The cap is about to jump massively in the next few years as soon as the MoU terms are up. There is a real chance Mac becomes the highest paid player in the league by A LOT for a year until Matthews passes him

I think the Ducks are going to have to pass on that. We have a ton of options for our Left D in the pipeline and still have Fowler, I don't really want most of our right side to be playing on their off hand if we took him on.

Not that he isn't a good player, but he isn't a need for us.

Fair point. I think value wise it's a fair trade though. There are many other teams who need LD I guess.

How much more do you think he gets then? I don't see how the AVS could afford much more without a significant jump in the cap in 11 months.

COL isn’t trading Girard and they are very likely not re-signing Compher.

They're going to have to decide by this summer, which 2 of 3 they pay and retain: Girard, Toews or Byram. My money is on the last two.

Well I'm projecting between 110 and 120 million for Matthews.
I imagine Mac comes in somewhere on the lower end of that range. Lets say a 100-110 ish projection

Verbeek wouldn’t trade for Girard, he is on the wrong side of 6’0 plus we already have our two undersized offensive defensemen for the future in Drysdale and Zellweger

I think Mackinnon gets 13x8. Eventually, someone will make more than McDavid and I think it'll be Mackinnon. Matthews will pass him when he's up though

They don’t have to decide anything now. Byram is an RFA after the season Toews signed for 2 more and Girard 5 more. The d-corp is set for this season. If Byram goes off like expected next off season is a different story.

This is why I think MacK does a one year deal in 23-24 with a handshake and a wink to extend for eight years starting 24-25.

Another factor is if Byram can play a full season. Can't trade G if Bo is on IR again.

I could see the Avs doing as many as four bridge deals for: Meyers, Byram, Newhook, and MacKinnon.

This is akin to financial suicide with the money we're talking about here. He has all the leverage and risking a career ending injury or even just a down year? No reason for him to do this.

Kinnon gunna want moar than that

Sorry. When I said "this summer " I meant next off-season. Byram will get a pay jump. Avs will have 3 LD men who all deserve top 4 money and playing time. All to say, one of them is gone next year.

I think that is a reasonable assessment. However, Girard can play the right I actually think he plays better there and had his best year playing on the right side granted he was primarily paired with Toews.

MacK is also smart. He knows there's a TON more money on the table if he goes for nine years. Plus he said he'd take less. I take that as helping the team. Nuke took less. Also, I think a person who's already earned $55M can afford a little risk...

MacK and I have the same birthday and I've noticed the same personality traits. If I were him, I'd take an eight year 10.5M deal now. This talk about him wanting the highest salary is not like Nate, and certainly didn't come from his camp.

except Mackinnon has been grossly underpaid for a few years

He was happy about his current deal at the time of signing; It was a big leap of faith from the Team based on his mediocre production & struggles up to that point.

The 'take less' comment has been retracted. It's old news (and was also pr bull**** anyway) Current reports throw that out the window.
More than that, the risk of a 9 year deal is not made up by the benefits. The difference between 110 and 120 million are not worth the potential downside of only getting 13 million of it. If he is as smart as you say he'd know that and his agent would also advise him that way.

funniest thing i've heard on here in a while

lol, its funny how rumors gone wild. I know where all these things originate as I follow both the team and several Avs media outlets very, very closely. MacK literally said "I'll take less" in an interview. His words. The $14M is pure speculation.

I think the thing holding this up is how much the cap is going up and how to stay under it for 23-24 roster. Also that Avs front office have been tough negotiators lately. They have time to see how things shake out and given the uncertainty here, taking more time is not a bad move.

You also said that his birthday was the same as yours and that meant he'd take less too so like... I'll take the over on whatever you think his contract will be.

I know Nathan MacKinnon, captain. Q: Has he done any Crazy Ivans?

I know Mackinnon said he'd take a discount, but that's a pretty sizeable discount. Tavares got 11 million in 2018 and that was considered a hometown discount. Mackinnon will be a 27 year old free agent who is top 3 at his position. I'm thinking a discount still starts at 13 or 14 million, but who knows

So the way it worked out was the team offered more AAV with less than eight years. MacK chose more years. The AAV was higher than I thought. With the cap crunch next year, $12.6M means someone is getting traded. I didn't think the Avs would be happy going down that road, but I suppose you make room for MacK no matter what. The team is still in a great spot to repeat, so future problems are a worry for tomorrow.