It's good for a bridge but this just pushes the problem down a few years. Short term gain and a real problem long-term. But who knows if he is GM in the future so it's good risk on his part as it could become someone else's problem.
You have to manage to the circumstances -- what is your window, what is the age of your core, what's coming through pipeline, what is timing of other key contracts. Yes, Boston may pay more later on than they did now for Carlo and McAvoy but that will only be true if they play well and stay healthy. Having RFA rights to players that are playing well enough to deserve a raise is what you want. Right now it worked to get Boston under Cap and everyone on board.
Plus, automatically assuming a long term expensive deal is great because it locks up young players is not always best route and can be overly simplistic. Looks like the Leafs are guilty of this -- certainly with Nylander and maybe with Matthews.
Take the top 20 in G, A, and Pts from '18/'19 season and match that against '19/'20 Cap hits -- so as to capture players with their latest salaries, including those who just signed big paydays (Kucherov, Matthews, Panarin, Guentzel, etc.,) and excluding those who are still on ELC's (Point, Rantanen, Debrincat, etc). Basically comparing cost of production for players who have had at least their first major payday.
Point is, looking at these numbers the standard "yeah, but we locked them up for years" argument sometimes has to be turned into a question of who has locked up who.
NHL Top 20 - 2019 Goals
Rank | Name | Goals | Avg CH | ACH/Goal | Notes | |
1-20 | Top 20 | 41.4 avg. | $7.95M | $192K | No Point, DeBrincat, Matthews, Tavares in averages | |
1-20 young | 24 yrs & younger | 42.0 avg. | $7.99M | $190K | incl. Draisatl, MacKinnon, Guentzel, Pastranak | |
3 | Tavares | 47 | $11.0M | $234K | Close to avg cost of goal, but on upper end. Comparable to P Kane and J Skinner | |
17 | Matthews | 37 | $11.6M | $314K | Expensive. Only comparison in Top 20 is McDavid. | |
68 (tied) | Marner | 26 | $10.9M | $419K | Expensive. Makes up for it in Assists. | |
349 (tied) | Nylander | 7 | $6.9M | $995K | Poor. Figures -- low and high -- speak for themselves. | |
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NHL Top 20 - 2019 Assist
Rank | Name | Assists | Avg CH | ACH/A | Notes | |
1-20 | Top 20 | 63.3 avg. | $8.05M | $127K | No Ratanen or Marner | |
1-20 young | 24 yrs & younger | 62.3 avg. | $8.30M | $133K | incl. McDavid, Barkov, MacKinnon, Draisatl | |
4 | Marner | 68 | $10.9M | $160K | Comparable to McDavid, P Kane | |
65 (tied) | Tavares | 41 | $11.0M | $268K | Expensive | |
81 (tied) | Matthews | 36 | $11.6M | $323K | Expensive | |
292 (tied) | Nylander | 20 | $6.9M | $348K | Poor. Figures -- low and high -- speak for themselves. | |
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NHL Top 20 - 2019 Points
Rank | Name | Points | Avg CH | ACH/Pt | Notes | |
1-20 | Top 20 | 97.7 avg. | $7.40M | $76K | No Ratanen Point, or Marner | |
1-20 young | 24 yrs & younger | 104 avg. | $8.30M | $80K | incl. McDavid, Barkov, MacKinnon, Draisatl | |
11 | Marner | 94 | $10.9M | $116K | Well above avg. Compare with Ovechkin and Tavares | |
16 | Tavares | 88 | $11.0M | $125K | | |
41 (tied) | Matthews | 73 | $11.6M | $159K | Expensive | |
292 (tied) | Nylander | 27 | $6.9M | $258K | Poor. Figures -- low and high --speak for themselves. | |
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