Toffoli, Pearson

[LoCal Kings]

Anyone have thoughts on what the next contracts will look like for Toffoli and/or Pearson? Obviously, the moving targets are their individual performances this season, projected NHL salary cap for 2017-18, who Vegas selects in Expansion, and the timing of all of the above.

As they are both RFAs, maybe Lombardi waits until after Cap is set and Expansion Draft is complete before any firm negotiations take place??? However, certainly don't want to get into an Offer Sheet situation with either player.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

I think they are both due sizeable raises. For reference Toffoli is making $3.9 million and Pearson $1.55 million. Both guys are over the $1 million mark so an MQO of the same salaries are only required to retain their rights. I think both guys will have at least 5 year deals - Toffoli around the $5 million range and Pearson around $3.5-4 million. The Kings do have some salary coming off the books but they also have a lot of FAs in general that need to be addressed.

Offer Sheets are a concern, specifically with Toffoli because he is emerging/has emerged as a solid T3 sniper. Little inconsistent but that isn't unusual with goal scorers. Pearson is becoming a solid T4-6, two way player as well. Either of these guys could be subject to an Offer Sheet and with the Kings' cap situation I would not be surprised to see a rival GM tender one.

One way around that would be to have both Toffoli and Pearson elect arbitration - they would be off limits. Could be a wink wink nudge nudge deal between the two and Dumbo but the way it works is the player picks one amount, the team another, and an arbitrator picks one of the numbers. Thus it would have to be a very specific amount that the Kings and the players would be comfortable making in either case in such a conspiracy theory case. It will be very obvious to an arbitrator what is going on and the NHL could hammer the Kings, I would think there are some GMs still irked at how the Kings got out of the Richards deal even though nothing they did wasn't restricted in the CBA.

There are some dates regarding RFAs that need to be looked at to see what the Kings can do:

June 17-18: NHL Expansion Draft
June 23-24: NHL Entry Draft
June 25: MQOs must be tendered to RFAs
June 26/First Tuesday after NHL Entry Draft: RFAs can begin talking to other teams (new under the 2013 CBA)
July 1: RFAs can accept MQOs (can be extended to July 15 but it has to be a specific reason that needs to be explained to the NHL)

As you can see, some things will be set already, answering some of your questions.

Couple of Vegas updates:

66 players Vegas will not be able to touch at all:
NHL releases list of players exempt from Golden Knights' expansion draft, report shows
One King on that list, no surprise who it is.

McPhee still playing coy, younger or older team?:
McPhee's Caps tenure no hint to NHL on Vegas expansion draft

 

[heLL paso]

Thinking Toffoli will get $5 mil per is a total pipe dream. He's going to get Brandon Saad type money.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

I could see him in that $6 million range but Saad's contract covered 3 years of UFA eligibility, which carries a premium. He also has an extra year of experience on Toffoli and has 2 Cups to Toffoli's 1 and was a big factor in the first one (2013) he was part of with Chicago.

Saad had a bit more leverage than Toffoli does so I could see him flirting for the same contract but I don't see him getting it. Should be interesting to see what Toffoli's stating point will be, which will obviously be high.

 

[heLL paso]

Saad signed his contract two years before Toffoli did so by the time Toffoli signs his next contract he will be further along his career. Toffoli holds way more power than Saad did when he signed his contract. The Blue Jackets gave him a decent contract at the time so they would pay less money further down the road. The Kings signed Toffoli to a cheaper bridge contract (because they couldn't afford to give him a long term contract ala Dustin Brown did years ago) so it's time to pay him a truck load now. For example look at Erik Karlsson. After his entry level contract he signed long term for $6.5 mil per. What a steal that is right now. Meanwhile, PK Subban signed a 2 year bridge contract (like Toffoli) and immediately followed it up with a new contract worth $9 mil per. It's the bad business of doing bridge contracts when the player actually turns out to be good. Then you can add in the fact that Toffoli is simply a better player than Saad. Put Toffoli on a high flying team and he scores 40 goals. Lucic just signed for $6 mil per year and Toffoli is night and day a better player. He'll sign for closer to $7 mil per than $5 mil per. Keeping Richie and not signing Toffoli to a long term is gonna haunt the Kings.

 

[LoCal Kings]

Looking at next year's salary commitments (assuming Brown is still on the books), I think Toffoli @ $6M and Pearson @ $4M would be really pushing the limit. Maybe possible if the Cap goes up a bit.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

That's the thing I don't totally get. Toews and Kane got $10.5mil/year as the two top players in hockey, BUT also with the assumption that the cap would go up (Which everyone said was going to happen). But the cap did not go up, at all, and then you see guy like Kopitar also get $10/mil a year, with no cap increase. So basically these guys are just making a massive percentage of their team's overall cap compared to previous years, which no one really predicted.

Next you see Yzerman in Tampa Bay basically say he won't pay Stamkos and was willing to let him go if he wouldn't take a reasonable offer, which he did, at $8.5 mil/year (I know that in Florida, with their income tax laws, that was a factor, but I don't know if it was a $2mil/year factor).

I just wonder that if until this cap increases, you won't see much more reasonable contracts per year because teams can't handcuff themselves like that. I'm not really sure the answer, but I'm curious.

 

[heLL paso]

The cap has gone up though, just not as much as was expected.