Creating a New Financial Structure with the Leafs: Kadri, Bernier Rielly, and Beyond

[Cap'n Flavour]

a division of two financial parts.

Those two parts being...?

Kadri has played 6x seasons. The 1 game in 2009-10 counts as far as RFA years are concerned.

No he hasn't:

"Accrued Season" means any League Year during which a Player was on a Club's Active Roster for 40 (30 if the Player is a goalie) or more Regular Season Games, provided that, for the purposes of calculating an Accrued Season under this Agreement, games missed due to a hockey-related injury incurred while on a Club's Active Roster shall count as games played for purposes of calculating an Accrued Season but only during the League Year in
which the injury was incurred and a maximum of one additional season.

Any Player who either has seven (7) Accrued Seasons or is 27 years of age or older as of June 30 of the end of a League Year, shall, if his most recent SPC has expired, with such expiry occurring either as of June 30 of such League Year or June 30 of any prior League Year, become an Unrestricted Free Agent.

Kadri only has 3 accrued seasons. Forget about the games played, he'll be a UFA in 2018.

I don't see what the rush is in identifying core players. The Leafs have so little talent on the roster that there shouldn't be any risk of spending up to the cap to retain the top players. By the time Marner and Nylander are ready for big extensions, garbage contracts like Robidas and Polak will be gone... hopefully Bozak too. Horton is only an issue in the offseason or if he recovers. There's no point in signing good players to short-term deals to "prove themselves" - if management sees Kadri, Rielly and Bernier as part of the core, then buying out UFA years is sensible.

If anything, I think they'll have an easier time getting Rielly on a long-term deal. For whatever reason, lots of defensemen have committed to long-term bargain deals as RFAs, much more so than forwards. Think Hedman, McDonagh and even Josi recently. More of these contracts have worked out than not.

 

[Finnish your Czech]

EDIT: NVM I thought Kadri would be a UFA after 2 seasons.

___________

I think the Leafs should sign Kadri to a 4-5 year contract, as I think he will excel with more ice time.

 

[deletethis]

Investing huge money and term on a player who Shanahan felt needed discipline for unprofessionalism 5 months ago isn't what is being done at MLSE any longer. Kadri has to prove something to Shanahan and co. to earn their investment into him beyond the next 2 years. I don't think some fans have come to the realization that the Leafs aren't making moves right now based on fear of failure or loss. Player agents no longer have the upper hand on this organization.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Kadri and Bernier are both at the state where they still seem just as likely to regress as improve. Both need to prove consistency of value to earn longer deals. Both should be short contracts that either take them to unrestricted free agency or close to it. Giving either lucrative long term deals would just be repeating the mistakes of the past of treating good players like great players.

Rielly hasn't been through any downs yet in his young career. That doesn't mean he won't. The Leafs love his training work ethic. Barring injury a long term deal is most likely to be a good investment in this player.

Depends on your definition of long term. Giving Kadri or Bernier 7 year deals would be silly, 4 year deals would be a calculated risk.

 

[dougieg93]

I'm curious how we handle the 50 contract limit especially after next year's draft. We'll have a lot of talent coming in, and we're up to 48 right now. It seems pretty easy to dump contracts though (Ross, Ashton, Broll, Biggs) but I'm wondering if we'll have to make some tough choices in the future. For example have to drop someone like Toninato who could be a decent depth player for us to accommodate players like Korestelev, Bracco who have high upside but have bust potential.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

I'm curious how we handle the 50 contract limit especially after next year's draft. We'll have a lot of talent coming in, and we're up to 48 right now. It seems pretty easy to dump contracts though (Ross, Ashton, Broll, Biggs) but I'm wondering if we'll have to make some tough choices in the future. For example have to drop someone like Toninato who could be a decent depth player for us to accommodate players like Korestelev, Bracco who have high upside but have bust potential.

I'd imagine on the Marlies Devane Frattin and Brennan won't be back after next year. Then a few guys will make the jump to the Leafs leaving spots for some new blood.

 

[diceman934]

We need to develop a salary structure that makes sense today and in the future. Right now we are a bottom of the League team and our pay structure should reflect this.

We need to sign Kadri and Beriner to deals that are traded-able in the future. Rielly we can bridge or sign him to a 8 year deal at a good cap hit ....

Kadri 5 years at 5.25M per or 2 years at 4.75M
Beriner 3 years at 4M per.

Rielly 2 years at 3.75 or a 8 year deal in the 5.5M per range

 

[sangreale1]

I'd imagine on the Marlies Devane Frattin and Brennan won't be back after next year. Then a few guys will make the jump to the Leafs leaving spots for some new blood.

Frattin started going to the net last year like he did before. He might still be around.

 

[William Hylander]

I don't like Bridge deals cause they usually end up in another contract negotiation that turns out to be more expensive. Signing kadri to a deal worth 4.5-5.0 mil over 5+ seasons would be ideal.

If we want to bridge him might as well trade him again cause we are betting against him.

 

[indigobuffalo]

So Kadri signs a 1-year deal at $4.1M.

That's a lot more than the 10% raise some people thought he would get...

I think the take-home here is that there actually is a recipe to how these contracts are determined.

People seem to want to believe that prices don't keep going up for these salaries, despite the salary cap rising.

If we could all start looking at player cap hits as percentages of a team's total cap hit, we would all be much better off.