Last year it was William Nylander. This year it could be a bunch of guys. Who will it be next year?

hoping it's domi or barzal.

Say sike right now ?

pAy HiM lIkE mAtThEwS

Don’t give him any ideas

I can't say yet ... i don't see the cap situations of the teams and we don't know how these players will play this season.

IF Debrincat matches his production from last year the hawks are going to have to trade someone to keep him.

Most of those teams have cap space...well we think they do. Imagine a flat cap, well it change things.

A note, unsigned RFAs aren't holdouts, they are just unsigned players like you and me.

COL has ample cap space and Rantanen has been a really tough contract to work out. I can see a similar situation w/ Reinhart in BUF. It'll be tough to judge his value if he plays the entire season w/ Eichel and puts up 70+ points. It's gonna be tough for BUF to pay him big $$$ knowing they have Dahlin a year later (possibly $10M+ on an 8 year deal) and Skinner already at an absurd $9M. Eichel at $10M is probably pretty fair.

Especially if Strome has a big season (I think he's poised for a monster year of 70+ points). The Hawks will be in major cap hell. The 2 of them could cost in excess of $15M combined on long term contracts.

I know folks criticize that Leafs contracts of their top 4 players 40.5m....and so do I. Probably 3m overpay, but if the if it's trend that RFAs are going to getting UFA money, the Leafs are just ahead of the trend.
Hawks next year....Kane, Toew, Seabrook and Debrincat at 8m. 35.75. Rangers Panarin, Trouba and Lundqvist 28.1m. gee add buyout Shattenkirk then it 34.2 for three active player.
Sharks and their top four, age 30 plus on long term. Couture, Vlasic, Burns and Karlsson....34.5m...is that going to age well?

But while. owners are spending more for top level RFAs, they aren't necessarily spend more money on players. It's the lower end players without leverage that are being squeezed. In the Leafs case it looks like they have to run with 21 man roster due to cap compliant. So two guys who normally would be would be in the NHL now don't make 850,000 but make 70,000 in the AHL. It's an issue that the majority of NHLPA members are concerned with. My lack of opportunity of modest NHL money so the few can get more.

the problem colorado has isnt their cap, its their actual budget constraints... without a tv deal they are relying solely on ticket revenue. Im not sure they have the $$ to cover rantanen without the tv deal.

The hawks 100% overpaid seabrook and toews. They just didnt think seabrook was gunna be a puddle on defense this soon. The rangers: lundqvist comes off the books in 2 years. that being said their money is spent in all 3 areas. they have a star forward, star defenseman, star goalie (shattenkirk was a mistake but only because his knees wont hold up they still have staal at 5.7m lol) . The sharks i cant defend. You already have burns and vlasic. unless they plan on trading one of those 2 away for some real depth trading for and signing EK to that extension will be a massive mistake.

The issue i bring up, (i say this every time the toronto cap gets brought up) is that the leafs are paying 4 forwards 40.5m. They didnt spread their $$ out. Its one thing if you are paying a premier defenseman 2 premier centers and a premier goalie. Ide do that in a heart beat. But to pay 2 wingers and 2 centers, then hope they can either A) outscore you might work in the regular season but lets ask the sharks how that works in the playoffs... or B) that their makeshift dcorp is good enough. Idk maybe it works for them, i doubt they get out of the first round again because of depth issues.

Reinhart has arbitration rights, so we won't see a long standoff like we did with Rantanen.

Please not Barzal ...

Too many Barzal votes

Tomorrow's news: Barzal signs an eight-year extension with the Islanders 8x8mil

This is what I wanna hear

Lou is a tough negotiator. But, I'm sure he'd love to sign Barzel for 8x8.