Confirmed Signing with Link: [COL] Avalanche re-sign Mikko Rantanen (6 years, $9.25M AAV)

Avaholic29

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Feb 5, 2014
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I'm lost by your comparison. Matthews put up 40 goals in his rookie season. Your zoning in on points. Ok matthews had 36 goals and 73 points last year in 68 games, so over a ppg, compared to Mackinnon whose best year being his first, at 24 goals 63 points in 82 games. He then went on to have 3 more subpar seasons, including a career low of 38 points. While Matthews has gone on to be a PPG player, scoring 71 goals in those two seasons compared to McKinnon's 51 in 3 seasons. Without looking at the last 2 years, MacKinnon was looking like a bust relative to his expectations as the 1st overall pick. To me he didn't look like a bust, and i wag impressed with his play, but the guy just couldn't finish. Now he's found another level and has put it all together, and has become the player we all thought he would be when he was drafted. Unfortunately, Matthews and Marner were way better players at a younger age, but may not improve that much more. Maybe Marner can crack 100 points in the next few years, and maybe Matthews will stay healthy and do the same. If Marner would have put up 70 points last year, he wouldn't have gotten that contract. If Matthew's wasn't the best goal scorer playing 5 on 5, and his GoalsPG wasn't so high, he wouldn't be getting that contract.

The OP brought up points did he not? That's why I went the same route. MacKinnon took over the playoffs as a rookie and than struggled with the rest of the team in the next two seasons but looked so far from a bust it's not even funny. You can watch a player and know he's bound for greatness even if the points aren't going on the board as much. My point was Matthews didn't do anything to warrant an 11 million dollar price tag and the fact he got that amount lead to marner getting more than he should aswell. In the end leafs have their guys and that's all that matters in the short term, but my point stands, Matthews hasn't looked so much better than MacKinnon during his ELC that he deserved double.
 

Voight

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Feb 8, 2012
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& they still have MackInnon at 6.3 for another 3 seasons after this one, Landy isn't a free agent until 2021 either.

Hopefully they take advantage of this window while those two and Makar are on cheap deals.
 
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StreetHawk

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Sep 30, 2017
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Overall pretty fair deal for both sides. Not surprised it took this long.

Breaking it down comparing Mikko to tkachuk, who with his $9 mill QO has his 4 rfa years worth at least $30 mill or $7.5 per then we can extrapolate Mikkos rfa years at say $8 mill per to get to $32 mill. Leaves $23.5 mill for 2 ufa years so that’s around $11.75 per.

It’s hard to say what his ufa years are worth since the guys who signed recently like Stone adjust their annual compensation to account for potential work stoppages. But Benn got $13 mill for 3 years at 28-30, then $9 & $8 mill for ages 31&32, then $6.5 mill for years 33-35. Fairly representative of what his expected production would be.

So I do think Mikko came down a touch given his expected growth as a player and time value of money.

He’ll be ufa at 28 turning 29 in 2025. Still capable of another large payday.
 

tantalum

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Not a chance in hell the next CBA will address tax rates. Nor will the players push for it.

There are 2-3 hypersensitive media markets freaking out on tax differences. The owners don’t care. And players on the other 28-29 teams aren’t going to push for a change that takes money out of their pockets so the players on the 2-3 “tax impaired” teams can put more money in their pockets.

As I said we will wait a few years and we can discuss.

Now to address other things that some have mentioned like it’s complicated. It is literally what every company that operates in different regions does every year. Balance salaries based on cost of living difference. The same position does not make the same salary in Tulsa as it does in Los Angeles. That accounts for some of the differences in contracts. Unlike a normal company though this league has a salary cap...you can’t staff the same sized office in LA with the same money as Tulsa. It’s not a huge deal but this next negotiation isn’t likely to be about huge things...if it were it would have been reopened. Being complicated also doesn’t mean it’s not predictable (tax rates don’t change overnight they have substantial warning before going into effect for example) and unable to be addressed.

But as I said we will see in a few years so no point discussing it now. But I will say it’s not just media saying it and there is a reason the media is saying (someone is telling them).
 

tucker3434

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As I said we will wait a few years and we can discuss.

Now to address other things that some have mentioned like it’s complicated. It is literally what every company that operates in different regions does every year. Balance salaries based on cost of living difference. The same position does not make the same salary in Tulsa as it does in Los Angeles. That accounts for some of the differences in contracts. Unlike a normal company though this league has a salary cap...you can’t staff the same sized office in LA with the same money as Tulsa. It’s not a huge deal but this next negotiation isn’t likely to be about huge things...if it were it would have been reopened. Being complicated also doesn’t mean it’s not predictable (tax rates don’t change overnight they have substantial warning before going into effect for example) and unable to be addressed.

But as I said we will see in a few years so no point discussing it now. But I will say it’s not just media saying it and there is a reason the media is saying (someone is telling them).

Cost of living differences have always existed and no other sport on the planet (that I’m aware of) has adjusted for it, mostly because 90% of owners aren’t going to be in favor of any type of adjustment.
 

IWantSakicAsMyGM

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Sure he is.

That's why Marner has been able to outproduce Rantanen in 2 out of the 3 years they've each been in the league.

Because he's better.

:)

Mikko had the higher PPG in each of the last two seasons. Marner only had more total points this last season because Mikko missed 8 games due to injury.

Mikko is also the only one to lead his team in goal scoring over a full season.
 

Muffin

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I'm aware of that, and Toronto is on their own little island for RFA deals. Aho is a much better player than Rantanen is.
You realize when those 3 year bridge deals are up, those RFAs will be looking for a 11M+ pay day after Seattle money and TV deals kick in while Rantanen will still have a 9.25M cap hit right?
Ask fans of all those teams if they would rather have their players signed long term or short 3 year bridge, 90% of them would prefer a long term deal. Also Colorado has the cap space now rather than a few years down the road. It makes sense in their position to sign long term to take advantage of their cap space now. The teams that handled out bridge deal had to because they're up against the cap.

Aho vs Rantanen is debatable at best. Their production isn't even close. Can Aho's position make up 20 points differences?
 

Puckluck13

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Sep 28, 2019
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Part of me thinks, maybe he has to overpay to get people to play in Toronto, which is probably the most merciless cutthroat hockey city along with Montreal.
Possible but I think with Marner everyone knew he wanted to play for Toronto. I think he just did a bad job with initial negotiations and after the initial offer Marner camp knew they were dealing with an inexperienced GM and took full advantage.
 

El Travo

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Part of me thinks, maybe he has to overpay to get people to play in Toronto, which is probably the most merciless cutthroat hockey city along with Montreal.

I don't think this aspect gets enough thought. Some players may like the idea of going to the grocery store without being noticed. Your every move gets micro-analyzed in a place like Toronto.

"Matthews elects to tie his skates without a double-knot in pre-season. Is this a sign of bad things to come?"
 

Avaholic29

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Feb 5, 2014
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Possible but I think with Marner everyone knew he wanted to play for Toronto. I think he just did a bad job with initial negotiations and after the initial offer Marner camp knew they were dealing with an inexperienced GM and took full advantage.

The problem solely falls on the Matthews contract. If you are going to sign someone who missed chunks of ELC years due to injury to 11+, you better believe the guy who wasnt injured and leading the team in points is going to want similar. Matthews is unreal don't get me wrong, but dubas had leverage and could have bridged or came down a bit on AAV due to his incomplete ELC years. He handed him 11+ mil and expected the guy who did more overall would take less. If term is taken into account Matthews was paid McDavid type money coming off a 73 point season. And yes I know he had underlying stats that were top notch like 5 on 5 goals scored but still, is that really worth McDavid money for 5 years ?
 

dfunk

Registered User
Feb 1, 2012
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I don’t really understand how people can compare MacKinnon’s and Matthews contracts, it’s widely known that Nate’s contract is one of if not the best values in the league. Not to mention he signed it a couple years ago.

Regardless, nice job by the avs getting Mikko signed. Great player and a really fun team to watch
 
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MattySnipes

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Solid deal Avs. A player like Rantanen, with his skillset and size, is amazing value for under $10M. Sakic the next GM Yzerman? :naughty:

Colorado looking real nice for the next decade.
 

Bobby Terrance

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Jul 21, 2018
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Really? Take a look at the top PP scorers in NHL, then compare it to the top ES scorers in NHL.

Pop quiz: Which group are the better hockey players?

The truth of the matter is, good special team performance is very important for team success in NHL.
Good to know.
 

cgf

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Oct 15, 2010
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What actually makes this a bad deal ?

Nostalgia
Look how cheap all the other RFA deals have been. There's still the question of how good Rantanen actually is too, it's kind of like the Draisaitl dilemma.

Did you mean the bridge deals signed by lesser players? Or the shorter Aho deal which only buys 1 UFA season?
& they still have MackInnon at 6.3 for another 3 seasons after this one, Landy isn't a free agent until 2021 either.

Hopefully they take advantage of this window while those two and Makar are on cheap deals.

From your keyboard to Joe's ears.
 

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