1) There’s been a lot of talk about Mitch Marner and the impact his lucrative contract will have on the restricted free agent market. Understandably so.
Young stars very rarely command anywhere close to the annual salary Marner fetched, especially without giving up max term. He is raising the floor for what RFAs will get now and moving forward.
It’s not just young stars like Mikko Rantanen, Brayden Point and Matthew Tkachuk that should be licking their chops, though. Established stars like Taylor Hall should be doing the same.
Even over the last year, superstars Nikita Kucherov ($9.5) and Mark Stone ($9.5M AAV) didn’t touch Marner’s salary despite pending UFA statuses. Taylor Hall is probably not going to have that issue. Especially not now.
Over the last two seasons, Marner has averaged .99 points per game and 2.47 points per 60 at 5v5.
Hall has averaged 1.19 points per game and 2.46 points per 60 at 5v5 on a team that has struggled to score, no less.
I understand you’re getting more elite years from the 22-year-old Marner than a 28-year-old Hall but the latter is giving up all UFA years (generally more expensive), the latter has a Hart Trophy in his cabinet, and the latter could start a bidding war for his services should he test the open market.
Factor in the expected rise in salary cap over the coming years and I just can’t see Hall signing for less than $11 million per.
2) The on-ice portion of training camp is well underway and we’re starting to see our first taste of line combinations.
Kyle Palmieri remains in his usual spot on the top line with Nico Hischier/Hall and Travis Zajac is centering both the Jespers. Perhaps most interestingly, that leaves Nikita Gusev, Jack Hughes, and Wayne Simmonds as the other top-9 line to start.
Admittedly, I don’t really like Simmonds in that slot. I think his pace of play could be a bit of an issue. He’s an inefficient point producer at 5v5, too, so he doesn’t seem like the optimal choice to compliment high-end talents like Gusev and Hughes.
With that said, Simmonds seems to think he’s as healthy as he’s been in years and there’s always the possibility Gusev and Hughes can elevate his game to a top-6 level. Either way, it’s hard to get too worked up about Hynes’ early decision. It *could* work better than expected, and it’s better to find out now than in October when the games are actually meaningful.
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