Marner finally signed! The flood gates should hopefully break loose now and we should start seeing all the RFA’s sign I’d think.
Hell of a deal for Marner! 6yrs x $10.893 per year (almost $1M per year than Eichel, and for 2 years less!).
This makes Marner the 2nd highest paid wing in the NHL, and 7th highest paid player overall. 2nd to Panarin, who signed for 7yrs as an unrestricted free agent (so the rangers bought all UFA years). Marner’s deal bought 2 UFA years.
The Leafs now have the 3rd, 5th and 7th highest paid players on their roster.
IIRC, I don’t believe any team has ever won it all (in the salary cap era) with two $10+M players on their roster, let alone 3. It’ll be interesting to see how they manage the cap moving forward. They have a # of key UFA’s on defense next year too (Muzzin and Barrie) who are both due for nice raises (or at least Barrie, for sure). They are going to have to hit in the draft and keep that pipeline stocked.