From The Silky Mitten State, can Steve Yzerman credibly argue that no Red Wing should make more than Dylan Larkin in his negotiations with Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond?

Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin signed an eight-year contract worth $8.7 million annually through the 2030-31 season on March 1st, 2023.  As Detroit GM Steve Yzerman currently negotiates new contracts for budding stars Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, Larkin’s contract raises a question: Could Yzerman argue credibly that no Red Wing deserves to be paid more than his captain?

There is precedent for this sort of organizational relationship to the salary cap, perhaps best exemplified by the Boston Bruins during the late stages of Patrice Bergeron’s career.  From 2014 to 2022, Bergeron played on a modest $6.88 million AAV contract.  He was among the best players in the league on that deal and its best values, and when teammates went to negotiate new deals, management could use Bergeron’s number as a ceiling for everyone else.

Could Yzerman do something similar with Larkin?  There’s certainly a case for it, though of course for it to make sense Seider or Raymond would need to be able to argue in favor of a cap hit in excess of Larkin’s.  That is at least possible, especially if the two are gunning for eight-year deals.

As a 22-year-old coming off a 72-point season, Raymond can make that case that his scoring trajectory is climbing, and he’s already shown himself to be an impact performer with or without Larkin by his side.  Meanwhile, more then $8.7 million would seem like a lot for Seider based on production, but as young Sabres like Owen Power and on a more modest scale Mattias Samuelsson have shown, to lock up an early 20s defenseman to a max-term deal costs a pretty penny.

On the latest episode of The Silky Mitten State, my co-host Connor Earegood and I discussed and debated this dynamic.  Check out our conversation in the video above and the full episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts: