Wake With Elias- Sept 5/19- Pondering Boeser’s Deal, EP40 Talks Expectations

That Clayton Keller deal is something else, eh? When word broke about the 8 year deal to keep him in Arizona, it sent ripples through the league as teams that are in the same boat the Coyotes were in: looking to lock up one or more of their young RFA’s, suddenly found their jobs a whole lot harder. First, let’s look at the deal itself:

That’s certainly a player friendly deal if there ever was one. And it’s not that I want to knock Keller, he’s a talented young player with a bright future ahead of him.

I just don’t know if what we’ve seen from him so far justifies a contract like this. I suppose if you’re a Coyotes fan, it’s got to be reassuring that the team is making moves and building a core around a pretty good player. But if he doesn’t live up to expectations, that contract is pretty unmovable.

You have to think that Mitch Marner’s agent stopped whatever he was doing and did a little dance when he saw this, because if that’s what Clayton Keller is worth, Mitch gonna get PAID, man. And the price to resign Marner was always going to be steep, but Kyle Dubas has to cursing John Chayka right about now for making his job that much harder. Or how about Kevin Cheveldayoff in Winnipeg, who has yet to sign Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor? Mikko Rantanen in Colorado and Matthew Tkachuk in Calgary could also see their new deals impacted by this signing.

And that brings us to Brock Boeser. Now before you start panicking about how much cap space the Canucks have, this signing isn’t going to impact Boeser’s deal, but it could depending on the length. Boeser is a Group 2(c) RFA, which is basically not really a free agent at all under the CBA. They can’t be offer sheeted at all. It’s take what’s offered, or sit at home, and we know Boeser’s not likely to want to sit out. So it shouldn’t be a shock if Boeser signs a shorter bridge deal, and then when he has a little more leverage, works out a deal that pays him what he’ll be worth. For some more insight into this, Thomas Drance (longtime Canucks blogger who recently returned home after a 3 year stint with the Florida Panthers PR Dept) has a great piece on The Athletic with player agent Lewis Gross. It should be noted that Adam Gaudette next year, and Quinn Hughes the following year will be in the same situation Boeser’s in right now.

Meanwhile, Elias Pettersson joined some of his teammates for an informal skate yesterday and spoke with the media afterwards:

He’s definitely saying all the right things. Another interesting storyline for this season is the vacant captaincy slot. There’s been quite a lot of support for Bo Horvat to get the nod, and Horvat spoke about it yesterday:

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