Search results

Not to mention as we've seen in the NBA, shorter deals gives a player more control just in general. Both in terms of being able to find better situations but also in terms of having more clout within an organization if leaving is always sort of on the horizon.

I also think though that in 5 years time the Leafs will be in one of two places. Either they'll be disappointed with the Matthews tenure and signing him again will be kind of moot as some sort of tear-down/rebuild will be necessary or they'll be thrilled with his time here in which case...

The thing I keep coming back to is it seems like the criticism of this deal all stems from some sort of idea that the Leafs, as the team Matthews is signed with at the moment, have some sort of super secret negotiating edge just by virtue of him being here already. And while, sure, the Leafs do...

It's a minor point but it's actually 18-30. And, in Matthews' particular case, it's really more like 19-31. The years the Leafs won't have Matthews under contract vs. an 8 year deal are solidly in his 30's.

Ok but, again, what if he says no to that? And, considering the reports are that the Leafs wanted the longer term and he didn't, it seems pretty likely that just an extra million per probably wouldn't have swayed him for 4 extra years. If the Leafs did want the eight years they would have...

This is what I keep coming back to. A guy in Matthews' position basically gets to call his own shot. If he decided he wanted 4 years and the Leafs wanted more, what's the negotiating tactic there? "Sign for 8 years" "Nah" "Ok, then we won't give you the money you want" "Ok, I'll get it...

Hey, remember when people said he'd leave as a free agent for Arizona? Now that that's officially behind us we can all admit...that was the dumbest thing anyone could have thought, right? Like, no sought after UFA in hockey right now is signing in Arizona unless there's a gun to their head.

Locking up Matthews for what figures to be the rest of his peak at a reasonable rate? Sounds good to me. I think I need a few more healthy seasons from him before I'd want to lock him into a deal into his mid 30's. This seems right.

Such a bummer. Was really hoping he was on the mend. Kid showed a lot of courage in how he persevered in the face of the lousy hand he was dealt.

I for one think it's very important that players have hearts. The heart is crucial for transporting oxygen around the blood stream which is not just important for Athletes but for all human life. Until the NHL develops players with Cyborg hearts, which I'd imagine will be 2028 at the earliest, I...

We don't even know that the delay is coming from Matthews' camp. There may be a contract he's fine with but the Leafs want to negotiate it down which is a valid thing for them to want to do. Or he's taking some time deciding if he wants to go short term or long term. Either way it's probably...

Sort of seems like the Dubas specialty move at this point. Makes some sense in the short term, probably not great in the long term.

Rather than hoping you'll be able to find a team willing to do that the Leafs would be in a better position to sign them to a 5 year deal and then re-sign them after the five years to a more team-friendly deal afterwards much in the way Tavares probaby would right now if he still wasn't under...

If there's one thing to take away from my position on Nylander or the Leafs free agents in general it would be that if your premise starts with "Well, no team in Free Agency will do something that stupid..." then you may want to re-evaluate.

Uh huh. And I'm saying that the idea that players tend to decline in the backhalf of these deals are what a gambler would call a pretty safe bet. Betting they won't decline is far riskier. But, no, they wouldn't. Players signing long-term contracts is less risky for them than short term deals...

I think hockey players in the cap era have sort of consistently established that they are, for the most part, pretty conservative and that the outright maximizing of their earning potential isn't as important to them as getting long-term guarantees. Even if the odds are against it, I bet they...

So I don't think the difference between a 7 year and 5 year deal can really be described as the difference between "short" and "long" but semantics aside I just want to highlight just how likely it is that players experience significant decline between the ages of 27 and, say, 32 or 33. The...

Not knowing what will happen but putting money on its outcome is literally the definition of what a gamble is.

This doesn't make any sense to me. If you're dealing with players who are 26 or 27 why do you want them to sign 8 year deals? Why are you so eager to lock up guys where you're paying them prime rates for their 32-35 year seasons? I'd think our experience with Tavares would teach people that 5...

It's not so much that I'm worried about losing a trade, I just tend to think that on balance there's probably better value in keeping Nylander even if he's 1 million or so above what he's "worth" by virtue of comparable deals rather than what you're likely to get in a trade. I'm pretty...