Quoting: NotDougWilson
What's interesting was listening to one of the TSN analyst mentioning that capologist are looking at his QO a bit differently. When you make over $4M the QO is not 100% of your previous contract, it's 80-90%. So his QO is realistically $8.5-$9M. Still a lot, but the $10M QO is overblown. That's with Debrincat only playing one year after the trade, if I'm a betting man, whoever gets Meier signs him up for another 8 years. That ups the ante.
The qualifying offer is calculated from the players base salary (NHL salary minus signing bonus), and at minimum must meet the seasons minimum salary requirements:
110% of the base salary if the base salary is less than or equal to $660,000
105% of the base salary if the base salary is greater than $660,000 or less than $1,000,000. However, this qualifying offer cannot exceed $1,000,000.
100% of the base salary if the base salary is equal to or greater than $1,000,000.
CBA Reference 10.2 (a) (ii)
Right off of CF which is the most trustworthy NHL contract source. 10 mil base salary for Timo in the final year of his contract (this year) means a 10 mil QO.