from Ryan Dixon of Sportsnet,

Young players are influencing NHL games like never before and as the I-deserve-to-get-mine mentality spreads to the point of orthodoxy among them, the challenge of transitioning from their CBA-mandated, entry-level deals to their second contracts isn’t going away for teams weighing a risk-reward scenario while making calls on players with small bodies of work at the highest level. There are no sure things when you’re in what Chayka calls “the projection business,” but increasingly it seems there’s enormous upside for teams that trust their evaluations and come to the table early prepared to talk about six or seven years.

Leave it to the youngsters to start a trend, and trust the generations north of them to slightly mislabel it. Not long after Keller and the Coyotes knocked out their business, no less than 11 restricted free agents coming off entry-level pacts — all somewhere between very good and elite — had yet to strike new terms with their teams as training camps were about to kick off. When six of them — Zach Werenski, Charlie McAvoy, Brock Boeser, Brayden Point, Matthew Tkachuk and Patrik Laine — all settled with two- or three-year agreements, the Internet reflexively started throwing around the term “bridge deal.” The phrase has been around in this context for a while and though it remains appropriate in that these contracts offer a palatable short-term solution, there’s a new dynamic in play that almost renders it a misnomer. “It was the bridge from entry level to the monster [third contract],” says one agent. “I just think we need a new word for it now.”

That’s because, while still short and connective, these deals are no longer merely a vehicle to get players to the real payday; they already contain serious dollars themselves.

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