I say look towards the Sens recent contract signs of Sanderson and Buf contract signs of Power.....$8 million range.

hmm... then again those contracts were signed after the elc ended, Dobson gave the NYI a bridge, so maybe $9+ million is realistic.

Though Lou can be tricky to talk too.

Sanderson signed his contract coming out of his ELC producing at .5 PPG. Isles bridged Dobson and now have to buy out more UFA years when he’s at a point per game right now

Lou will either underpay him or trade him for has been veteran players under contract.

Never know with Lou, though we won't find out until the last minute, Lou doesn't work during the summer time, lol

Lou is still trying to sign Kadri.

Matching contracts w/ Barzal would be good. Just like Hintz & Heiskanen.

Less than Horvat’s IMO. I nailed the $4x3 bridge a couple years ago. Going $8x8 as my guess

With the bridge Dobson had 0 leverage. It was either sit out or sign the contract. He’s an RFA with arb rights and his comparable make more than 8 x 8. Young #1 RHD are one of the most valuable assets in the league, if he took his 1 year qualifying offer straight to UFA he’d get 9.5-10.5 mill as a UFA.

I wish he’d take 8x8, there’s just no incentive for him to. Horvat and barzal didn’t take discounts

Lou doesn’t really have much leverage. Very similar to the barzal contact. Barzals counting stats didn’t warrant 9.15 x 8 but because Barzal drives a lot of the isles offense , Lou had no choice.

Only way isles trade Dobson is if he doesn’t want to sign long term IMO

At the time of signing contracts , there’s not a player I can think of who signed below market value besides Pelech. Lou has given every RFA + UFA market value or above market value contracts.

Here are the #1 defenseman off the top of my head who have signed contracts coming off of a bridge contract

Dahlin: 11 x 8
Mcavoy: 9.5 x 8
Werenski: 9.5 x 6
Sergachev: 8.5 x 8

Werenski had total leverage on CBJ as they had stars leaving the team left and right. He had to be overpaid to stay. I think Dahlin is a great player but to me that was also an overpay. I realize he didn’t bridge first but Seider signing $8x8 still feels like a decent comparable. Hoping for less, but I still don’t think Dobson will get more than Horvat’s $8.5

The same reason werenski had leverage is why Dobson does as well. There’s no reason for him to take less than his comparables when no one on the isles has taken a discount relative to market value recently.

Dahlin was a slight overpay, but the market is the market. Young #1 defenseman are rare and get paid.


Seider hasn’t signed 8x8. Also Horvat has been very good this season but it doesn’t work that way where Dobsons ceiling for cap hit is a top 6 center who signed as a UFA at 28 years old.

I would love for Dobson to sign 8x8 but there’s not one contract I can think of that points to Dobson getting less than 8.5 mill. Point per game defenseman don’t grow on trees

I thought Seider signed $8x8 already? Maybe I’m mistaken there. I have no doubt he’s getting a max term extension. I thought Pulock at the time was fairly team friendly

Yeah he’s not signed yet. He’s coming out of an ELC so it’s a different situation. The defenseman I listed are ones that I can think of who were bridged 2-3 years then given a long term deal.

Pulock was coming off of a down year, I think it was market value

heart wants 8x$8M, brain thinks 8x$9M, so if I had to put money down I'd say 8x$8.5M.

Between 8-9.5 million would be fair value. So let's say 8.8 x 8

I think the Alex Pietrangelo contract of 8.8X8 is what Dobson signs