Into the Ivan Provorov contract scenarios…
Jordan Hall and Brooke Destra of NBC Sports Philadelphia recently wrote: What is Ivan Provorov worth to be honest? He gets utilized as a number one defenseman but is he?
When it comes to market comparables, Provorov presents a bit of a problem. Jacob Trouba signed with the New York Rangers but those are apples and oranges. Trouba sits at 25 while Provorov is just 22 coming off a down year. An $8 million AAV appears very unlikely at this juncture. The five-year deal seems ($6 million AAV) to be almost inevitable for the defenseman.
On the other hand, Provorov’s agent could turn a negative into a positive. Negotiating a bridge deal now could offer up a bigger payday later. Some argued that this season was a product of bad coaching and deployment.
A slightly lower bridge deal in the neighborhood of a $5 million AAV allows both sides to see how Provorov matures and sets up for some of those unrestricted years.
Projecting Travis Konecny dollars…
Jordan Hall and Brooke Destra of NBC Sports Philadelphia recently wrote: Again, Konecny is another 22-year old on the Flyers awaiting his next deal. Unlike Ivan Provorov, this is more a case of dollars as opposed to term. A bridge deal is just a more palatable scenario. Could an AAV of somewhere around $3-4 million be in his future? It is plausible.
A term of three years allows Konecny to grow into some of the players the Flyers are envisioning. Travis Konecny will be a 30-goal scorer eventually and more defensively responsible. Philadelphia gambled on this with Sean Couturier once and it worked well.
Matt Murray sees the dollar signs
Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey NOW: Did that Andrei Vasilevskiy contract set the market for Matt Murray? Consider the last few summers where Carey Price, and now Sergei Bobrovsky and Vasilevskiy have been shown the money ($9.5-$10.5 million AAV). Murray commanding close to that kind of money in his next deal has to make Pittsburgh feel uneasy.
There are a few differences. Matt Murray experienced a downturn (somewhat team-based) and bounced back. The Vasilevskiy contract has more impact (both are 25 now). On the other hand, Murray has won two Stanley Cups. That does mean something. Look out!
