Necas was the latest of many stars opting to extend rather than explore the new market this offseason. Kirill Kaprizov kicked things off preseason with a record-breaking eight-year contract carrying a $17 million average annual value<\/a>; Connor McDavid followed up in a different direction with a two-year, $12.5 million AAV bridge deal <\/a>the day before the start of the season. <\/p>\n Since then, things have been all over the map: Jack Eichel’s eight-year, $13.5 million AAV deal<\/a>, Kyle Connor at eight years with a $12 million<\/a> AAV, Logan Cooley at eight years and a $10 million AAV<\/a>, Lane Hutson at eight years and an $8.85 million AAV<\/a>, Thomas Harley at eight years and a $10.5 million AAV.<\/a> <\/p>\n These deals are revealing three patterns across the board, though, as we prepare for the new collective bargaining agreement that goes into effect next year: Anyone not named McDavid is valuing term above all else, signing bonuses are being utilized more and more, and wait, uhh, what are we going to do in early July when we look around and realize that all of the big names are already locked down?<\/p>\n You would think, with the salary cap increasing, that players would be itching to reach unrestricted free agency, but that hasn’t happened.<\/p>\n In Rantanen’s case, he ended up extending with the Stars for even less than the Avalanche were offering. It was relatively unprecedented and messy because the NHL as a whole was entering a new era with a new CBA looming, significant cap increases and greater player agency.<\/p>\n The Avs didn’t even feel pressured to trade Necas or risk losing him for nothing to free agency at the end of the year. Necas and the Avalanche agreed to an eight-year extension with an $11.5 million average annual value<\/a> long before trade deadline anxieties even had a chance to pop up.<\/p>\n Some of these deals were as juicy as we expected with the cap rising: Kaprizov’s contract is the highest AAV and total amount of cash in NHL history; Eichel’s is 13 percent of Vegas’ cap space; McDavid’s is a different kind of juicy in that it affords him flexibility and time to win. <\/p>\n But next July won’t look all that different from last offseason, where not much was cooking except the Mitch Marner saga. Even that ended up in a trade. Why all the in-house extending and trades over the good, clean, fun of a free-agency slate recently?<\/p>\n
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