Young Players Have the Option To Bet on Themselves with a Rising Salary Cap
Jim Biringer of NHLRumors.com, Full Press Hockey, and RG Media was on TSN Radio in Montreal on Tuesday. He was asked about the future of contracts for young players, and could Lane Hutson take a shorter-term deal and bet on himself, or does he opt for a long-term deal when he signs his next contract with the Montreal Canadiens?
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Host: “So I was going to ask you that that was my follow-up, Mitch, and I, I expect the kind of what we’ve been seeing in the NBA the last four or five years, that short-term deal, and then test free agency again and again and again. Auston Matthews has kind of done that in the National Hockey League.
You see that becoming, maybe just not for Lane Hutson, but just for young players in this league. Do you see that the trend will continue to be that seven-year max? Or do you see a trend that will be, man, I’ll take three, four years, let’s reassess in three or four years if you want to continue this relationship, and then we move on from there.”
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Jim Biringer: “Yeah, that’s a great question, Simon. I think you’re going to see a different trend now, because the new CBA rules next year, right? Max length is seven, and then six years with another team. So I think teams with the salary cap, taking the increase that we expected to these huge jumps, especially next year, and then the year after that, where we’re seeing projections like $113-$120 million salary cap. I could see young players saying, hey, you know what? Maybe I’ll take three years? Maybe I’ll take four years, and I want to bet on myself again.
Now, Auston Matthews was the first guy to do it. Now we’re hearing more and more about it with like Connor McDavid and the Jack Eichel’s and maybe in Kirill Kaprizov over Minnesota.
Is that an option for Lane Hutson? Sure, it is. He can bet on himself. He’s already a really good defenseman in the National Hockey League. He’s probably going to be a great defenseman in the National Hockey League. But could I see him doing that? Absolutely.
I think a lot more people and players are looking into the finances of things and knowing that the cap is going up. Hey, you know what? I’m going to maximize my value as many times as possible. And I think that is a trend that we’re going to see going forward in the National Hockey League.”
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