Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Kyle Bukauskas and Dominic Sramaty discuss the Red Wings’ restricted free agent re-signings right off the bat (at the 3:11 mark) in the latest edition of 32 Thoughts.
Sramati asks Friedman about the Berggren, Raymond and Seider contracts, the fact that they’re under the “Dylan Larkin cap,” and Friedman says that the Free Press reported this past weekend that Seider would be signed for 7 years instead of 8.
Seider may have been looking for an 8th year over Larkin’s number, so things were sorted out by taking it down to 7. If the 8-year deal for Seider happened, it would have started with a 9, so Steve Yzerman wasn’t comfortable with that.
As far as Friedman is concerned, one should never wait to re-sign players, because the price will never go down, and it’s a “win-win-win outcome” as the players are locked for a long time, it’s “W’s all around.”
Friedman also feels that Yzerman bent in terms of term, while Seider’s representation bent in terms of salary number.
Friedman says his former agent suggested that both sides win when they feel that they lost something, and in both negotiation, everyone wins, but they gave up something, and the players are locked up with the organization, so it’s done.
