herman said:
I think the other GMs are actually more interested in Dubas 'winning' this impasse than in acquiring Nylander because this is an inflection point in the second contracts of 2nd tier superstars that they are bound to draft at some point or another (and vice versa for players/agents).
I know Lebrun wrote about it the other day but the idea that this is just a precursor to a lot more of these sorts of negotiations seems pretty real to me. The money at stake is just too great, and teams have such poor options in terms of not signing these players, that players might have a lot of real incentive to wait it out.
Again, speculation here, but if the Leafs were at 7 years/6AAV to start with and are now at, say 6.75 then Nylander has already made almost 4 million dollars just by sitting at home.