I will say, a 1 year deal might be the way to go. Gives us a bigger sample size and if he touches a ppg next season we can give him Panarin’s deal. 2 year deal sets up a scenario where we have to trade him if he decides he’s only signing a one year deal afterwards.
Possibly. As far as I know we haven't heard what sort of term he's actually pushing for, though you'd assume his ideal term takes him straight to UFA in 2024. It seems a little extreme to refuse to budge off of that at all, so it'll probably come down to how many years Guerin can push him in either direction. We'll see.
It seems extreme, but his agent knows that’s the last thing Guerin will want, so they’ll try and stay on a 2-3 year deal as long as possible for extra leverage.
I've done everything short of founding an order of knights in my crusade to add a center, but ultimately this shouldn't really affect Guerin's plans there. Either he's already acknowledged the obvious need and has some sort of plan to address it or he hasn't and this is what it took to convince him that it's a priority. I really hope we're not in that second reality.
Not to mention, as good as he is, playing through his prime years in the KHL will make him plateau. He wouldn't be worth the contract he would get if he came back.
I guess I phrased that awkwardly, but I more meant that whatever Guerin's plans were for his centers next year, they really shouldn't be affected by this. If the price on, say, Eichel was too high last week, Kaprizov playing hardball shouldn't change that. Both sides should already be in agreement about the need to upgrade the position.
It's not ideal but I think even a 4 year deal is alright, especially if it keeps the AAV more modest. That'd take him up until Parise and Suter expire, at which point you can reallocate however much of that you need to to his new contract, assuming both sides are interested. If you get into year 3 and he doesn't seem interested in extending maybe you move him then.
