3 years @ ~$6.75M or 8 years @ ~$9M.

I think the bridge vs long-term will depend on Matt Roy. If he's willing to extend at a reasonable amount, then the Kings will go with the bridge so that they can afford both.

If Roy prices himself out of LA, then I think the Kings will look to lock up Byfield long term this summer.

Right around Cozens on long-term deal...maybe $7.25m to $7.5m.

$8m plus x 8 years at age 21 is really top echelon of players (McDavid, Draisaitl, Eichel, Hughes, Stutzle are only ones)

Or bridge in high $4 millions...maybe $5m

I think a bridge deal for 3 years makes sense— Kopitar, Doughty, and Danault contracts are up at that point and will provide more than enough cap space to re-sign.

Stützle signed his extension before the 90pt season btw.

I think Byfield opts for a shorter term deal. Having a great season right now, but it clearly feels like he's one year out from his true breakout season, and with the cap set to explode in the next two/three years, he's probably leaving way too much money on the table signing long term. Unless the contract is a no doubter this summer, my guess is he opts for a 2-3 year deal. Could be leaving like, 2 or 3 mil a year on the table on the long end of that extension if he signs now.

My guess is on a short term deal 6ish, on a long term deal at least 8.5, though I think he'd be making a mistake to do it.

Byfield's performance so far is better than that of Jack Hughes at the time he signed his extension. Hughes didn't break out until after he was extended. Had the Kings extended Byfield last summer before the final year of his ELC like New Jersey did with Hughes, they probably would have been able to get away with a sub $8M max term contract. Sadly, I think that's no longer possible.

I think you're understating the effect the cap surge is gonna have on future contracts. Not a chance he's signing long term that cheap. He's not a 7.25mil guy NOW, he's certainly not a 7.25mil guy in three years when the cap is 92mil. He takes a short term deal now, he could be signing for 10 when that extension is up.

I think Byfield is absolutely a $7.25M guy right now. He had a fairly slow start to the season, but over the last 40 games or so, he's been the best player on the Kings pretty much every night, and that includes guys like Kopitar and Fiala. That even includes the 15-game stretch where the Kings couldn't win a game to save their life (or their coach's job).

Hasn’t Byfield performed at a level where you want to do something other than the bridge deal? The concept of risking that guy getting to free agency. That cap surge is scary.

You should put Clarke up in this equation and how many of your RFA’s can you sign for league minimum to fill depth.

Your cap situation is worse than I thought.

Hughes second year was his breakout. The counting totals weren’t there yet, as the team didn’t score, but the possession, transition numbers were top-5.

Also, Byfield is not quite Hughes level of a player.

Watch him play. I think he'll be better.

Cozens was 8.6% of cap…so same % of cap in $92m environment is still under $8m a year.

I’d go with $7.5m x 7 years if I had to wager on it.

I watch him, but I don’t pay to watch him.

I'd pay even more than I already do to see this all the time, and if I took all the money I've spent on Kings season tickets over the last 23 years, I could buy a pretty nice house in cash.