This is how you blow up salary structure in a cap league

[TheJackBurton]

Greetings from Milan…site of the NHL/NHLPA European media tour. Some news: hearing Chicago is closing in on an extension for Frank Nazar — a key building block of its rebuild.

Going to be somewhere above $6M AAV; a couple of sources indicating it will be the largest contract ever signed by a forward at his experience (56 games)

His statline:

56 gp 13 goals 14 assists 27 points for 6.5 mil a year

[BalotelliMassive]

Play Freebird!

[TheJackBurton]

I will say it's not completely unprecedented the Wild did give Kaprizov 9 million after 55 games, but I'm thinking that may not be on the same level.

[STL fan in MN]

A little risky given what he’s shown to date but I’m a big believer in his abilities. Hockey sense and speed for days. I’ll also note that since he’s so young, if it does end up going south, he can be bought out for 1/3 the cost as opposed to the normal 2/3.

IMO, the Hawks just locked in their longterm 2C to a cheapish Cap hit (given where the Cap is going) until age 29. There’s certainly some risk involved here but my guess is this ends up working out super well for the Hawks (which as a Blues fan, sucks).

[BalotelliMassive]

I will say it's not completely unprecedented the Wild did give Kaprizov 9 million after 55 games, but I'm thinking that may not be on the same level.

Frank went from AHL all-star to Olympic roster invite for a stacked team USA in less than a year. For me he's better than Bedard because he excels in every situation (PK, PP, forecheck) with disgusting speed.



I haven't seen one Hawk fan slightly upset or worried about this one - everybody is ecstatic - 8 more years!

[TheJackBurton]

A little risky given what he’s shown to date but I’m a big believer in his abilities. Hockey sense and speed for days. I’ll also note that since he’s so young, if it does end up going south, he can be bought out for 1/3 the cost as opposed to the normal 2/3.

IMO, the Hawks just locked in their longterm 2C to a cheapish Cap hit (given where the Cap is going) until age 29. There’s certainly some risk involved here but my guess is this ends up working out super well for the Hawks (which as a Blues fan, sucks).

Even if it does work out well for them, it has now reset the structure for second year contracts.

His numbers didn't support that contract.

You can talk escalating salary cap all you want, but to go from ELC to 6.7 AAV after only 56 games and 26 points, oofff that is going to kill a lot of teams who are going to have to overpay for very marginal talent.

[TheJackBurton]

I will say it's not completely unprecedented the Wild did give Kaprizov 9 million after 55 games, but I'm thinking that may not be on the same level.

Frank went from AHL all-star to Olympic roster invite for a stacked team USA in less than a year. For me he's better than Bedard because he excels in every situation (PK, PP, forecheck) with disgusting speed.



I haven't seen one Hawk fan slightly upset or worried about this one - everybody is ecstatic - 8 more years!

Great, happy for Hawk fans. What I was referencing was the salary cap and how this will completely destroy the second year contracts for players with little to no NHL experience and very little to no production.

The Hawks do it yet again.

[BalotelliMassive]

You can talk escalating salary cap all you want, but to go from ELC to 6.7 AAV after only 56 games and 26 points, oofff that is going to kill a lot of teams who are going to have to overpay for very marginal talent.

[STL fan in MN]

A little risky given what he’s shown to date but I’m a big believer in his abilities. Hockey sense and speed for days. I’ll also note that since he’s so young, if it does end up going south, he can be bought out for 1/3 the cost as opposed to the normal 2/3.

IMO, the Hawks just locked in their longterm 2C to a cheapish Cap hit (given where the Cap is going) until age 29. There’s certainly some risk involved here but my guess is this ends up working out super well for the Hawks (which as a Blues fan, sucks).

Even if it does work out well for them, it has now reset the structure for second year contracts.

His numbers didn't support that contract.

You can talk escalating salary cap all you want, but to go from ELC to 6.7 AAV after only 56 games and 26 points, oofff that is going to kill a lot of teams who are going to have to overpay for very marginal talent.

And the Hawks should care about this why? They’re taking a long term gamble here. They could wait and then try to sign him to a bridge but then maybe his next contract costs $9M AAV instead of $6.7M. It’s a risk for sure but I see the logic.

[Pierre McGuire]

Didn’t read this before posting the Nazar thread but I think that’s a pretty good deal for Chicago. He’s going to be a legit stud in a couple of years.

[TheJackBurton]

A little risky given what he’s shown to date but I’m a big believer in his abilities. Hockey sense and speed for days. I’ll also note that since he’s so young, if it does end up going south, he can be bought out for 1/3 the cost as opposed to the normal 2/3.

IMO, the Hawks just locked in their longterm 2C to a cheapish Cap hit (given where the Cap is going) until age 29. There’s certainly some risk involved here but my guess is this ends up working out super well for the Hawks (which as a Blues fan, sucks).

Even if it does work out well for them, it has now reset the structure for second year contracts.

His numbers didn't support that contract.

You can talk escalating salary cap all you want, but to go from ELC to 6.7 AAV after only 56 games and 26 points, oofff that is going to kill a lot of teams who are going to have to overpay for very marginal talent.

And the Hawks should care about this why? They’re taking a long term gamble here. They could wait and then try to sign him to a bridge but then maybe his next contract costs $9M AAV instead of $6.7M. It’s a risk for sure but I see the logic.

Where did I say Chicago should care? I'm talking about the league as a whole. Now an average forward will see a 30-50% bump in pay over what they would previously have gotten.

Again, 26 points in 56 games. That upsets the contract structure of the entire league.

[BalotelliMassive]

A little risky given what he’s shown to date but I’m a big believer in his abilities. Hockey sense and speed for days. I’ll also note that since he’s so young, if it does end up going south, he can be bought out for 1/3 the cost as opposed to the normal 2/3.

IMO, the Hawks just locked in their longterm 2C to a cheapish Cap hit (given where the Cap is going) until age 29. There’s certainly some risk involved here but my guess is this ends up working out super well for the Hawks (which as a Blues fan, sucks).

Even if it does work out well for them, it has now reset the structure for second year contracts.

His numbers didn't support that contract.

You can talk escalating salary cap all you want, but to go from ELC to 6.7 AAV after only 56 games and 26 points, oofff that is going to kill a lot of teams who are going to have to overpay for very marginal talent.

And the Hawks should care about this why? They’re taking a long term gamble here. They could wait and then try to sign him to a bridge but then maybe his next contract costs $9M AAV instead of $6.7M. It’s a risk for sure but I see the logic.

Where did I say Chicago should care? I'm talking about the league as a whole. Now an average forward will see a 30-50% bump in pay over what they would previously have gotten.

Again, 26 points in 56 games. That upsets the contract structure of the entire league.

Were you this upset when the Blues doubled what Holloway and Broberg earned?

You should be happy that the Hawks just overpaid for somebody that doesn't deserve it right...?

[theograce]

Greetings from Milan…site of the NHL/NHLPA European media tour. Some news: hearing Chicago is closing in on an extension for Frank Nazar — a key building block of its rebuild.

Going to be somewhere above $6M AAV; a couple of sources indicating it will be the largest contract ever signed by a forward at his experience (56 games)

His statline:

56 gp 13 goals 14 assists 27 points for 6.5 mil a year

How is this much different than Kyrou exactly…who was signed for more?

[Natl20]

Since they don't know how to manage the cap with guys who are in their prime, they're throwing money at the unproven and hope they work out.

The cardinals did this a while ago

[skilles]

A little risky given what he’s shown to date but I’m a big believer in his abilities. Hockey sense and speed for days. I’ll also note that since he’s so young, if it does end up going south, he can be bought out for 1/3 the cost as opposed to the normal 2/3.

IMO, the Hawks just locked in their longterm 2C to a cheapish Cap hit (given where the Cap is going) until age 29. There’s certainly some risk involved here but my guess is this ends up working out super well for the Hawks (which as a Blues fan, sucks).

Even if it does work out well for them, it has now reset the structure for second year contracts.

His numbers didn't support that contract.

You can talk escalating salary cap all you want, but to go from ELC to 6.7 AAV after only 56 games and 26 points, oofff that is going to kill a lot of teams who are going to have to overpay for very marginal talent.

It doesn't do that at all. There is no rule that once this happens it always has to happen and I don't get why people think that is the case.

[STL fan in MN]

A little risky given what he’s shown to date but I’m a big believer in his abilities. Hockey sense and speed for days. I’ll also note that since he’s so young, if it does end up going south, he can be bought out for 1/3 the cost as opposed to the normal 2/3.

IMO, the Hawks just locked in their longterm 2C to a cheapish Cap hit (given where the Cap is going) until age 29. There’s certainly some risk involved here but my guess is this ends up working out super well for the Hawks (which as a Blues fan, sucks).

Even if it does work out well for them, it has now reset the structure for second year contracts.

His numbers didn't support that contract.

You can talk escalating salary cap all you want, but to go from ELC to 6.7 AAV after only 56 games and 26 points, oofff that is going to kill a lot of teams who are going to have to overpay for very marginal talent.

And the Hawks should care about this why? They’re taking a long term gamble here. They could wait and then try to sign him to a bridge but then maybe his next contract costs $9M AAV instead of $6.7M. It’s a risk for sure but I see the logic.

Where did I say Chicago should care? I'm talking about the league as a whole. Now an average forward will see a 30-50% bump in pay over what they would previously have gotten.

Again, 26 points in 56 games. That upsets the contract structure of the entire league.

Why would other teams have to follow suit? The bridge deal will remain a viable option.

But let’s take Snuggerud as an example. A year from now, he’ll be in the same position as Nazar - one year remaining on his ELC. What we don’t know yet is how Snuggy will do this season but let’s guess and say he scores around a 40 pt pace - same as Nazar but he’s absolutely on fire the 2nd half of the year and it looks likely he’s about to break out big time. Let’s say your options are a 2 year bridge at $4M/year or 7 years at 6.75M. Which do you pick? The longer one is riskier but has A TON more potential value as well. If you choose the bridge, the Cap will be even higher in 2 years when that bridge expires. What if Snuggy breaks out in those 2 years? Then you’re looking at a $9M/year deal for 7 years, possibly even more. So yeah, the bridge would save you some money in the short term but the longer term deal could really save you a lot of money over the longterm. And the Hawks have cap space to burn here in the short term…but in a few years when Bedard also needs a new deal and they’re adding free agents, Nazar could be an absolute bargain.

And if he’s not? Again, not super costly to buy out since he’d only cost 1/3 to buy out. That really mitigates the risk.