TSN: Pierre LeBrun when asked about what Matt Duchene’s four-year contract extension for $18 million with the Dallas Stars means for Toronto Maple Leafs pending UFA John Tavares.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Jamie McLennan: “So Matt Duchene signs that deal. Do you think it’ll have a lot of impact on John Tavares’ deal, as far as them being the same age, all of that type of stuff? I mean, what do you make of it?”
LeBrun: “I’m sure Brad Treliving wishes that were true. I know for a fact that unless there was a lot of term attached to it, there’s no way Tavares signs your $5 million here with the Leafs. It’s going to have to be more than that.
Now, the Leafs can be creative, like if, if you’re willing to throw term at an aging player, that brings down the AAV for sure. I mean, it’s all again, the total dollars matter more than the AAV when it’s your last crack at it, free agent wise.
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But on a normal contract, what I was told last week is that five was too low from the Tavares camp point of view. And I think, yeah, you have to understand that. You know, Duchene, Dallas, no state income tax, blah, blah, blah, a bit of a different situation there.”
….
Hayes: “Yeah, I’m curious about the Tavares, you know, stance, because I believe they have the same agent, but I believe (Pat) Brisson is Duchene and Tavares’ agent. So, you know, John can’t play, ‘well my agent, you know,’ because Brisson signed off on Duchesne, four by $4.5 (million).
And again, you know, they’re both the same age. Neither of them have won a cup. Duchaine had a really good season. I just, I don’t quite understand how …”
LeBrun: “Well, what’s the, what’s four and a half in Dallas? What’s it in Toronto?”
Hayes: “Okay, I don’t know, $5 ….”
LeBrun: “$5.5 to $6 million with the tax? I don’t know.”
Hayes: “Is Duchene getting endorsements in Dallas, like, John is as a Maple Leaf? I being honest Pierre, like that’s the truth. Like, and this is what bothers people in Toronto, is now it’s state tax, state tax, and then again, like, (Jeff O’Neill) said ask Bettman, ‘ah, it doesn’t matter.’ Obviously, it does. And for John…”
LeBrun: “You just answered the question, Pierre, like, he’s…”
Hayes: “Yeah, what’s it worth here? And that’s the whole thing. Like, why, why would the Leafs or any of these other teams not like, why play by those rules? And why not just, I don’t care about the tax and all that, were the Leafs. You want to be here. You’re from here. Matt Duchene’s at 4.5, so are you
Now again, it’s not just about it, but it’s not just about the 4.5. Duchene did get four years.”
Hayes: “Yes.”
LeBrun: “So that’s not nothing. So you get…”
Hayes: “Let me ask you this quickly. You get the impression the Leafs are comfortable with a long-term deal with Tavares or do you think they prefer short?”
LeBrun: “I think they would have preferred short when the conversation began. But the longer they’re willing to go, the AaV comes down. And so this is easy for me to say, because I don’t have to live with the contract, but if I were the Leafs, and I’m trying to maximize the next couple of years, I would go longer and bring the AAV down so you have more cap space to play with.
Which is basically what they did with Chris Tanev. I mean, I don’t know that everyone expects Tanev to play the final year of that deal, but you never know he might. We’re seeing players play longer and longer. Cory Perry is going to come back for another year.
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But, but my point is, I would go as long as I feel comfortable with on Tavares to bring down the AAV, for sure. And that’s how you bring it down. I think that the Tavares camp are ready to do that if there’s more term. And that’s what brought Duchene’s AAV down. If Duchene signed a two-year extension today, it’d be north of 4.5. I mean, the total dollars matter here at that age, when you’re 34 years old, right?”
Hayes: “Yeah, so that’s 18 million total. Yeah, maybe it’s six-years, $3 million per for John. That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. I’m joking Pierre, I’m not gonna…”
LeBrun: “I, I was. I was letting yourself hang with the dead air on that one.”
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