13.25m per year will edmonton be able to compete. next year when mcdavid and draisaitl have new cap numbers in place and 8 players have to be signed or resigned including. not including the rest of this years signings including pitlick and desharnais even with nominal raises i dont see how this works.
strome 2.5 m rfa raise to 2.7m this is a maybe if he plays to his talent level i dont see this working
letestu 1.8m ufa raise to 2.5m this is not happening he has earned big raise with his play
maroon 1.5m ufa raise to 2m this is not happening he has earned big raise
slepyshev 925k rfa raise to 1m this is good
caggiula 925k rfa raise to 1.1m this is not happening big raise.
pakarinen 725k rfa raise to 1m maybe
benning 925k rfa raise to 1m maybe
nurse 863k rfa raise to 1m big raise
brossoit 750k rfa so a back up goalie will be needed. raise to 1.2m
that is 21m + needed to resign these players cap increase 2m to maybe 4m fall way short.
i hope they can take it all the way next year. i just dont see it with that cap hit after that.

Ya I agree, McDavid wants 13Million a year over an eight year contract, and on top of that Draisaitl is looking for 8Mill+. They probably will opt to pay McDavid what he wants, but signing Draisaitl would mess their salary cap.

This is really bothering me I was going to post about it but this went up already . NHL just don't learn there lesson, nor do the players, GMs, and agents. You can't afford to pay a forward a cap hit of 13.25M, maybe a right shot D-man like a Drew Doughty who might log 30-40 minutes might get a hit of 10-12M... Though I don't think that is a good idea either, its just real rare to have a legit #1 Right Shot D-man currently who has 2 Cups too. Kopitar making 10M a year was a total bust when Cullen at 40+ had more goals than him, not to mention 45+ Jagr and Iginla... Who actually had his worst season as a pro, boy I bet he wished he started 20 years later with these insane deals. This contract will lead to another lockout if they give him it, basically would cost as much or more than "That 70's Line" JEff Carter, Tyler Toffoli, Pearson in cap hit... As it has to do with forwards I'll explain what I think the NHL needs to do at next CBA or lockout to save the league. Remember NHL is below college sports like Football, Basketball, probably even pro sports like Womens Tennis... It is below in no particular order NFL, MLB, Nascar, Golf, Tennis, Soccer, Boxing, MMA, even WWE which is a 365 year round type thing in a way.

These are rules I propose to save the NHL to prevent these insane contracts... Even Toews I don't think is worth a 10.5M cap hit, his best year in points was 76, while his highest goal total was 34... Kane I can see people who might think he is worth it having 46 Goal 106 Point Season. His Cap Hit might be doable even under my proposed system... They got swept having 21M tied into two players so can't say it worked out for them .

1. Max Salary Cap Hit For a Forward/Player should be 10M that goes up by 100K each year so in 10 years it would be 11M, 20 years 12M, 30 years 13M... As that goes up by 100K each year the lowest salary would go up by 10K like 500K would be 510K if that was set for the minimum NHL salary. That way the standard of the lowest player rises to help compensate them for cost of living etc.

2. The NHL Buyout Process needs to change from 2/3rds split over X amt of years to 1/3rd of the contract, which can be spread over 2 years or taken in 1. Example if a player had 3M left the buyout would be 1M with option to split it over 2 years at 500K or take 1M in either the first or second year. This helps new GMs, owners, coaches, to not have past mistakes on the books hurting the team constantly. Like the Islanders had to pay Yashin or Dipietro, Mets paying Bobby Bonilla like 40 million over 40 years or something crazy.

3. The amt of money of a contract can't exceed the current salary cap. Hence Kopitar would not have been allowed to get a 10 year 80M contract since the Salary cap at the time wasn't even 80M. This will keep things based in reality, how can 1 single player have a contract that exceeds the salary cap itself. Its possible the cap could stop at 80-85M even if many think it will rise to 90 or 100M over the next 3-5 years or whatever.

4. Production has to be tied into the contract max cap hit. So if a player is coming off a season with 50 goals he could get a cap hit of 10M, rising by 100K for every goal... Hence 60 goals would mean 11M, 70 goals would be 12M, 80 goals it would take to get into 13M range at least for forwards. This would keep things based in reality not have people get overpaid like Kopitar or even Dustin Brown to a lesser degree... There could be criteria that trickles down to make sure people are not getting insane contracts. So 40 goals could be a 9M cap hit, while 30 would be a 8M max hit, that could be tweaked as well, gives some basic production to payment ratio.

5. Total Points could be another way to equate the max cap hit for forwards... Like having 100 points could be 10M, 150 could be 11M, 200 points 12M, at the very least a person should need 50 goals or 100 points to have a cap hit of 10M justified or even legal to give in a contract.

I think those 5 rules alone would help save the NHL at least when it relates to forwards... I could expand on it ore get more into detail or add other things as well. You can't have a league if paying McDavid after 1 year when many teams were weak in prep for an expansion team/draft into 13.25M hit. Paying him more than Malkin, Crosby, The Great 8, Tarasenko, Drew Doughty, Brent Burns, at most he should be a 7-9M cap hit maybe 10 if really want to push matters to brink. Ralph Kiner used to say Branch Rickey would tell him we can finish last without you . It only takes 1 player to give McDavid a career ending injury like Bertuzzi did famously among other players even by mistake or a fluke puck to the eye or face etc... Trust me if this contract is signed they will have a lockout in 5-10 years as more players try to grab 15M a year hits. If anything the NHL is in decline, they had trouble selling out Senators Eastern Conference Finals games? I don't think the changing demographics of Canada are going to shell out 4 figures to see a hockey game or these high priced tickets. You can expect a lot of ugly nasty backlash directed at McDavid, Oilers, especially the NHL, and Bettman... Even this idea is a raw deal, any who are pushing or defending should be fired... I bet they are the same who pushed that Dustin Brown should have the insane contract he does or Anze Kopitar among the classic David Clarkson .

Anyways I think NHL should read this post, implement my rules before they make a major mistake costing them like all the lockouts do. There is no possible way Edmonton Oilers can afford to give this child a 13.25M Cap hit or even a 13M or 12, even 11, 10 would be the max which is still a bad idea. Weren't they in money trouble or having issues not long ago? I'm just so disgusted by this I can't even organize my thoughts as well as I should but head my warning. Criteria for Defense would be a bit trickier to have so cut/dry or even goalies who I think hits of 7-9M are too much ...

They won't in 2018 if you ask me, but they have a very good chance. However, my pick for the cup is Washington. Ovechkin, i think, is going to show people that he knows how to help a team win a cup.

I think if Ovechkin knew how to win a cup... he'd have a cup.

When Sidney Crosby signed his first contract after the entry-level deal, it actually took up a higher % of the cap than McDavid's deal does right now, and McDavid's % could be even smaller next season if the salary cap grows (which is a completely different discussion). The Pens won a Cup during the duration of that contract. It's not a killer. This whole thread doesn't even make sense. McDavid could have gotten even more than he did, and Edmonton would have had no choice but to give it to him. I don't understand why everybody is complaining so much about his contract. Be happy that you guys have the best player in the world right now, and he's only going to get better.

Connor McDavid is a freak who can drag his team to a championship. Russell, Lucic, Sekera, those contracts might stop Edmonton. Not McDavid. He's on a bargain.