insulting crosby is surely a way to get him to come play for MTL

Guhle gets the K’Andre bridge

That Caufield/Holtz deal makes me cringe.

Weirdly enough, Crosby had always had a cap hit of 8.7mil (excluding his ELC), even when the cap went up he extended in Pittsburgh for the exact same cap hit he had before

Devils would never trade Nemec for a winger.

no more than Alex Vlasic on a long term deal

8x6-6.5.

No chance. Guhle will be 1 year younger coming out of ELC than K Andre was after ELC coming from the US college system.
And K Andre just came off a 9 goal 43 point season when he signed that.
It’s a good example you give though making clear a 2 year bridge would be significantly less than that. Drysdale was taken 6th overall same draft year as Guhle. Similar total stats. It’s the best comp, but with the Vlasic deal in Chicago, I think both sides will now opt for long term.

Comparable players. A 6 year term could also work. But my gut tells me it’s either gonna be a 2-3 year bridge, or max term 8 years. We’ll see though.

How would you break it down, and which comps are you using?

Yes love how the Devils keep getting smaller instead of size nice job

Shanascam would offer less out of spite.

All honesty, I'm not really using comps. I see your assessment and it's realistic and would be a reasonable contract I would assume.

I feel like 5.2 wouldn't be enough for Guhle to sign 8 years, if that's all KH offers Guhle may opt to sign a bridge in order to cash in more in ~3 years. He's 22 and playing top line minutes comfortably, he'll command more imo. 6-6.5 is simply just what I expect to get him to take the 8 years after his performances thus far.

I hear you, but what he can « command » vs. what’s in the shared best interest of both him and the team is something else.
I think Hughes’ best approach would be to offer the 8 years (one year early this offseason) I pitched above and to hold firm.
Guhle knows there’s the possibility of his usage going down with Xhekaj being healthy, Hutson and Mailloux coming along, and guys like Harris, Struble, etc. on the left side pushing for minutes.
A long term deal guarantees his minutes and being the core defenseman who the team will focus on developing first.
Plus the possibility of getting injured is always a real risk.
If he doesn’t extend long term, Guhle might have to wait a year, and only be offered the Drysdale bridge. Whether his agent likes it or not, it’s the most relevant comp.
If they totally balk at the 8 year term, we definitely can’t hold their feet to the fire, but in that case, as mentioned above, I think we offer him the same 6 year deal Chicago gave to Vlasic and no more. There’s no way a 6 handle for a cap hit makes sense on any level.
If any of our other young D significantly outperform him, it still leaves room to compensate everyone this way.
Plus the cost of the first 2-3 years out of ELC is critical to be properly established right now.

🤦‍♂️

I just proposed the Devils adding 2 inches and 30 pounds at D with the 5th overall pick from 2023.
And reuniting the most potent duo from USNDP history.

We’ll gladly take Mercer instead though if you want to keep Holtz cuz he’s bigger…

Some people just like to complain.

I suppose we'll find out soon enough. I can't say I agree with you that a 6 doesn't make sense though. I'd be pleased with an 8yr x 6mil deal for the guy so if you're correct on what you've proposed then we save a little bit of money. I don't really think it's necessary to play hardball with him over 800k/yr when we have the space and it fits within the cap structure KH has set up via the Suzuki/Caufield deals. Imo he is and, will continue to be, our best well-rounded LHD. Hutson will be flashier and Xhekaj will be more physical, but Guhle will be the most reliable.

Ignore him. NJD wouldn't do this because Nemec is him, but he'll get upset about "not adding enough size" no matter who you include.

I've seen him complain about not enough size after I added 4 guys who average 6 foot 3. If it's not Kevin Bahl or Nikita Zadorov, he hates it.

Purely looking at today it would make sense, but we gotta think of this for the long term. I agree that Guhle projects to be a solid and reliable D, but how much offense will be there long term is still an open question, and those are the guys who command top dollar. There’s an abundance of reliable D in the 3-5mm range. I’d be willing to pay above that because I believe the offensive potential could be there, and he’s a quality human, but you can only pay so much for potential before it starts getting you in trouble.
We don’t know what Hutson might be in 2-3 years. He could be pushing close to a Quinn Hughes type, but he could also be in the Bergeron/Wisniewski/Streit mold. It’s way to early to speculate.
And either of Mailloux, Reinbacher, or maybe even both could possibly end up being more valuable than Guhle long term. They need multiple full seasons in the NHL before we can judge, they’re both still ridiculously young. The COVID year threw a real wrench into properly evaluating the development of these young players, especially critical at D.

My guess is the Vlasic deal gets done this offseason for 6 years. But I’d hope for the 8 I proposed above instead.

I agree Xhekaj gets significantly less in all scenarios, but he’s also on my ideal team for the long haul.