from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

- Seriously. After one full season in the NHL, in which Vincent Trocheck recorded 25 goals and 53 points to complete his three-year entry level contract — under which he posted 37 goals and 83 points in 137 games — the Panthers rewarded the 22-year-old center with a six-year deal worth $4.75 million per.

We get it. Each market is an entity unto itself. The Puddy Tats are re-branding and spending, giving an eight-year extension at $7.5 million per to elite young defenseman Aaron Ekblad with still a season to go on his original entry-level deal while splurging for seven years at $6.35 million per to free-agent defenseman Keith Yandle. And this after awarding their brilliant 20-year-old pivot Aleksander Barkov with a six-year contract worth $5.9 million per over the winter before his entry-level deal expired.

New ownership has a product to sell in Sunrise, Fla., and this apparently is part of their marketing strategy. Maybe it will even work for them.

But entry level and the corresponding second contract represent the only time management owns leverage in negotiations....

- If outstanding 20-year-old Colorado winger Nathan MacKinnon is worth $6.3 million per over seven years coming off entry level as per his new deal, then good luck to Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman in his negotiations to sign 23-year-old Nikita Kucherov, the Lightning’s most dynamic forward over their past two deep playoff runs, to his second contract.

more on each of the above plue other hockey topics...