Joined: Jun. 2019
Posts: 55
Likes: 15
The Leafs would have zero interest in 34 year old Brent Burns, signed for 5.5 more years at $8m cap hit. Not to mention the guy is -21 this year. And that's not just the Leafs, it's pretty much everyone in the league. Vlasic's contract isn't much better. Sharks have had a nice run, but in 5 years they'll have 39 year old Burns, 37 year old Vlasic, and 34 year old Karlsson, making a combined $26m without a hope of making the playoffs.
I expect the 7 & 8 year contracts to become less common moving forward. The league is getting younger every year, there is no reason teams should be paying a 28 year old or older UFA big money that takes them into their mid 30s or beyond. It kills a teams salary cap flexibility and inevitably leads to some non-playoff years and total rebuild. Chicago/LA are in it right now, San Jose looks like they're heading there.