loading a deal to keep the overall cap number down. Crazy that a team can actually do that.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Well he wouldn't have signed anything close to this

Probably need more $

Treliving screwed up and gone….time to accept and move on

[Flames1217]

Great deal.

Going to be a steal in 2-3 seasons.

[iggyloob12]

Originally Posted by jlh2640

This is an example of a deal we should’ve signed in 2019 with Tkachuk.

It takes two to tango. Tkachuk's bridge was a fast track to UFA. I never got the sense he wanted to stay.

[activeStick]

I'm starting to feel like these kinds of deals are just what Canadian teams will need to do going forward. With the risk of players leaving Canadian teams to play in the US, teams will need to decide early if they think they have a player, and if so, lock them up longterm. While Montreal is much more desirable than Calgary for NHLers, US cities will still be preferred for the majority of players.

[bluejays]

An obvious statement to make but it really looks like he wanted to be there given the discount taken. I’d imagine within a couple seasons he could fetch $10M or so. Sure it’s also hedging his bets but still a great deal. Looks like having an ex agent in the GM spot helps negotiating tactics a bit.

[Paulie Walnuts]

I never understand the we should have given Tkachuk this deal stuff.

First of all he lies and tells the media and fans whatever they need to hear. He fell in love with the city during our playoffs mini run and turned around and said he has no desire to be here long term a month later.

Brady has zero to do with Matthew. Just because he wanted to stay in Ottawa doesn't mean Matthew wanted to stay here.

He would not have taken 7.75 on a 8 year deal. It sounds like at best it would have been 6 years at 9.5 plus.

[Sylvanfan]

Going to be interesting to see if any teams start trading these second contract guys for big returns. They're no longer the great value they used to be as many players are now on a 3 or 4 contract life cycle. These are the players who have high trade value, but teams are going to be a bit limited in terms of how many of these guys they can keep. They're getting close to third contracts price wise, but you should expect better production. Still teams will only be able to carry like 7-8 players on 2nd and 3rd contracts.

But I can see a team like Carolina looking to sell some of these types of players for big returns and collecting misfit toys on the cheap with retained salary so they can stack entry deals with reduced cost third contracts and bargain vets.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Geez...I think he's pretty talented, but he's pretty small and gets manhandled at times. Hasn't come close to a PPG scoring rate yet and doesn't do much else on the ice to help the team. Is nearly $8 million per year the going rate for that now?

Hasn't played close to a full season yet and only played 46 games this year due to injury. I worry that he won't play enough to warrant this contract.

Maybe I'm out to lunch, but this is exactly the type of player you bridge because he has a ton of risk in his game still.

Kid was going to score 50 last year and would have played through his shoulder injury if the season meant anything. You take the risk here.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Geez...I think he's pretty talented, but he's pretty small and gets manhandled at times. Hasn't come close to a PPG scoring rate yet and doesn't do much else on the ice to help the team. Is nearly $8 million per year the going rate for that now?

Hasn't played close to a full season yet and only played 46 games this year due to injury. I worry that he won't play enough to warrant this contract.

Maybe I'm out to lunch, but this is exactly the type of player you bridge because he has a ton of risk in his game still.

Because PPG players are only getting $8 mil these days? Guy was on pace for 40 goals. Comments on this thread remind me of the Tage Thompson thread.

This is a very good deal for Montreal. Health was an issue this year but he's a lethal goal scorer and could put up 40-50 if he stays healthy.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by bigrangy

Imagine front loading a deal to keep the overall cap number down. Crazy that a team can actually do that.

Tkachuk's 3 year deal was quite front end loaded.

[GreenLantern2814]

Awesome for the Habs.

You have elite young talent, you extend it for the max term you can get.

You bridge guys when you’re not sure they’re stars.

Bridging clearly-elite/ascendant players does not work. Ever.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Boreal

He literally said he would have and that the organization didn’t provide him with security was a factor in his decison to leave.

His brother signed also signed long term for about $500,000 more / year.

What? He never said he's sign something close to 8x$7.85. All he said, after the fact, was that he was willing to sign "long term", which he defines as as little as six years. And I've never heard him say lack of security was a factor in leaving, since he would have gotten an 8 year deal from Calgary as well (in fact he did). As for his salary, look at the last year of his 3 year deal. That's what he wanted. That's why he made it the QO for year 4.

I suspect the legit conversation was "we want to give you $9 per year, but we'd have to back load the contract so you would only make 7 the first three anyway, so to keep out cap intact, take that for three years, with a guaranteed 9 in year four, and we will then extend for that over 8 more years." And I don't think anyone would have been gaslighting. But the circumstances changed with (a) a couple crappy years; (b) Covid and cross border crosing made harder which Tkachuk hated and (c) his bargaining power jumped in a big way.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

What? He never said he's sign something close to 8x$7.85. All he said, after the fact, was that he was willing to sign "long term", which he defines as as little as six years. And I've never heard him say lack of security was a factor in leaving, since he would have gotten an 8 year deal from Calgary as well (in fact he did). As for his salary, look at the last year of his 3 year deal. That's what he wanted. That's why he made it the QO for year 4.

I suspect the legit conversation was "we want to give you $9 per year, but we'd have to back load the contract so you would only make 7 the first three anyway, so to keep out cap intact, take that for three years, with a guaranteed 9 in year four, and we will then extend for that over 8 more years." And I don't think anyone would have been gaslighting. But the circumstances changed with (a) a couple crappy years; (b) Covid and cross border crosing made harder which Tkachuk hated and (c) his bargaining power jumped in a big way.

I don't see how security would have been an issue anyways.

That's 105 million in total salary if he signed what we offered. In the end he is goimg to make more money.

He was also paid over the Gio cap and tied Iggy for the largest AAV in Flames history and was given a bridge deal that allowed him to cash in on this deal.

The Flames treated him fairly and it's no wonder he loves Brad Treliving. He's getting paid 8 million signing bonuses every year of his deal.

[tvp2003]

Has there been a 7 or 8 year deal given to someone out of ELC that really hasn't worked out? I get the concern about his size and injuries, but young and skilled seem to be pretty good combo.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Has there been a 7 or 8 year deal given to someone out of ELC that really hasn't worked out? I get the concern about his size and injuries, but young and skilled seem to be pretty good combo.

No (though the Senators May have something to say about that in a few years)

And the only time I can think of someone bridging a guy who’s already a star is, ironically, the Habs and Subban. They didn’t wanna give him 8 years x $7M, which wouldn’t been the Doughty contract - settled instead for a 2 year deal.

Then PK wins the Norris, and they had to give him 8x$9M. Which, when all is said and done, was $21.5M more than what he’d originally asked for.

No wonder they wasted Carey Price’s entire career.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Has there been a 7 or 8 year deal given to someone out of ELC that really hasn't worked out? I get the concern about his size and injuries, but young and skilled seem to be pretty good combo.

Sean Monahan. Maybe had 2 years out of 7 where he produced to what you would have expected and last 3 were injury riddled.

[Hockey_Ninja]

I think it’s a good deal for a talented young scorer. People laughed at the Tage Thompson deal at first that’s similar to this one, but that seems to be paying off so far

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Sean Monahan. Maybe had 2 years out of 7 where he produced to what you would have expected and last 3 were injury riddled.

Really? Is $6.375 mil the kind of contract where you expect 70-80 points. He produced on par for at least 4 years of that contract and only injuries derailed his career.

The issue with Monahan was his injuries were serious but he played through them which killed this teams chances of winning

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Has there been a 7 or 8 year deal given to someone out of ELC that really hasn't worked out? I get the concern about his size and injuries, but young and skilled seem to be pretty good combo.

Eichel

Only recently have these deals been given to players with average stats

Not saying this one will be for sure some will look bad in the future