With Auston Matthews having signed his 4-year extension just a couple of short weeks ago, a lot of the conversation surrounding contracts for star players has been about whether or not the Matthews deal will sort of reset the market in terms of the term expectations on substantial contracts.
We know that most stars who have signed recently have been fine with an 8-year term. However, with Matthews, he had signed a 5-year deal out of his ELC and now a 4-year deal following his initial 5-year deal. It's certainly unorthodox in comparison to the likes of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, David Pastrnak and others. Now, there may be another star player preparing to follow in Matthews' footsteps.
Trevor Zegras out in Anaheim remains a restricted free agent in need of a new deal. Recently, Elliotte Friedman had reported that he has heard that the Ducks and Zegras' camp may be looking at a bridge deal, keeping things short-term coming out of his ELC.
"One of the things that I heard on Zegras is it's likely going to be more of a bridge or a short-term deal. I think, at this point in time, it's not trending towards anything in terms of a long-term extension."
- Friedman on Zegras
Friedman also touched on that this might simply be a case of wanting to see where the salary cap situation goes. Bridge deals are not uncommon. However, it's a little convenient that this story comes out just after Matthews inks a short-term deal while most other stars have inked longer-term deals. Just something to consider.