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What Your Team Is Thankful For: Toronto Maple Leafs

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With the holiday season now here, PHR continues its look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads towards the midway mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. Let’s take a look at what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Click here for the other articles in this series. 

What are the Maple Leafs most thankful for?

Scoring and lots of it. Despite some injuires and a holdout, very little has slowed down an incredible offense. The team knew once it brought John Tavares on board this summer how good their offense would be and that has been the case as the team is ranked second in the league in scoring behind rival Tampa Bay, averaging 3.79 goals per game. That number has allowed the team the ability to put up the second-best record in hockey (behind rival Tampa Bay) with a 26-10-2 record. The team has already got six players with 10 goals or more, while another four players have seven goals or more. While many of those goal scorers have been their stars, the team has gotten impressive play from a number of unexpected players, including Kasperi Kapanen, Andreas Johnsson and Tyler Ennis.

Who are the Maple Leafs most thankful for?

The easy answer could be John Tavares with his 26 goals or Auston Matthews, who has 35 points in just 24 games, but surprisingly, the team’s points’ leader this year has been Mitch Marner, who has 13 goals and 40 assists this season. Those 53 points has him ranked fifth in the NHL and a suggestion that he’s headed for an even bigger season this year and if he can keep those numbers up is likely headed for a 100-point season for the team.

Marner is quickly finding himself among elite company. He is the first Maple Leaf to begin his career with 40 or more assists in three consecutive seasons, something that only five active NHL players have been able to do, including Sidney Crosby, Niklas Backstrom, Patrick Kane, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin. No complaints in Toronto, however, as the team is trying to compete for a Stanley Cup championship this year. Marner’s play is exactly what they need to hopefully win a title.

What would the Maple Leafs be even more thankful for?

The team still needs to get William Nylander back on track. The 22-year-old ended his holdout on Dec. 1 after agreeing to a six-year, $45MM deal. However, Nylander has far from been a big hit since returning to Toronto’s lineup this year. The center has appeared now in 10 games for the Maple Leafs and still hasn’t registered a goal, posting just two assists so far. The team has moved him down to the third line and hopes that he will figure out a way to find his offense prowess. He is coming off a 20-goal season a year ago, but that holdout seems to have stalled that progress. If the team can get him going, it will only further improve their offense.

What should be on the Maple Leafs’ Holiday Wish List?

Some extensions. The team has several contracts to deal with this summer and after dealing with a long, drawn-out holdout from Nylander, Dubas and the Maple Leafs have to hope they can lock up their two top restricted free agents in Matthews and Marner. If the team can lock either of them up during the season, that could help set up the team’s long-term cap situation early which could allow Dubas to find more flexibility to add talent at the trade deadline.

The team has a number of other free agents to deal with as well. The team also has restricted free agents Kapanen and Johnsson on their list of players to lock up as well as unrestricted free agent defensemen Jake Gardiner and Ron Hainsey to deal with as well. The more they can accomplish during the season, the better for a team with a tricky cap situation.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Marner, Staal, Gaudette

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Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas met with Darren Ferris, the agent for Mitch Marner to discuss a contract extension earlier this week, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported on Hockey Night in Canada’s Saturday Headlines (video link).  The two sides were also slated to meet again this weekend.

Despite the talks, Johnston notes that there remains no indication that the winger wants to sign now.  The 2019 class of restricted free agents is extremely deep and there is bound to be some form of a waiting game between them instead of looking to be the one to set the market.  The 21-year-old is well on his way to surpassing his career high in points and currently sits fifth in league scoring heading into play on Sunday.  As a result, it’s going to cost the Maple Leafs a whole lot more than the $832.5K that he’s earning in base salary in 2018-19 on his next deal.

More from around the league:

  • Carolina center Jordan Staal is dealing with a head injury, notes Michael Smith of the Hurricanes’ team website. The injury kept him out of today’s game against Boston as well.  The veteran just returned to the lineup this week after missing five contests due to a concussion so this is clearly some cause for concern.  There’s no word yet if he’ll be available to return for their first game back after the holiday break on Thursday.
  • While the Canucks want to keep center Adam Gaudette around the team for development purposes, Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston suggests that the rookie will likely be heading back to the AHL when one of winger Sven Baertschi and center Brandon Sutter return to the lineup which is likely to be early next month. Gaudette has averaged just 8:35 of ice time over his past 13 games and while there is some developmental benefit to playing him even in a fourth line role, having him go back to Utica and play twice as much in an offensive role would likely be better for him long-term.

Toronto Maple Leafs Hope To Sign Matthews, Marner Before July

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The Toronto Maple Leafs went through a long and tough negotiation with William Nylander over the last six months, which cost the young forward the first two months of the season. Though the team obviously did fine without him, Nylander is still working his way into game shape even as the holiday season arrives. That’s not a situation GM Kyle Dubas wants to deal with again, and today he explained that the team will try to avoid it with both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. The dynamic duo are scheduled for restricted free agency for the first time this summer, but are able to sign long-term extensions at any time. Dave McCarthy writes for NHL.com that Dubas hopes to have deals done long before July 1st:

We do want to avoid the situation we were just in (with William Nylander). It would be our intention well before July 1st that we have an agreement and both players are here long term. One way or another, we’ll get to that point.

Getting deals done with Matthews and Marner over the next few months would certainly give the team some cost certainty as they head into the next phase of their competitive window. Toronto currently has a large amount of available cap space thanks to the entry-level performances from Matthews, Marner and others like Kasperi Kapanen, Travis Dermott and Andreas Johnsson, but that won’t last very long. Four of those five players will be restricted free agents this summer—Dermott is the lone one under contract through 2019-20—though still have strong negotiating leverage with most of them. Only Johnsson is arbitration eligible, meaning that once the offseason began the two sides would have plenty of time to work through the process.

One of the reasons for getting it done before the offseason begins though would be the threat of an offer sheet, something that has come up repeatedly over the years despite the almost complete lack of them actually being put into practice. Dubas addressed that issue too, saying that he spends “zero percent” of his day worrying about the threat of an offer sheet and explaining that the Maple Leafs salary system is well set up to defend against one. An offer sheet for Matthews or Marner would almost certainly require a team to risk four first-round picks, but Toronto would also still have the ability to match any signed contract.

Interestingly though, getting deals done with Matthews and Marner before the end of February could be an appealing plan for the Maple Leafs. The team has recently been rumored to be interested in adding some help on defense, but it’s hard to know exactly how much cap room they will have going forward. That may limit the team to acquiring short-term or rental options instead of investing in a more permanent solution, unless they can find one at a very reasonable cap hit. The same applies to “own-rental” Jake Gardiner, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent but plays a huge role on the Maple Leafs currently. The team has been open for some time about their interest in re-signing Gardiner, but he may want to test the open market given that he would almost certainly be able to secure more money away from Toronto.

With Nylander done, the Maple Leafs have been busy over the last few weeks tying up some loose ends. Trading Josh Leivo, Adam Cracknell and Jeff Glass, while signing Calle Rosen to an extension and getting Ian Scott to sign his entry-level contract. Those are all relatively unimportant moves compared to the big ones left to come, and it’s obvious that the team would like to get long-term deals done as soon as possible.

Notably, Jonas Siegel of The Athletic also released a profile of Marner today (subscription required) which contains several interesting quotes from his family. That has already made waves with a fan base that is still a bit tender from the long Nylander negotiation, and hoping their other two stars will be locked up without a fight. We’ll have to wait and see if that’s possible for Dubas and the Maple Leafs’ front office, or if they will have to head into the summer months with some huge tasks still in front of them.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Toronto Maple Leafs Lock Up William Nylander For Six Years

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The long-awaited saga between William Nylander and the Toronto Maple Leafs is finally at an end. The Toronto Maple Leafs announced they have signed the holdout restricted free agent to a six-year, $45MM deal, according to CapFriendly. Nylander is expected to be on a plane from Stockholm to Toronto within 10 hours.

“We always tried to stay optimistic,” said general manager Kyle Dubas (via TSN’s Kristin Shilton). “We had our process and we have a great staff…it wasn’t really an emotional experience. It’s my duty to the organization to put the organization in the best possible spot with all our economics. We hope to always avoid [a standoff], but it’s a realistic situation.”

The deal has a complicated structure, especially for the first year. According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, Nylander’s first-year salary is pro-rated at 10MM (6.67MM), plus a $2MM signing bonus, which comes out to net $8.67MM and a $10.2MM AAV. In the remaining years of the deal, Nylander’s AAV is $6.996MM.

Here is a breakdown of the deal (via CapFriendly):

  • 2018-19: $10MM salary + $2MM signing bonus = $10.2 AAV
  • 2019-20: $700K salary + $8.3MM signing bonus = $6.97 AAV
  • 2020-21: $2.5MM salary + $3.5MM signing bonus = $6.97 AAV
  • 2021-22: $2.5MM salary + $3.5MM signing bonus = $6.97 AAV
  • 2022-23: $2.5MM salary + $3.5MM signing bonus = $6.97 AAV
  • 2023-24: $2.5MM salary + $3.5MM signing bonus = $6.97 AAV

For Nylander, it ends a long holdout as Nylander missed out on 59 days of the season, officially signing five minutes before the NHL deadline for him to sign an NHL contract this year. With rumors that Nylander had been holding out for $8MM and trying to force Dubas’ hand in the rookie GM’s first holdout negotiations, Nylander was forced to settle for under $7MM, which is a win for Dubas.

“I think all offers varied. I’m not going to get into where our offers started and where theirs started,” Dubas said. “I’m happy for our team and I’m happy for William. I wish we had been able to get this done before training camp…happy to add William.”

McKenzie also notes that Nylander received a 10-team modified no-trade clause in the final year of the deal as he is not eligible for a no-trade clause for another five years.

The 22-year-old center was considered to be a key piece of Toronto’s young core, but with the team’s salary cap having tightened up over the past two years with signings to major free agents Patrick Marleau and more recently to John Tavares, the team needed to prove that they could extend some of their younger players for discounts or be forced to break apart some of the team. Nylander is only the first of many of their future contract negotiations as Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner will both be restricted free agents this coming offseason and are expected to get paid even higher than Nylander. The team also have several other key contracts, including Nylander’s on-ice replacement this year in Kasperi Kapanen, who has played well enough to earn himself quite a raise in restricted free agency next season. Andreas Johnsson’s play should also get a boost in pay as a restricted free agent as well. The team also will have to factor in the contract of defenseman Jake Gardiner who will hit unrestricted free agency next season and needs to be locked up.

“I knew people were ready to jam that one down my throat,” Dubas said. “We hope all these guys will be career Leafs. That’s our goal, is to keep it together…We’ve had discussions with [Matthews and Marner’s agents]. We want to avoid a situation where all our players aren’t in training camp. Not [making history] in the way we’d like to [with Nylander deal].”

Despite the long holdout and his $8MM asking price, Nylander fared pretty well. The Maple Leafs had made it clear early in negotiations this summer that they weren’t willing to go past six years at $6MM, so to get an extra $1MM per year is impressive, considering the team’s budget.

TSN’s Darren Dreger  was the first to report the deal.

Snapshots: Couture, Matthews, Thomas

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The San Jose Sharks entered the 2018-19 season with high expectations after their off-season blockbuster acquisition of Erik Karlsson. One of the best teams in all of sports over the past decade or so never to win a title, the Sharks have been the epitome of consistency, but have been unable to land that elusive Stanley Cup title. With Karlsson in the mix on a roster that is deep and talented in all areas, many felt this could finally be the season than San Jose puts it all together. More than a quarter of the way through the season, those expectations have yet to be met. The Sharks have been a fine team – their 29 points places them second in the Pacific Division – but in no way are they running away with a conference championship. At least one player on the team is fed up with the poor effort: star forward Logan Couture. After a third straight loss last night, Couture told the Canadian Press that things need to change:

“My personal opinion, I don’t think we’re close. We show spurts and signs that we’re capable (of playing with the best in the league) but we haven’t put together an effort against a top-quality team. … We gotta figure it out soon. I’m a believer that it takes time. (But) I’m a believer that it doesn’t take 26 games.”

Couture, who signed a long-term deal this off-season, is the centerpiece of the Sharks’ offense for the foreseeable future. Couture has as much right as anyone on the team to criticize their efforts, seeing as he has done his part so far with 25 points in 26 games. While Couture did not name names, it is easy to point at Karlsson, last year’s big acquisition, Evander Kane, and a lackluster bottom-six as those that need to step up if the Sharks wish to play to their potential. Perhaps Couture being open and honest about the team’s disappointing results that will flip a switch and turn this team into the true contender they should be.

  • It was Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs who took down the Sharks last night and the young superstar played very well in his return to the lineup. Even in the midst of the final days of the William Nylander drama, Toronto continues to win and remain focused on the present. But what if their struggles to sign Nylander are just the beginning? The Leafs face quite the cap crunch moving forward and there is concern that a Nylander signing could eventually push out either Matthews or Mitch Marner. Fox Sports’ Andy Strickland relays word from sources around the league that Matthews could be a prime target for an offer sheet this off-season. Although rare, due to their financial cost and draft pick cost, a maximum offer sheet isn’t out of the realm of possibility for a young player of Matthews’ caliber. Strickland asks what the Leafs could possibly do, with so many RFA’s and a defense in need of rebuilding this summer, if a team was to offer Matthews a contract worth $14MM per season? Such a situation seems far-fetched, but may be more grounded in reality than we know. It would be yet another difficult obstacle for the Maple Leafs who are truly having trouble with having so much talent on their roster.
  • The Boston Bruins retired Rick Middleton’s number tonight, making him the eleventh member of an illustrious group of all-time greats. The question now turns to who could be next to join the Bruins’ stars in the rafters? Of their recently retired players, the one who truly sticks out is two-time Vezina Trophy winner and Stanley Cup hero Tim Thomas. Although Thomas’ career was not a long one, he was one of the top goaltenders in the NHL for several years and is arguably the most clutch postseason keeper in NHL history, with the league’s all-time best playoff save percentage. The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa asked one of the Bruins’ retired numbers, and the team’s current president, Cam Neely, for his thoughts on Thomas’ case, but he didn’t seem optimistic about the odds. Neely points to longevity as working against Thomas, but did not rule him out completely. “There’s no question, that team in ’11, what it meant to Bruins fans and New England. Timmy, what he did in that playoffs, not just in the finals but all of the series, was pretty impressive”, but Neely added “I don’t want to rule anything out, but you look at some of the guys up there, they have a bigger sample size of what they did throughout their career in Boston.” It seems that Thomas, who was a star in his own right but simply over a short period of time, faces an uphill battle to have his No. 30 retired. Instead, current long-time players Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara are likely next up to be immortalized by the Bruins.

Snapshots: Three Stars, RFAs, Marleau

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The NHL has released their latest Three Stars of the Week, and to absolutely no one’s surprise Patrik Laine finds himself on top. Despite plenty of other outstanding performances last week, Laine was the easy choice after scoring 11 goals in just four games including a five-goal effort on Saturday night. The young Winnipeg Jets forward set all kinds of franchise records with the outstanding performance, and joined an incredibly small group of players to post five goals in a game before their 21st birthday. Only Laine, Don Murdoch and Wayne Gretzky have ever done so; Laine will have to do it again this season to tie Gretzky with two such performances.

Coming in second and third this week are Marc-Andre Fleury and Nikita Kucherov, two players well versed in this award. Fleury earned third star honors just over a month ago, while Kucherov has been in the top three several times throughout his career. The Vegas Golden Knights goaltender and Tampa Bay Lightning forward will have to continue their strong play if they hope to compete for the Stanley Cup again this season, and may even find themselves on this list again down the road.

Eastern Notes: Nylander, Zuccarello, Weber, Kovar

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With just over a week remaining in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ deadline to sign William Nylander contract this season, many people are voicing their opinions on the impasse. Among them is Don Cherry, who chimed in on the contract negotiations Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada. The former coach said that Nylander isn’t competing with the contracts of John Tavares or the future deal of Auston Matthews, but Cherry believes he is as good as Mitch Marner and wants to make sure that Marner won’t make more money than him down the road.

“Here’s the deal, it’s not Tavares and it’s not Matthews he’s thinking of, he’s thinking of Marner,” Cherry said. “What happens if he signs a six-year contract and Marner gets another million or million and more? He’s not worried about the other two guys, but he thinks he’s as good as Marner. What he’s worried about is that he signs a contract and Marner signs [for] a couple more million and he’s stuck with the contract.”

Cherry advises Nylander to agree to a bridge deal as he believes that there is no way that Nylander can beat Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas, who must prove to the team and the city that he is worthy of the title and isn’t going to give in to him.

“You’re not going to beat Dubas because for Dubas this is his one shot, he can’t give in on this one,” Cherry said.

  • Newsday’s Colin Stephenson writes that the New York Rangers scratched forward Mats Zuccarello Saturday as a precaution, but head coach David Quinn insists that the 31-year-old veteran is fine. He says that he didn’t want to play him in back-to-back games after recently returning from a groin injury. “Two games, back-to-back, so we’re just being cautious,’’ Quinn said, adding that Zuccarello felt fine after Friday’s game and declared himself available for Saturday. But the plan always had been to not play him in both weekend games. “We kind of chose, get him in, play him [Friday], not go back-to-back.’’
  • As had been rumored earlier, John Lu of TSN reports that Montreal Canadiens captain Shea Weber will make his season debut Tuesday against Carolina, barring a setback, after missing the first half of the season after offseason knee surgery. The team will consider how Weber feels after Monday’s practice, followed by a final assessment by team doctors. Weber hasn’t played in a games since Dec. 16, 2017.
  • Despite a report that Jan Kovar has been contemplating a return to Europe after failing to make the New York Islanders and finally agreeing to a PTO with the Providence Bruins, the 28-year-old has decided to stay with the AHL team for now, according to the Providence Journal’s Mark Divver. The scribe writes that Kovar took some time off to evaluate his options and returned to Providence for Saturday’s game against Lehigh Valley. Kovar has four goals and nine points in 10 games while with Providence, but no NHL team has come forward with an NHL contract.

Atlantic Notes: Bergeron, Helm, Marner, Price

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The Boston Bruins already have plenty of injury concerns this season, especially on the defensive end. However, it may have gotten worse as the Bruins announced in an injury breakdown, that they have sent Patrice Bergeron back to Boston to be re-evaluated for his upper-body injury by team doctors with two games left on their road trip. That means that Bergeron is out for Saturday’s game against Arizona, although considering their next game won’t be until Wednesday, he could return to the team before then.

The team also reported that defenseman John Moore, already listed as day-to-day, has also left with Bergeron for Boston to get his lower-body injury looked at by doctors. The release also notes that Zdeno Chara, who was listed as out for four to six weeks, will not be re-evaluated for another four weeks.

While many were already aware of the defensive injuries, however the loss of Bergeron would be another devastating blow. The 33-year-old was driven into the boards on Friday on a hit from Dallas’ Radek Faksa. Bergeron has nine goals and 26 points in 19 games this season and anchors one of the top lines in the NHL.

  • The Detroit Red Wings may be without a forward as well as Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James reports that Darren Helm, who left the first period of today’s game against New Jersey after taking a hard hit from Travis Zajac, could be out for a while. Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said that he had no timetable for his injury, but the 31-year-old winger was holding his right wrist after it had taken the brunt of his fall to the ice.
  • Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun writes that with the way that Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner has been playing lately, he is likely to fetch a huge price when he hits restricted free agency at the end of the year. The 21-year-old Marner, who has 26 points in the first 20 games is currently on a trajectory to hit 106 points this season and become the franchise’s first 100-point winger. That could cost the team that has carefully weighed each players’ salary carefully before signing John Tavares this summer. With holdout William Nylander asking for big numbers on his next contract, Marner could complicate things for Toronto as well as he might be the best young winger outside of Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen and Boston’s David Pastrnak.
  • Montreal Canadiens Carey Price’s numbers may not be particularly impressive as he owns a 2.99 GAA and a .899 save percentage. However, after an impressive performance against the Calgary Flames on Thursday, The Athletic’s Paul Campbell (subscription required) analyzes the 31-year-old’s play and notes that Price is starting to adapt to a combination of his aging skills and the improved shootings skills of younger forwards. The scribe breaks down his play Thursday, writing that if Price can continue to play like that, then the Canadiens have a chance to fare well this season.

 

Atlantic Notes: Gardiner, Kotkaniemi, Abdelkader, Rask

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Even though the Toronto Maple Leafs have their hands full with the contract negotiations with William Nylander and the future negotiations with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun (subscription required) writes that the team also will likely have issues with defenseman Jake Gardiner.

The scribe writes that while Gardiner has expressed his desire to remain with Toronto long-term and general manager Kyle Dubas has met up with Gardiners’ representative, Pat Brisson, it’s likely that Gardiner will have to wait until the contracts of Nylander, Matthews and Marner are finalized, which could edge him out if those players don’t take hometown discounts. Regardless, after Nate Schmidt signed for $5.95MM AAV a few days ago, Gardiner could get quite a bit more on the open market especially with so few quality blueliners available on the free agent market next season. He might be able to command $7MM per year. However, he will likely have to take less than $6MM if he wants to remain in Toronto.

  • Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette writes that today’s game against the Boston Bruins will be the 10th game for rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi, signifiying that the team intends to burn the first year of the 18-year-old’s entry-level contract. While a few weeks ago, a move like this might have been in doubt, Kotkaniemi has shown considerable improvement over the past couple of weeks, making this move automatic for the team. He is averaging 14:04 ATOI and has four assists through his first nine games. Head coach Claude Julien compared him to Boston’s David Pastrnak at the same age. “They’re both guys who had to fill out and get stronger, but you can see the kill level,” said Julien. “With both players, you have to protect them a bit and that’s what I’ve done with K-K. It’s a little tougher when you’re on the road and you don’t get the last line change but he’s been in tough situations and he’s handled them well.”
  • Helene St. James of the Detroit Free-Press writes that one of the biggest problems to the Detroit Red Wings dismal performance through the first 10 games of the season has been the play of some of the veterans, especially the performance of Justin Abdelkader, who not only is quite offensively with one assist in 10 games, but is also struggling playing his physical brand of hockey. “You want to physically be engaged every game,” Abdelkader said. “You look for hits, and they’re definitely harder to come by in this game now. But that’s a part of my game. I’ve felt really good — had a really good summer, good training camp.”
  • In a mailbag series, NBC Sports Joe Haggerty questions whether Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask is really a No. 1 goalie, pointing out that he struggles when he is used regularly, which forced the Bruins to sign Jaroslav Halak to a $2.75MM contract. A true No. 1 goaltender wouldn’t require a team to pay that much for a backup and play 30 games for him. Add to that that Rask is known to be a slow starter and really struggles when the defense in front of him isn’t at their best, Haggerty doesn’t believe that the team currently can look at him as a top-rated goalie.

Agent Mike Liut Set To Bury The “Bridge Deal” This Off-Season

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For some time now, the landscape of NHL contracts has been changing, trending away from short and relatively inexpensive contracts for young restricted free agents. These “bridge deals” had long been used by teams to keep promising young talent on a reasonable price tag after their entry-level contract expired. While teams have been complicit in the movement away from bridge deals, players have simply begun to produce at a much higher level far sooner than in the past and, in turn, agents have demanded more term and salary than they ever had the leverage to command previously. The bridge deal is not yet extinct, but players and their representatives are having a much easier time landing expensive, long-term deals as early as possible in recent years.

While the beginning of the end for affordable youth can be traced back to superstars like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin – whose cap hits now look like bargains some years later – it is within the last few years that young players of a lesser caliber than the all-world exception have been able to land similar pacts. The architect of multiple recent deals of great length and value has been Mike Liut of Octagon Sports. A former NHLer himself, Liut is the director of Octagon’s hockey division. Forbes reports that Liut manages 22 clients and over $325MM in player salary. His efforts to eliminate the bridge deal have played no small part in that impressive total. Liut negotiated the eight-year, $60MM contract signed by the St. Louis Blues’ Vladimir Tarasenko back in 2015, when Tarasenko had less than 200 NHL games to his credit. He then put together the eight-year, $49MM contract of the Winnipeg Jets’ Mark Scheifele in 2016, before he became the point-per-game player he is today. However, the crown jewel of Liut’s collection has to be the massive eight-year, $68MM contract belonging to the Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl. Signed last year, Draisaitl’s deal carries an $8.5MM cap hit that is among the top fifteen players in the league. Yet, Liut somehow landed Draisaitl that deal after just two and half seasons, only one of which was truly impressive.

Now, Liut has a chance at a repeat performance of the Draisaitl deal not once, not twice, not even thrice, but with four different prominent players this off-season. Liut counts Patrik Laine, Mikko Rantanen, Brock Boeser, and Jake Guentzel among his clients and each of those four is set to have their entry-level contract expire this off-season. Winnipeg’s Laine has finished in the top ten in goal scoring in each of his first two seasons and was second only to Ovechkin for the league lead last year. Colorado’s Rantanen recorded 84 points in 81 games last year and currently shares the NHL lead in points and assists. Vancouver’s Boeser finished second in Calder Trophy voting last year and led the Canucks in scoring. Pittsburgh’s Guentzel is a Stanley Cup champion and a proven clutch scorer. Liut has shown an ability to bypass the bridge deal before and has an excellent chance at landing each of these players an expensive long-term deal. Other restricted free agents like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and Sebastian Aho are also certain to land similar deals. As such, in an off-season with an abnormal amount of high-profile RFA’s, each one could end up with an expensive, long-term extension. The effect, as Liut hopes, that the bridge deal dies as a result.

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