The NHL landscape is changing rapidly, with rising salaries and the consequences for other players
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on teams’ concerns about how quickly salaries have increased and how it could affect their locker rooms.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Ron MacLean: “You know, on the internet you can see lol and FYI and OMG, but right now it’s AAV every two hours, (average) annual value. So what’s with all those contracts?
NHL Injuries: Sabres, Hurricanes, Avs, Panthers, Devils, Rangers, Penguins, Leafs and Jets
Friedman: “The thing is, we all knew the cap was going up, right Ron? Like everyone knew it was coming, and everyone in the league knew it was coming, the players, the managers. Everyone knew it was coming, but everyone was kind of waiting to see what would happen in practice.”
When you talk to people now, you know the most important thing: and it’s not just teams, it’s players and agents too: how quickly the world has changed. And go right back to (Kirill) Kaprizov on September 30, when he signed for 17 million a year, and then look what has happened since then; Kyle Connor, Jack Eichel, you know, Luke Hughes.
Like no one, like I don’t complain about what people make. People are worth what someone is willing to pay you. But I think everyone is quite shocked at how quickly it happened. How much it has changed. Normally you get a summer to process it a bit, but things like this didn’t really start happening until September 30th.
And I think the biggest thing Ron is concerned about is, what is this going to do to their locker rooms? Before the Jets signed Connor to a deal that was far different than any other contract they’d ever signed, they went to some of their top players and said, “Are you okay with us doing this?” And they said, ‘Yes, we need him. We have a chance. Let’s do it.’
NHL Rumors: Connor Bedard, Carter Hart and Michael McLeod
And I think you see that in a lot of locker rooms right now. Managers who withdraw their players and say, ‘Do you mind if we do it?’ And I feel like some teams have more confidence in their group to handle it than others.”
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Rumors overviews and hot topics from around the league. We also post some stuff Instagram.
#NHL #Rumors #Rapidly #Changing #NHL #Landscape