Confirmed with Link: Forsling signed 8 years!!! Only 5.75 million AAV!!!

[violaswallet]

Ekblad is 28yo. I would take Ek where the total deal is max about $28M, and max salary is $7M and max years is 7. So the range would be $7M x 4yrs to $4M x 7yrs. Therefore something like $5.5M x 5yrs would be a fit.

Even that sounds a bit too much though TBH. I’d much rather have $7M x 3yrs than $7M x 4yrs.

I disagree with the Board a lot here: I think Ekblad should be re signed especially because the nightmare situation we fear likey leads to LTIRetirement.

If Ekky is willing to take a 6-7M 8 year contract I’d do it with signing bonuses to give him more cash.

 

[pantherbot]

I disagree with the Board a lot here: I think Ekblad should be re signed especially because the nightmare situation we fear likey leads to LTIRetirement.

If Ekky is willing to take a 6-7M 8 year contract I’d do it with signing bonuses to give him more cash.

Bingo.

Have to consider our competitive window is realistically for the next 3 years and that's pretty much it, you can see that pattern across all the recent mini dynasties with the exception of Pittsburgh which had a longer period of dominance with Crosby.

Cap is also going up significantly and could be >$100M in a few years. Even Ekblad's current contract started, cap was $75M, so his contract was 10% of the cap. His next contract might just be 6%. Forsling deal also gives us a lot of flexibility. Can't expect everyone is going to sign a sweet deal like that, have to think of the cap structure as a whole. Some contracts are going to be sweet deals, others may be closer to fair value, and hopefully no real stinkers.

Ekblad at $6-7M is more than fair when considering the market for an RD and his play. The Athletic player card has him at $9M market value. Maybe wheels fall off past early-30s, but we worry about it then.

 

[Chaos2k7]

I disagree with the Board a lot here: I think Ekblad should be re signed especially because the nightmare situation we fear likey leads to LTIRetirement.

If Ekky is willing to take a 6-7M 8 year contract I’d do it with signing bonuses to give him more cash.

Love Ekblad, but that is lunacy

 

[TotalHomer]

Love Ekblad, but that is lunacy

Yeah. When Forsling is taking 5.75, what reason is there to pay Ekblad more? Anything more is just paying the name. I don't understand why people want to do that. Ekblad is good, not irreplaceable.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

From TheAthletic power rankings today

 

[pantherbot]

Yeah. When Forsling is taking 5.75, what reason is there to pay Ekblad more? Anything more is just paying the name. I don't understand why people want to do that. Ekblad is good, not irreplaceable.

Because I think that's the wrong way to look at it. Just because Forsling took a steep discount doesn't mean other players will. If you now say Forsling is our best D at $5.75M and nobody can go above that, good luck filling in the rest of the defense.

Forsling's circumstances were a bit unique, he was a low draft pick, moved around a lot, waiver pick up, had a low contract base to start. Like it or not, that does set player values in some way. Not saying someone like Ekblad must be paid higher or that I agree pedigree should matter, but it doesn't matter what I think, what matters is what the market thinks.

 

[Gentle Man]

Because I think that's the wrong way to look at it. Just because Forsling took a steep discount doesn't mean other players will. If you now say Forsling is our best D at $5.75M and nobody can go above that, good luck filling in the rest of the defense.

Forsling's circumstances were a bit unique, he was a low draft pick, moved around a lot, waiver pick up, had a low contract base to start. Like it or not, that does set player values in some way. Not saying someone like Ekblad must be paid higher or that I agree pedigree should matter, but it doesn't matter what I think, what matters is what the market thinks.

By the time his contract is up, I believe the the cap limit jump is supposed to be pretty "big." Friedman said the league is pretty aggressive in it's revenue projections.

So I think we use him as our own rental next season then go from there. The timing is awful though as he is up along with Verhaeghe and Bennett

 

[Chaos2k7]

Yeah. When Forsling is taking 5.75, what reason is there to pay Ekblad more? Anything more is just paying the name. I don't understand why people want to do that. Ekblad is good, not irreplaceable.

RHDs tend to get more, but I am more opposed to the idea of some 8 year deal with NMCs and Salary Bonuses... That would be a fireable offense for Zito IMO

 

[pantherbot]

RHDs tend to get more, but I am more opposed to the idea of some 8 year deal with NMCs and Salary Bonuses... That would be a fireable offense for Zito IMO

Any contract of significance nowadays is going to come with NMCs and salary bonuses, we're not getting away from that. As long as its movable at the back-end, I don't see why its an issue.

Looking ahead in free agency, there's really only Pionk and Larsson available at RD. Other than that, we're looking at a trade, but how likely are we really to get a top-pair RD in a trade? In our system we have Benning and Kinnunen. Both are just too small and aren't top-pair potential. Maybe we keep Monty, but he's realistically not a top-pair guy and he's not getting younger either.

We could just run a bunch of LDs out there, but again its not like we realistically get someone much better. That obviously opens up more options, but is someone like Theodore or Chych really that much better while likely at a higher cost?

If Zito's got some other plan, that's cool, I have no problem going our separate ways with Ekblad if things work out better. I also see why Ekblad may be kept on given his position and lack of available options. I'm with the frogman, we probably use Ekblad for next season as a rental and see how things develop, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him extended at $6-7M AAV for 6-8 years afterwards.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Any contract of significance nowadays is going to come with NMCs and salary bonuses, we're not getting away from that. As long as its movable at the back-end, I don't see why its an issue.

Looking ahead in free agency, there's really only Pionk and Larsson available at RD. Other than that, we're looking at a trade, but how likely are we really to get a top-pair RD in a trade? In our system we have Benning and Kinnunen. Both are just too small and aren't top-pair potential. Maybe we keep Monty, but he's realistically not a top-pair guy and he's not getting younger either.

We could just run a bunch of LDs out there, but again its not like we realistically get someone much better. That obviously opens up more options, but is someone like Theodore or Chych really that much better while likely at a higher cost?

If Zito's got some other plan, that's cool, I have no problem going our separate ways with Ekblad if things work out better. I also see why Ekblad may be kept on given his position and lack of available options. I'm with the frogman, we probably use Ekblad for next season as a rental and see how things develop, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him extended at $6-7M AAV for 6-8 years afterwards.

His injury history precludes another long term, iron clad deal, we cannot give everyone that deal and Forsling already got it. We should be going shorter term with Ekblad, if he wants to break the bank, much like Montour, they will be elsewhere one way or another.

We drafted him first overall, have had him on our top pair for 10 years, but he is no longer THE guy, and if he wants to remain ONE of the guys some sort of compromise will need to happen.

 

[pantherbot]

His injury history precludes another long term, iron clad deal, we cannot give everyone that deal and Forsling already got it. We should be going shorter term with Ekblad, if he wants to break the bank, much like Montour, they will be elsewhere one way or another.

We drafted him first overall, have had him on our top pair for 10 years, but he is no longer THE guy, and if he wants to remain ONE of the guys some sort of compromise will need to happen.

I get all that, but we would need an alternative. In a negotiation, his party's got a lot of leverage given the position he plays and lack of options. That's really what it comes down to at the end of the day.

Zito knows more than I do obviously, so if he's got a better thing going, that's great, but if he ends up signing Ekblad to a long-term deal, it'll likely be because there's not better alternative and I wouldn't be that upset about it.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

If we talking about injury histories and future contracts, Bennett will be another issue.

 

[violaswallet]

RHDs tend to get more, but I am more opposed to the idea of some 8 year deal with NMCs and Salary Bonuses... That would be a fireable offense for Zito IMO

It would require a verbal LTIR agreement wherein Ekblad is fine going on the LTIR if he hits that wall (which he likely will)

I want to be able to re-sign Swaggy, Reino, and Ekky, which will be tough and requires some risk.

 

[Gentle Man]

If we talking about injury histories and future contracts, Bennett will be another issue.

Crazy that if he plays 10 more games, it would be the 2nd most he's played for this team considering he missed like, the first month of the season lol


But as long as he's healthy for the playoffs, thats what matters. At the same time, his body might not age well after 30. Like, at all lol.

Record without Benny. Not including the trade year where we had him for 10.

6-3-2
9-8-2
8-5

23-16-4


He's kinda important not gonna lie

 

[TotalHomer]

Because I think that's the wrong way to look at it. Just because Forsling took a steep discount doesn't mean other players will. If you now say Forsling is our best D at $5.75M and nobody can go above that, good luck filling in the rest of the defense.

Forsling's circumstances were a bit unique, he was a low draft pick, moved around a lot, waiver pick up, had a low contract base to start. Like it or not, that does set player values in some way. Not saying someone like Ekblad must be paid higher or that I agree pedigree should matter, but it doesn't matter what I think, what matters is what the market thinks.

Case by case basis ofc. Like others have said he doesn't have a leg to stand on if he asks much more than Fors. And he'll almost certainly ask for a raise. If he wants market money then he doesn't really want to be in Florida.

 

[ScottyMascotty]

GUSTAV FORSLING MENTIONED

 

[drktmplr12]

Gus said his agent told him he can get more in free agency but still signed

Take aways:
Gustav likes to stay in shape
Ekblad doesn't want his wife to see Gustav with a shirt off
Ekblad uses electric reels to catch fish

Why does none of it surprise me???