Quoting: Jamiepo
For all our sake I hope you are wrong about marner. I’m all out of guesses though. That term to me screams arb in year four straight to ufa and off the leafs.
I dunno. I don't interpret players wanting shorter term deals as them wanting to leave the team as soon as possible. The fluctuating cap has made long term contracts unpredictable. Agents of young superstars don't want their guys to be like a Mackinnon or even Crosby...guys who signed long term deals that, after 3 years, make it seem like they're vastly underpaid.
So agents are either pushing for long term deals on an AAV that is way beyond what anyone thinks is fair market value, or they want short term deals at an amount that ignores the traditional "2nd contract" and pays the guys performing in their prime right away. Teams are obviously trying to fight that trend...but with the way the game has changed, players are hitting their prime much earlier (and leaving their prime earlier too)...so makes sense for contracts to start reflecting that...young guys getting the big money and vets in their 30s battling for fringe money to keep playing.
I think it's more about maximizing dollars during the time period when the player's value is highest versus simply wanting the flexibility to leave the team asap.
If the leafs can afford to pay these guys fairly and ice a competitive team year after year, there's likely not a whole lot of incentive to want to leave.
I'd love to see an amendment to the CBA/Cap where there's some cap relief to teams when signing 2nd contracts Even something like only 75% of the AAV on 2nd contracts 5 years or longer in length counts against the cap...that way teams don't get penalized for drafting well and the players have an incentive to sign past their UFA years