I’m so scared for next offseason, you have no idea. I don’t want 3 disappointing July 1sts in a row. A great way to avoid this is signing Barzal right now. He said a while ago he’ll sign whenever an offer he feels is good comes up. Why not make the offer now, an 8 year 9.5-10.5 AAV should suffice. I don’t get why teams don’t do this to avoid the headache that many teams have been having recently. I love what Ottawa did (I know, it’s rare for anyone to say that) with Thomas Chabot, and the isles need to do that with Barzy. I know Lou says “if you have timeless it,” well that’s bullsh*t. The time to sign Barzal is now.

best thing to do in negotiations is make it obvious that you're desperate.

I’m not the one negotiating am I

But that's what the Islanders would be doing if they go for that type of deal right now. Who knows how the market is going to shift in a year, and Barzal should be willing to bet on himself and get a big pay day. A bridge makes more sense for him as a player, since he can get a number in the $7M range for three years and then cash out for a number in double digits for eight years (or whatever the next CBA allows)

$8M AAV for the max 8 year term right now. If they wait til next summer and he puts up 80+ points on a below average offensive team the cost will skyrocket. The fact that he's coming off a season where he only scored 62 points would make this an opportunistic time for Lou to extend him. But, I don't see it happening. It's a risk/reward for sure. I bet Laine wishes he signed last summer before a very disappointing 2018-19 season.