Quoting: F50marco
By that same token, anyone making in the 8-9M range isn't quite either though. There are only a handful of players in the NHL who have produced as much as Rantanen has during that same age period. He and Marner are trend setters unfortunately. That is why its causing such a rift. The guys GM's are pointing to didn't produce as much as Mikko has. The player Mikko's agent is using is the guy who has similar production and just signed a over payment. Finding the happy medium will come down to one team willing to take a knee and just signing already. If its Rant, he'll get Draisaitl money. If its Sakic, it'll be 10M range.
the reason that there arent many players that have produced as much as rantanen at a young age is because scoring has gone up league wide. 3 years ago there were under 10 players who scored at a point per game rate, compared to over 30 players last season... Young players score at a point per game pace and then try to directly compare their points to someone elses points from a time period in which scoring was way lower.
Draisaitl scored 77 points in 82 games (
0.94P/GP) the season before his 8.5M deal (11.33% of cap at the time) kicked in.
That placed him 10th in the entire league in points per game (among players who played more than 30 games).
Rantanen scored 87 points in 74 games (
1.18P/GP) last season.
That placed him 12th in the entire league in points per game (among players who played more than 30 games).
Rantanen can argue that he is way better than Draisaitl by taking points per game completely out of context and comparing 1.18 to 0.94 directly, but if you put it in context they are very similar. If you adjust for the increase in scoring I think Draisaitl's deal is very comparable for Rantanen. Drai's 11.33% of the cap translates to 9.23M.
Draisaitl's deal isnt a lowball for Rantanen. Its right on the money.