Quoting: F50marco
How would you convince them to sign that low? "Pretty pleaaase"? They'll take this negotiation at least to the late summer and by then, if we imagine a worst case scenario, someone will send in offer sheets for either of them.
BUT even then, lets assume you do that, and he signs for minimum 2.5M (anything less is basically spitting in their face), the team would have no cap space what so ever. I very purposefully left enough money in cap for another 700K player in case of emergencies. which most Gm's do.
I don't think it's spitting in their face. It's a bridge. Look at Frank Vatrano. He just signed for 3 years for 2.533.
If you sign for 1 year you get less money. He's actually a pretty damn good comparison for johnson. Also did you know that Johnsson is only about 6 months younger than Brown?
How do you get them to sign? You get them to bet on themselves. Just like Marner did when he refused to sign last summer or Johnson himself did when he accepted his qo last summer (many on here thought he would make over 1.2, I even saw as high as 2)
So you tell them (more like Johnson as he has less value), look, your unlikely to get over 4 mil this year from anyone. If we had the cap space we could probably sign him for term around 3.5, give or take. You take the 2.1-2.3 this year and gamble on yourself. You put up 25/50 and are now only 2 years from UFA, you have more leverage. We will also have the cap space to pay you. You can push for high 4s then. If you explode well the sky is the limit