from Jesse Granger of The Athletic,

Barbashev has been money, and in doing so is making himself a lot of it. This run couldn’t be better timed for his bank account, considering he’s set to hit unrestricted free agency. His stock is soaring after the way he has contributed in all facets.

It begs the question: How much will he command, and will the Golden Knights be able to hold onto him? Barbashev has indicated he’d be very interested in staying, but could his strong play price him out of Vegas?

Evolving-Hockey has his projected contract value at $4.5 million per season for a four-year contract based on comparables around the league. That, of course is taking into account his larger sample size of play, which isn’t nearly as strong as he has played in a limited time as a Golden Knight.

Barbashev is coming off a two-year deal that he signed in St. Louis that carried a $2.25 million average annual value (AAV), and undoubtedly he will be getting a raise from that.

The GSVA model by The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn projects his value at only $3.3 million moving forward, suggesting a deal worth $4.5 million would be a slight overpay, but there are several factors leading to that figure being low. The biggest is Barbashev’s defensive deficiencies over the last couple of seasons, which haven’t been an issue at all in his short time with the Golden Knights.

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