Maybe this has been mentioned already, but I personally don't see the need for a limit on contract length. If they want to address the issue of circumventing the salary cap by adding on additional years at the end of the contract, just change the rules going forward to make the cap hit for each year be that of the player's salary for that year. That would end the signing bonuses and the cap circumvention, but would still allow players to sign lifelong contracts for the sake of security.
Am I the only one who actually feels bad for the Predators in all of this? They finally get a cup contending team and it's dismantled in a single offseason.This is a lose-lose situation for Nashville - they'll lose a lot of fans if they don't match the offer sheet, and they risk financial peril/locking up too much money in one player if they do match. Either way, this is a hard hit financially for Nashville.
How this contract is valid is beyond me. The entire purpose of the CBA and NHL salary cap was to allow small market teams to compete with the larger market teams. The way this deal is structured (being so heavily front-loaded) basically allows the large market teams to beat out the small market teams for any free agent they want to pursue. I'd be worried this could start a precedent, but they'll probably address it in the next CBA in the aftermath of this offseason.
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