Remember - we could probably get a longer deal for cheap if we just front load his contract.
That's what's great about the NHL and having an owner that's not afraid to open his checkbook. This is where the Capitals have an advantage over a lot of other smaller market teams. IF GMBM was smart he'd know this and use Ted for his advantage.
If we give him a 6-8 year deal and pay him around 5-5.5/year cap hit (which I think could be a great deal), we could always front load the contract to make it look more pretty. Give Holtby 7 - 7.5 million/year first couple years and then end of the contract have it go down into the 3 or so million range. That way if he's making an extra 5-8 million first couple years that could turn into an extra milllion or two with proper investments/etc that I'm sure a lot of players do. That's why getting more money up front is smarter.
BTW, Is hockey the only major sport that does stuff like this with contracts? Where they can pay someone a different amount than what the cap hit actually is b/c they just use the avg? In football the cap hit is what you are getting paid that year, same with baseball/basketball too (I think).