Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined Sirius XM NHL Network Power Play segment with Steve Kouleas and Jason Strudwick. There, he was asked about what contract extensions could look like for Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard with a rising salary cap.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
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Jason Strudwick: “The salary cap is just going through the roof, which is great. We’ve got some young stars that are looking for new contracts, Connor Bedard in Chicago, and I know that he’s one year away, but (Macklin) Celebrini in San Jose. I don’t know if there’s anything happening at all with either one or would you expect it to look like when they if and when they do?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah. I mean, yeah, you’re right. Like, we’re at 104 ($104 million) next season, it’s 113 and a half ($113.5 million) a year from now. And in two years, it’s going to be around $120 million, $123- $124 million. There’s a lot of money to play with. And you’re right. Some of these younger guys are going to cash in big, and I think Bedard, with his age, where he’s at, I can certainly see him signing a contract, you know, mid-tier. Keeps him still. Brings it to the last year of his restricted free agent status, and probably looking at what $12 million, maybe higher an AAV for what he’s capable of.
Clearly, Celebrini with two to go, they’ll talk in the summer as well. But I mean he’s even higher in that regard. Obviously, the preference on the team side is to lock a guy in as long as possible. The player side, it’s a combination of security, but also being smart about it, with what your age is, where your age is at, could certainly see that playing a factor for them.
And not only that, like you look at Anaheim, they’ve got a couple guys as well, but they’ve got to get locked in to new contracts. (Cutter) Gauthier needs one. He just scored 40 goals. They’ve got a few other pieces there as well. You got the big American, you got the big Swede. You got a lot of different pieces. You got a defenseman, a young defenseman as well, who needs a new deal.
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So the Ducks are going to be throwing a lot of money out at these guys as well. And whether it’s (Leo) Carlsson or Gauthier or whoever, they’re going to get a lot of bucks. I can certainly see them following a similar pattern that I expect a Bedard to go in. Midterm four or five year extension bank on big dollars and then see where the cap is at this point. Because in five years, we could be around 130, and those dollar figures are just going to continue to go up.”
NHLRumors.com Note: Well, Macklin Celebrini, during his year-end media availability, said he is open to signing an extension this summer. As Max Miller of San Jose Sharks Digest reported, he and Connor Bedard have a process, but he says every situation is different.
It will be interesting to see what those players get in terms of dollars, along with Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson, and other young Ducks players. But with the salary cap rising, dollar amounts will increase for highly skilled players.
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