Just going to go out on a limb and say that Caufield's contract will be similar to Suzuki, 7-8 years and probably a mil or 2 less. Unless Caufield does something he has never done at any level and regresses this year.

Weber's contract already off the books in LTIR. MTL has the cap space to lock up Caufield and doing it early does bring some risk but could also save you 2-3 mil a year on the last 4 or 5 years of the extension.

Nope.
Points of difference:
A) Suzuki is a center. More scarcity value for the position.
B) Suzuki would have been eligible for an offer sheet. Caufield won’t be. 10.2(c) player.
C) Suzuki will have had 3 years of pro experience. Caufield only 2 (as defined by the CBA).

Caufield is not getting under three mil on any type of contract

Time will tell. I’m not arguing over $250k.

ya all valid points. MTL should be doing all they can to lock caufield up long term, dont need to bridge him 2 years at a 2 2.5 to have him continue to improve and then have to hand him 8-9 mil on his next deal. Theres a lot of benefits in locking him up, Hes not some character risk with an attitude problem. Caufield and Suzuki are similar in that they already carry themselves like a longtime pro. Caufield hopefully will be in the mi of the Calder this year and should make the decision even easier.

That being said if they do bridge him it wont be for 2.5 mil unless they want to piss off another key prospect.

There doesn’t have to be any animosity. It’s clear that players on bridge deals will make more afterwards. The team will do what makes the most sense for the cap at the time. I agree that a long term deal is also a possibility. But it won’t be for Suzuki money. Guaranteed it’ll be for less than Gally. Prob starts with a 5 handle. If he’s not good with that, only at that point do we bridge.

Nah. Ur not getting the point. The guy will be making 5-6 mil on a bridge deal and Suzuki numbers on a long term deal. He will never get that low of a deal until he’s a vet chasing a cup at min league deal

Nah, you’re too far off for winger value on this team.

He will become the best winger on the team. The highest paid winger on this team is Gallagher and he will be better. Especially when the cap goes up

Gallagher got paid 6x$3.75mm coming out of entry level with what will most likely be a better resume than Caufield’s. Similar player. Cap hasn’t gone up that much.

10.2(c) is a huge difference. Comps are within the team primarily at that stage.

I’m not gonna argue with you. Ur wrong. He’s getting more than that off of a bridge deal.