Lineup no Z or D

I dont understand what your guys GM is doing

He's trying to get good deals on them, I'm guessing Zegras gets a 4-year bridge deal similar to Robertson. Not sure about Drysdale but maybe a 2 or 3-year deal in the 2M range. He's definitely going to get squeezed though. I think he might be offered a long term deal bu one thst starts with a 6 or 7, not 8 like Sanderson.

I would personally try to lock them up long term to try and get really gracefully aging deals but im not a GM. Still feels a little dumb considering the ducks arent gonna be competing for at least 3 years, we are gonna have a big cap bump next year and the ducks have a ton of cap space

Not sure about D, but I'm sure they want to sign Zegras for long term but he doesn't want to because of the rising cap. He was likely offered an 8 year deal comparable to Terry's maybe, ~8Mx8. I don't think he wants a deal like Hughes, Stutzle, Suzuki, Thomas, or Thompson/Cozens. That’s probably why they are offering him like 4M on a bridge deal or whatever low number it was.

Zegras is reportedly getting 3 years so he exits as an RFA. Drysdale is probably only getting offered one right now as a prove it? Supposedly his camp and the Ducks are off in term and AAV.

Verbeeks trying to set the precedent that he won't roll over in negotiations and back up the brinks truck for guys who will be around long term. Sure he can toss money at UFAs in free agency, they won't be part of the long term cap structure of the team and you have to pay the UFA tax. Z and D are the tip of the spear of the youth movement, everyone coming after them will be basing their contract expectations on how this turns out.