Joined: May 2016
Posts: 14,506
Likes: 6,125
I think there's a couple changes they could make to the CBA to make contracts better.
1. Lower UFA age to 23.
2. Maintain max contract length of players coming off their ELCs at 8 years if they re-sign with their current club.
2. Decrease max contract length of players not coming off of ELCs to 6 years if they re-sign with their current club.
3. Decrease max contract length of players signing with a different team to 4 years.
This would have the following effect:
Players that sign at age 18, slide for 2 seasons, and finish their ELCs (i.e. the majority of non-star players), will be UFAs and can sign with any team they choose when their ELC ends. If they choose to sign on the open market, the max contract they can get is 4 years. However, if they sign with their current club, they can sign 8 year deals.
Star players that make their NHL clubs at age 18 or 19 will be RFAs when their 3-year ELCs expire (i.e. younger than 23). They can sign with their current teams for up to 8 years, but will still have to go through the offer sheet process if they want to sign elsewhere. They can negotiate shorter term deals if they want to test UFA sooner. This will generally keep franchise players with their drafting clubs until age 29, similar to the current CBA.
The majority of players will become UFAs at age 23 and can opt for a long contract with their drafting club until age 31, or to sign elsewhere and become UFAs again at age 27. Because of this option, players will generally get their big payday early, because their drafting teams can't underpay players simply because they are RFAs without negotiating rights anymore.
Open market contracts will generally end between age 31 and 33, meaning players won't be on huge paydays into their mid-to-late 30s anymore.