RFA Contract Talks Thread

[BlueWhiteBlood]

I would be quite happy with him signed to Gunderson money 3 mil a year for 4 -5 years. But IMO 4-5 mil a years is two much.

Gunderson?

We've forgotten him already!

 

[freer]

Sorry guys and girls. My spelling sucks

 

[Capn_Crunch]

Both are very good deals.  Both are less than Colton Orr.  Sigh.  It leaves the Leafs with around 11 million dollars to sign RFAs - Reimer, Gardiner and Franson.  They could still be somewhat tight up against the cap depending on arbitration/a long-term deal for Gardiner if they end up doing something like:  Franson 1 year 3M, Gardiner 4 years 3.75M, Reimer 1 year 3M or something like that but they should be able to manage it with a little room to spare.

Even with those signings, the Leafs would have over $1mil in cap space with a 23-man roster. Considering the mess they were in last season Claude Loiselle must be doing back-flips.

And of course it's still possible one or both of Franson/Reimer get traded or Gardiner gets a cheaper short-term contract.

I think it is more likely that we see a long term deal for Gardiner then another bridge deal.
5yrs@4-5 mill.

Very happy with the holland signing. Another low risk and high reward deal. At least we'll start to get a feel for what he really can bring to the table over the long haul.

WOW, I hope they dont sign Gardiner for that much. Yes he is good but not that good

JVR was probably not worth $4.25M the day he signed his deal, but you sign that under a calculated risk that he's going to continue to develop and make that deal look great in a couple of years.  At the time JVR signed that deal it was more than Giroux was making, the Giroux coming off a 93 point season (and JVR coming off 24 points in 43 games).

The key is to try and lock up a player to a reasonable deal through their most productive seasons.  If you can get Gardiner on a longer term deal for $4-5 rather than a 1 or 2 year deal I think you do it.  Will take him almost to 30 years old on a 5 year deal.

I would be quite happy with him signed to Gunderson money 3 mil a year for 4 -5 years. But IMO 4-5 mil a years is two much.

I'd be happy with cheaper tickets to the game doesn't mean it is going to happen.

He's worth easily 3 mill a season atm. Especially when you look at some of the contracts handed out this summer. We are also buying UFA years so thats a premium there alone.
If he's not worth 5 mill in a year or so I would be very shocked.

Signing him long term locks in another key to our d corps future and might quiet trade rumors which have to be getting nauseating for him by now.

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

Both are very good deals.  Both are less than Colton Orr.  Sigh.  It leaves the Leafs with around 11 million dollars to sign RFAs - Reimer, Gardiner and Franson.  They could still be somewhat tight up against the cap depending on arbitration/a long-term deal for Gardiner if they end up doing something like:  Franson 1 year 3M, Gardiner 4 years 3.75M, Reimer 1 year 3M or something like that but they should be able to manage it with a little room to spare.

Even with those signings, the Leafs would have over $1mil in cap space with a 23-man roster. Considering the mess they were in last season Claude Loiselle must be doing back-flips.

And of course it's still possible one or both of Franson/Reimer get traded or Gardiner gets a cheaper short-term contract.

I think it is more likely that we see a long term deal for Gardiner then another bridge deal.
5yrs@4-5 mill.

Very happy with the holland signing. Another low risk and high reward deal. At least we'll start to get a feel for what he really can bring to the table over the long haul.

WOW, I hope they dont sign Gardiner for that much. Yes he is good but not that good

JVR was probably not worth $4.25M the day he signed his deal, but you sign that under a calculated risk that he's going to continue to develop and make that deal look great in a couple of years.  At the time JVR signed that deal it was more than Giroux was making, the Giroux coming off a 93 point season (and JVR coming off 24 points in 43 games).

The key is to try and lock up a player to a reasonable deal through their most productive seasons.  If you can get Gardiner on a longer term deal for $4-5 rather than a 1 or 2 year deal I think you do it.  Will take him almost to 30 years old on a 5 year deal.

But JVR was also a highly touted #2 overall pick. IIIRC he was also coming off a playoffs where he'd gone off and shown flashes of what he was going to become (7 goals in 11 GP at 21/22 yrs old).

It was still a slightly rich contract but he was a safer bet than Gardiner at this point IMO. Let's not forget, Gardiner only played 12 games in 12/13 and was a question mark coming into this season. I think 3-4M is very fair.

 

[Kin]

It was still a slightly rich contract but he was a safer bet than Gardiner at this point IMO. Let's not forget, Gardiner only played 12 games in 12/13 and was a question mark coming into this season. I think 3-4M is very fair.

It's just not going to happen. What's the incentive to Gardiner for signing a long term deal at that price? He's much better off going short term if the Leafs aren't going to pay him as if he's going to continue to improve.

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

It was still a slightly rich contract but he was a safer bet than Gardiner at this point IMO. Let's not forget, Gardiner only played 12 games in 12/13 and was a question mark coming into this season. I think 3-4M is very fair.

It's just not going to happen. What's the incentive to Gardiner for signing a long term deal at that price? He's much better off going short term if the Leafs aren't going to pay him as if he's going to continue to improve.

The incentive is it would be a guaranteed 2-3M dollar raise over what he was earning last year for a guy that played the majority of the 12-13 season in the AHL.

5 years for 20M isn't all that bad for him. There's still risk there for the Leafs, and Gardiner gets time to prove he's worth the contract (plus). Not really sure what the problem is.

It's not like he's coming off a Subban-like season.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Both are very good deals.  Both are less than Colton Orr.  Sigh.  It leaves the Leafs with around 11 million dollars to sign RFAs - Reimer, Gardiner and Franson.  They could still be somewhat tight up against the cap depending on arbitration/a long-term deal for Gardiner if they end up doing something like:  Franson 1 year 3M, Gardiner 4 years 3.75M, Reimer 1 year 3M or something like that but they should be able to manage it with a little room to spare.

Even with those signings, the Leafs would have over $1mil in cap space with a 23-man roster. Considering the mess they were in last season Claude Loiselle must be doing back-flips.

And of course it's still possible one or both of Franson/Reimer get traded or Gardiner gets a cheaper short-term contract.

I think it is more likely that we see a long term deal for Gardiner then another bridge deal.
5yrs@4-5 mill.

Very happy with the holland signing. Another low risk and high reward deal. At least we'll start to get a feel for what he really can bring to the table over the long haul.

WOW, I hope they dont sign Gardiner for that much. Yes he is good but not that good

JVR was probably not worth $4.25M the day he signed his deal, but you sign that under a calculated risk that he's going to continue to develop and make that deal look great in a couple of years.  At the time JVR signed that deal it was more than Giroux was making, the Giroux coming off a 93 point season (and JVR coming off 24 points in 43 games).

The key is to try and lock up a player to a reasonable deal through their most productive seasons.  If you can get Gardiner on a longer term deal for $4-5 rather than a 1 or 2 year deal I think you do it.  Will take him almost to 30 years old on a 5 year deal.

But JVR was also a highly touted #2 overall pick. IIIRC he was also coming off a playoffs where he'd gone off and shown flashes of what he was going to become (7 goals in 11 GP at 21/22 yrs old).

It was still a slightly rich contract but he was a safer bet than Gardiner at this point IMO. Let's not forget, Gardiner only played 12 games in 12/13 and was a question mark coming into this season. I think 3-4M is very fair.

He only played 12 largely due to recovering from a concussion and arguably the Leafs waiting too long to call him up.  But he played in 75 games the previous season and 80 this past season.  So JVR had 29 more NHL games when he signed his deal than Gardiner will have when he signs his.  Don't think that is significant.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Yeah, I think it's a pretty safe bet for him to be signed at around 5 AAV for 5 years. Anything less than that and his agent is probably focusing on the bridge deal.

Gardiner is not near plateau as far as his talent/ development goes. Not to mention, he's coming into his prime, the Leafs are going to have to pay for that or he won't be playing until he is.

If he was coming off a Subban-like season, he'd be in the 7-8 range!

 

[bustaheims]

It's not like he's coming off a Subban-like season.

If he was, the Leafs wouldn't be able to sign him for as little as $5M per - especially not for 5 years. At $3M-$4M, it's unlikely he signs for longer than 3 seasons.

 

[Kin]

The incentive is it would be a guaranteed 2-3M dollar raise over what he was earning last year for a guy that played the majority of the 12-13 season in the AHL.

5 years for 20M isn't all that bad for him. There's still risk there for the Leafs, and Gardiner gets time to prove he's worth the contract (plus). Not really sure what the problem is.

The problem is that 4 million or so is a fair amount for what he did last year alone. You've essentially built no growth into the deal. The Leafs would be asking Gardiner to give away his first few free agency years, his most valuable free agency years, for free.

 

[Kin]

If he was coming off a Subban-like season, he'd be in the 7-8 range!

Not to mention that he actually sort of is coming off a Subban-like season. The Habs didn't try and fail to sign Subban to a big extension after he won the Norris(which is what I assume that Chev meant when he said a "Subban-like season") but rather they tried to sign him to the long term deal after a season where he had 7 goals and 36 points in 82 games. Gardiner is coming off of a 10 goal/31 point season. That's not that big a gap.

The Habs opted to gamble with the two year bridge deal and now it seems unlikely that they'll be able to sign him long term for anything south of 6.5 to 7+ million. The Habs, at the time, probably looked at his requests for a long term deal at 5+ million as something Subban hadn't earned either but it's safe to say they wish they signed that deal now.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Possibly relevant for Gardiner & Franson:

@TSNHockey 

Florida and Dmitri Kulikov agree to terms on a 3-year, $13M deal, per @TSNBobMcKenzie #TSN #NHL

 

[Bonsixx]

I think $3M for Reimer is high. I just can't see him being awarded that kind of cash. $2M, probably.

 

[bustaheims]

I think $3M for Reimer is high. I just can't see him being awarded that kind of cash. $2M, probably.

The relevant comparables put him in the $2.5M to $3M range pretty easily, if they actually go to arbitration. Possibly even a touch higher than that.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I think $3M for Reimer is high. I just can't see him being awarded that kind of cash. $2M, probably.

The relevant comparables put him in the $2.5M to $3M range pretty easily, if they actually go to arbitration. Possibly even a touch higher than that.

Bernier's not a bad comparable...

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I wonder how much last year will cost Reimer, his numbers weren't that bad, but the public perception of him definitely changed.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I wonder how much last year will cost Reimer, his numbers weren't that bad, but the public perception of him definitely changed.

Won't matter if it goes to arbitration.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Not to mention that he actually sort of is coming off a Subban-like season. The Habs didn't try and fail to sign Subban to a big extension after he won the Norris(which is what I assume that Chev meant when he said a "Subban-like season") but rather they tried to sign him to the long term deal after a season where he had 7 goals and 36 points in 82 games. Gardiner is coming off of a 10 goal/31 point season. That's not that big a gap.

The Habs opted to gamble with the two year bridge deal and now it seems unlikely that they'll be able to sign him long term for anything south of 6.5 to 7+ million. The Habs, at the time, probably looked at his requests for a long term deal at 5+ million as something Subban hadn't earned either but it's safe to say they wish they signed that deal now.

I hadn't thought about the comparable between Gardiner and Subban in their respective seasons, but it's a good point now that you mention it. I think it works in the Leafs favour that I believe Gardiner likes it in Toronto and his teammates also. Phaneuf looks to be his partner this season and he's locked up for 7 years, Gardiner has to look at that and think he's got a pretty good potential gig there.

The Leafs may be lucky to get Gardiner locked up at 4-5, but I think it'll be closer to 5 or over with anything over 5 years in length. If it's a bridge deal, I'm fairly confident it's over 3 million per.

 

[Redleaf]

Not to mention that he actually sort of is coming off a Subban-like season. The Habs didn't try and fail to sign Subban to a big extension after he won the Norris(which is what I assume that Chev meant when he said a "Subban-like season") but rather they tried to sign him to the long term deal after a season where he had 7 goals and 36 points in 82 games. Gardiner is coming off of a 10 goal/31 point season. That's not that big a gap.

The Habs opted to gamble with the two year bridge deal and now it seems unlikely that they'll be able to sign him long term for anything south of 6.5 to 7+ million. The Habs, at the time, probably looked at his requests for a long term deal at 5+ million as something Subban hadn't earned either but it's safe to say they wish they signed that deal now.

I hadn't thought about the comparable between Gardiner and Subban in their respective seasons, but it's a good point now that you mention it. I think it works in the Leafs favour that I believe Gardiner likes it in Toronto and his teammates also. Phaneuf looks to be his partner this season and he's locked up for 7 years, Gardiner has to look at that and think he's got a pretty good potential gig there.

The Leafs may be lucky to get Gardiner locked up at 4-5, but I think it'll be closer to 5 or over with anything over 5 years in length. If it's a bridge deal, I'm fairly confident it's over 3 million per.

That sounds about right.

I really hope he finds his legs this season, and turns in a stellar performance. Of course, if that is this case I'd rather they him signed to a 5 yr deal and lock him in.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Gardiner had quite a good season when you consider that he wasn't receiving 1st pairing PP minutes.  Finished in a tie for 45th among D in points.  Had 11 PP points when the top PP producers on D put up 20+.  Not unreasonable to think he could be on that level with 1st pairing PP minutes and his overall point totals could start ending up in the top 15 range.