Below Market Value
Joined: Nov. 2015
Posts: 1,426
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Since this is his breakout year, I would expect to see a bridge deal. While he will still probably hit 30 goals next season, he likely won't duplicate this performance, so that becomes a win-win for Vegas: he shows he can consistently score at a high level, and it drives down his price a bit.
Although they may want to lock him down long-term at a similar AAV to his linemates Smith and Marchessault. He'll likely get more than both, as he's a center and is very good defensively; probably something around $5.5-6.5 million on his long-term deal.
Vegas has got a lot of work to do on the contract signing side. Karlsson, Theodore, and Miller are all due sizable raises, plus decisions to be made on whether or not they want to bring back Perron and Neal. And then there's the whole will they/won't they sign Tavares side of things. Looks to be a busy offseason for George McPhee.