MLive’s Ansar Khan answers three reader questions in a subscriber-only mailbag feature this morning, and all three questions involve the Red Wings’ need to re-sign Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider:
Q: “It’s been really quiet over contracts for Mo Seider & Lucas Raymond. Yzerman at his post-UFA presser, said he/they were working on it. Is there any reason to think/evidence an impasse has developed? There seems to be no sense of urgency. Is it possible training camp will open in late September and those two will still be unsigned?”– Mike
A: It often takes much of the offseason to agree on money and term with high-profile RFAs. The urgency sometimes isn’t triggered until shortly before training camp.
The team and players would prefer to sign for the maximum term of eight years.
Seider, 23, will get more than Raymond, 22, but probably not more than Dylan Larkin. Larkin sort of set the bar with his eight-year deal at an $8.7 million average annual value.
The Red Wings believe Larkin deserves to be their highest-paid player. He’s the longest-tenured Red Wing (nine seasons), the captain and has been the face of the franchise during a rough stretch.
Perhaps Seider comes in at around $8.5 million.
Once Seider is signed, it will set the bar for Raymond, whose cap hit will probably be around $1 million less, in the $7.5-$7.7 million range.
The trend around the league has seen teams locking up their young talent to seven- and eight-year contracts. If the sides can’t agree on long-term deals, they’ll sign bridge contracts (two or three years) for less AAV, maybe in the $6 million range.
Continued (paywall); as Khan suggests, even if Raymond and Seider aren’t re-signed until closer to training camp, they’re likely to report to Detroit for those late-August and early September “Captain’s skates.”
My “gut feeling” is that the Red Wings will not only get the deals done with Raymond and Seider by the start of training camp, but they’ll also announce the re-signings at the same time.
Ansar’s estimations as to the contracts are a little low in my book–I believe that Seider will indeed earn about $8.5 million, but this summer’s extensions indicate that Raymond’s worth closer to $8 million as well (from a “comparable contract” perspective). You may think that the team having an “internal cap” is dumb, but it is a reality at this time.
Ultimately, I’d like to see both players signed before camp, and both players finally earning a spot in the Alternate Captain’s rotation this season. It’s time to give one or both of them “A’s” on their sweaters/jerseys from time to time.
