Quoting: vic997
The Leafs are literally going to bridge Marner straight to UFA, then he leaves in 3 years.
So I see no win-win in your scenario. They don't want to pay Marner 12 mil. but with a cap increase and new TV deal kicking in, the Leafs might be more inclined to extend Hall
This whole, "Walk him to FA and he leaves" thing is such a narrow minded view and ignores a lot of trends in the league. Could these guys walk as FA's? Sure, but Crosby didn't walk when his contract came up and he could have gone to FA. Same with so many others, the only difference is these guys are hitting FA sooner, and in my opinion it has very little to do with wanting to go somewhere else. Its all about maximizing their potential earnings.
For a long time, top rookies were going from an ELC, to a 4-5 year bridge deal to "prove themselves" and then they'd get their big contract around the age of 28-29 before signing a huge contract with long term. Seeing how that really doesn't work is shifting the market. Edmonton started it by giving McDavid and Draisaitl huge contracts. While I was critical of the Draisaitl contract at the time, in hindsight its pretty great. These young players are making big bucks as they put out their best seasons. That is not at all a problem, its much better value for the contracts than the other model. With more and more of those older stars declining in their 30's, teams are going to be reluctant to give huge term and dollars to players who's best years are almost certainly behind them. So young players want to get paid now because its likely they won't get those big deals later on in the future.
If I was a GM and Hall was available next year and wanted to talk to me, I'd offer him no more than 3 years, or it would be a contract that had term but was way below market value. Why? Because the risk of a player like Hall declining in a massive way in his early 30's is extremely high.
So in the case or Marner, he wants a shorter deal because when he signs his next one he'll still be close to the top of the market, and then when that one runs out, he'll be nearing his decline years and can continue to do short deals to maximize earnings. It makes a tonne of sense and because of that, I don't put any stock into the whole going to FA to leave ideal that some hold on to on here.