Quoting: Ledge_And_Dairy
As a Leafs fan you are probably all for other teams overpaying their RFA's so that makes sense.
In reality RFA's without arbitration rights very likely haven't done anything to deserve said "slight overpayments." That is why bridge deals are so popular, just because a young player is good that doesn't mean they deserver to eat up a bigger chunk of your cap. Every players goal should always be to win the cup, if taking a team friendly deal early on when you have basically zero leverage in RFA negotiations allows your team to do that then you should do that. Once you've reached those rewards then you can get your big payday. Take Point for example, he very well could have earned 9-10M on his first deal, instead he took a short term team friendly deal that helped the Bolts win 2 back-to-back Stanley Cup rings. Now he has a long term deal already in place for a much higher pay.
I didn't make my point clear.
Look at all of the best deals in the league over the years. They're all on rfas who are signed for term for a little more than their worth.
I'll give you an example from this summer. The ducks signed Comtois to a 2 years at a hair over 2 million.
I think they'd have been better off seeing if he'd have taken 5-6 years at 4 million.
If he continues how he is he likely signs 4-4.5 million on his next contract in 2 years and they saved a bit on the cap in the next two years.
If he improves he gets 5-8 million.
If he regresses and sucks (unlikely) they're off the hook.
Flipside if they sign him for 4 million for term, if he stays as he is he's on a fair deal. If he regresses and sucks his buy out is cheap and costs about 670k as he's under 25. If he continues to improve to a first line winger they have a bargain deal. The best time to gamble on a player is the significantly under 25 because of the special buyout rules
(Note this has nothing to do with something like marner where Dubas just got owned), in that it doesn't apply to guys like Marner, or Tkachuk, or others similar who have already shown their top guys.
It's all about finding those guys who you're fairly confident will be at least a second liner or second pairing and see if you can get him to sign for term