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.

Hall has had his number of injuries, which is why I think as a hockey player his prime has moved further by a couple of years. He's close to 30, and he plays the best game in his career. There's also other examples that shine even brighter after a little age - for example Kane had the best season of his career statistically last year and he turns 31 in November.

My guess is Hall can keep this level up until 34 - unless the injuries start getting worse.

I'm not even a Leafs fans lol
I'm saying over 7-8 years, Hall could come in closer to 10-10.75m rather at 5-6 years he'd be closer to 12+m.
Because those last 2-3 years is where the decline will begin
All depends on when the Leafs want to extend him. On the open market, he'd get panarin money

We'll see. I just think things went sour with his negotiations and his relationship with Dubas and team could be tarnished as a result.
If the relationship can't be rebuilt or they can't get anywhere close to a deal, Dubas might not have a choice but to look at the trade market

I bet you Marner fires Ferris after this negotiation. The games he's played have done all the damage. Dubas has been forthright and supportive the whole way, Ferris has threatened, leaked info, stunted and all sorts of underhanded things. He's an idiot and if I was a player, I'd never consider him as an agent. The dude probably watches ballers all the time and thinks he's the Rock.

''The dude probably watches ballers all the time and thinks he's the Rock.'' LMAOOOOO

I agree, this whole fiasco is stupid. Hopefully it's all resolved soon

The problem I have with this deal, like last year with Nylander. Other teams are not going to pay premiums for another teams problem. People wanted Nylander moved last year and were asking for the moon. The problem was he was not their headache and they were not taking on a headache and paying thru the nose to do so.

Now Marner is clearly better than Nylander and deserves what he gets, but if I was a gm of another club and you wanted me to take on your problem, I am surely not going to be robbed also.

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.

I bet you Marner fires Ferris after this negotiation. The games he's played have done all the damage. Dubas has been forthright and supportive the whole way, Ferris has threatened, leaked info, stunted and all sorts of underhanded things. He's an idiot and if I was a player, I'd never consider him as an agent. The dude probably watches ballers all the time and thinks he's the Rock.

Getting an elite forward under the age of 23 isn't obtaining a problem, its obtaining a high valued asset. If there wasn't a salary cap there would be no problem but there is so you have to make sure your salary structure is sound and TO is just doing their due diligence. The media and fans are blowing it way out of proportion and once its all done, there is no hurt feelings or problems.

I think there are a few things that you tend to overlook with this post, Logan

1) Crosby should never be compared to Marner under any circumstances. I know you're not comparing skill but rather rfa leading to ufa history. Keeping skill out of this, Crosby can only be described as a class act. Marner's approach to contracts so far? Not so much. He could very well be motivated to walk as a FA

2) There's a good chance that Marner and his camp could be a problem situation throughout his career. Headaches become unwelcome at a certain point.

3) As much as Dubas has leverage, and I think most of us think he's playing this well with all things considered, he doesn't have the power to make Mitch be reasonable and sign a decent deal that's still an overpay. At a certain point the leafs just might need to move on from this sideshow distraction. An ideal deal would see Dreger packaged with Marner if a trade needs to happen to resolve things...

4) This capfriendly stuff is fantasy based and just for fun. None of us can say what'll shake out in the future. All that said, Hall for Marner is good by me. And watching JT and Hall would be a ton of fun.

Hard to say really. I have you come across some of Paul Marner's interviews?

To Mikearkys point.. if there is anything to the whole apple and tree thing then it could very well be a problem.

Marner firing Ferris would be in his best interest for his short/mid/long term career ambitions, imo.

I am not overlooking anything, and I don't know if its fair to vilify Marner. He's always been a polite happy guy in interviews, has done a lot of charity work and has acted like a class act the whole time. What is happening is, his agent is making a spectacle of this for his own ego. He's an idiot and has a track record of stunting. If I was a GM, I'd not even want to deal with Ferris.

Moving forward, I do think this will be resolved in the next month and when it is over everyone will be either happy to concentrate the upcoming season or they'll be disappointed that nothing really happened from all this.

If Marner and Ferris continue to be a problem, trade him. He's a star player and he'll bring back a very good return. Its rather simple. All this hand wringing and stress that many are spewing out every day is just too much. Like all things in life, people are either overthinking stuff or they aren't thinking it through enough. Whats most likely to happen is the normal things that happen and that is boring and no one wants to accept that its probably going to happen here as well.

I have heard zero interviews with Paul Marner apart from one where he was talking about Mitch struggling for a bit and went to a skills camp with his coach from his childhood and started having fun again. He sure came across as a good person in that interview.

Again though, if he's wanting too much, you trade him. He's a high value asset and you can move him for other pieces that will help the team win moving forward.

Well, Ferris does work for Mitch.. so at a certain point he holds some accountability for what's done in his name.

As for people over reacting or overthinking things. Maybe. Or there's a good chance that most people recognize they have no bearing on any of this and they're having some fun with the absurdity of it all...

Kane's career year deserves and * beside it. It came during a season where scoring went up by a pretty big jump. The last time there were this many 100 point players was a long time ago. So everyone was scoring more. Also in what world do injuries extend someones prime years? That doesn't make any sense at all. Wear and tear on the body is what shortens careers not lengthen them. Also you are doing exactly what pretty much everyone does all the time and never learns.

Yes players decline in their 30's but I think this guy will be different because of whatever reason. There are mountains of evidence that the game is trending younger and younger. We can predict with almost certainty that guys moving through their 30's are going to take a nose dive at some point. There are extremely few players who remain elite as they age. Hall with the style he plays and the injuries he's had is a huge risk to decline earlier than later.

Injuries don't, but the experience does. He gains the experience a little later if he has had injuries in the past.

Oh, well you're missing half the fun with all this then. Have a go at searching up some of Paul's greatest hits. It's some fascinating stuff..