A lot will depend on the rest of this season and the PO's. I think his recent hot stretch is padding his bank account.
I dislike the terms 'team friendly contract' and 'home team discount'. I honestly think that those are about as rare as hen's teeth. If people are talking about a player leaving 1 or 2 mil x 8 years on the table you need to look at the total, not the AAV. That is 8-16 million dollars. Nobody leaves that there.
There are other factors, like local taxes and potential endorsements. I believe players also consider the chances of winning cups and sticking with a team to see the payoff after years of building, but I don't like putting it into those kinds of words. It sounds too much like fans expecting the players to act too much like fans.
I believe there is a range for each player at each contract signing. Some of these factors might influence a player to sign closer to the bottom of the range but I don't think they will go below the range.
I'm thinking about 9 for Laine now, up from 8. His agent may encourage him to go for less term also, so he can have another chance at big money sooner. In addition to Matthews, I think the Drai contract will have some influence. Like maybe that is the floor. I could see Laine signing 5x8.5.
It is going to be interesting to watch what happens this off-season.