Welcome back in everyone! This week I want to go around the league here and just check in on some players that signed big ticket contracts – we'll go with "somewhat recently" – because there's a player here, I want to highlight who signed an extension two seasons back. The rest were over the offseason or during last season. We're about 20% of the way through 2024-25, so let's get a check-in here.

Tage Thompson – C – Buffalo – 27 years old

Contract: $50M – $7.14M AAV – Five years remaining – M-NTC

Over this past weekend I happened to be chatting with a family friend who lives outside of Buffalo and that of course led me to watching the Sabres. Admittedly, it's not a club I get a chance to see a ton of with them playing out east, but I enjoy watching them when I can to check in on them, plus I have Alex Tuch in fantasy. In watching them this weekend, Tage Thompson scores a goal, and the announcer makes a comment that he is the leading goal scorer in the NHL right now. He has since been passed by one goal, but it got me thinking about his contract and what value he might bring here in the coming seasons with a cap that is going to go up marginally.   

Thompson sits 89^th in the NHL in cap hit, so let's say that things stay where they are right now and that Tage (tied at sixth for goals with 11) ends up there with six players ahead of him. All six of Sam Reinhart, Leon Draisaitl, Cole Caufield, Nikita Kucherov, Kyle Connor, and William Nylander have a higher cap hit. This is where I think the value here is going to really benefit Buffalo, with Tage's play on the ice supplemented with the young players that Buffalo has managed to surround him with. I could see a rising cap here in a few seasons, where we could be talking that this might be one the best contract to have on your books in the NHL.

There was some skepticism coming into this season with Tage, and that was driven mostly (I would think), by health. Doesn't help for argument's sake that he's currently day to day, but just in my league (12-man), Thompson was selected 12^th in 2023. This season it was 26^th, and I'm sure that number might be higher in some leagues as his average ADP this season was 14^th amongst centers, and 48^th overall. If you're one of those out there that might have gone out on a limb here for a rebound season, then you may have something really special on your roster.
 
William Nylander – RW – Toronto – 28 years old

Contract: $92M – $11.50M AAV – seven years year remaining – NMC

Can William Nylander play until he's in his mid-40's at a high level? Because I kind of feel like while I prep for my 2035 draft that I'm going to have him somewhere near the top. After signing his new contract in the middle of last season to now, I wasn't sure if there would be regression. Maybe by the stats slightly but going off eye test here he impacts the game every single night in some way. I'm not one of the lucky ones to roster him in fantasy but I do have Auston Matthews so I try and catch the Leafs when I can.

I want to say in some leagues, there may have been some hesitance to draft Nylander because of the playoff absence, but if you took him, you're in a great spot. A quarter of the way through last season, he had 27 points; this season that number is 20, but that's with the Matthews injury, too. His shooting percentage is approaching 20%, and while I think that number comes down to 12%-13%, I can see him still getting close to or above 90-point mark this season.

Leon Draisaitl – C/LW – Edmonton – 29 years old

Contract: $112M (Extension) – $14M AAV – Eight years remaining – NMC

First, I got to say good job by you ESPN for giving Leon Draisaitl C and LW eligibility mid-way though October after everyone has drafted! Draisaitl became the highest paid NHLer this offseason and coming into today I wasn't sure I'd highlight him here. However, that was before I watched the Oilers last game vs the Islanders, which ended in Draisaitl icing the game with an OT winning goal. Draisaitl has hit the 100-point mark in each of his last three seasons, and if we take out the COVID year, that number goes up to five. Not much is going to change here but I do think there may have been slight hesitancy coming into the season for some drafts out there and that may have been because of playoffs last season, particularly in the Western Conference Finals and Stanley Cup.

I remember watching the early rounds of playoffs last year and texting friends that finally after years, we have a healthy Leon Draisaitl in the playoffs. I'm not speculating that there was an injury of sorts as playoffs rolled on, but the numbers are what they are. In round one, 10 points. Round two, 14. Next two rounds combined, seven with just three in the 7-game Cup Finals. In our league, he went 9^th overall, and I wonder if we re-drafted everything again right now, where that number would be? I don't think it's too farfetched to say third overall. Maybe second with the two-position eligibility at his benefit?

I wrote here that I stood by the number that Draisaitl signed for, and so far, it has not disappointed in any way. Even with Edmonton's changing second line, he's been able to work with whoever is around him. I've made the reference here before that sometimes Edmonton lines are like a snow globe, where you're not 100% sure where things are going to fall prior to or in game, but Draisaitl's line the past three games has the most consistent line for the Oilers as far as TOI is concerned with just over 30 minutes at even strength. He has been driving play with the best IPP at all strengths in the league right now and that's on a line with Vasily Podkolzin, who I know some people were out on as a prospect, and Viktor Arvidsson who had seen a decline in TOI. This could, and likely will, be another monster season for fantasy production regardless of how he's deployed for the Oilers.

*Salary Cap data from PuckPedia.com  

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