After five months of negotiations that stretched over a week into training camp and on the day of the fourth preseason game, the conclusion was that they wanted McTavish in camp, McTavish wanted to be in camp and a healthy compromise was struck.
“Both sides felt the need to get to training camp,” Verbeek said on a media call from the team’s preseason game in Bakersfield, “and obviously, like I said before, training camp’s an important part of preparing for the season. And Mason, as I was, we were both eager to get Mason into camp and to get some reps under his belt. Not only for the new systems, but the conditioning part as well. “It’s a really good day for us.”
McTavish will finally arrive at Ducks training camp on Monday, and Verbeek hopes to get three good practices in for the 22-year-old center before playing McTavish in the preseason finale next Saturday at Los Angeles.
McTavish is the first of Verbeek’s three long-term restricted free agent deals to be negotiated without arbitration rights–both Troy Terry in 2023 and Lukáš Dostál this summer had those rights–but this is also the third RFA negotiation to drag into training camp after Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale in 2023. Verbeek said that’s just business sometimes.
“That’s just the nature of the beast, Verbeek said. “It’s just the way it happens. I think every agent has a process. We have a process that we go through and you like to get these things in as sooner or earlier than later, but they just play themselves out. This thing was no different than the last time with Jamie and Trevor. I think this time around, we got it done much earlier than last time.”
McTavish got signed with four preseason games left. Zegras was signed with three preseason games to play, and Drysdale signed four days later before the preseason finale.
Verbeek said, with this experience in hand, the team is looking ahead at its crop of RFAs next summer–Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger–and hoping to work ahead.
“That becomes difficult,” Verbeek said of negotiating with five RFAs and not just one or two. “We’re looking internally. I’m seeing if we can get some out of the way before next summer. It could be a situation where guys want to wait till the year’s over, and we can approach it that way, or might be a couple of guys that will look into it and want to explore it.”
Last weekend, it was reported by various insiders over the last week that the Ducks and McTavish’s camp were apart on both years and dollars, with David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period reporting McTavish was seeking seven or eight years at $7-8 million per season and the Ducks offering five years at $5.5 million per season.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic had even reported on Saturday morning that it was “status quo” on the McTavish negotiations, but that one phone call could change things. Verbeek said there’s always a buildup of give-and-take that results in the final compromise.
“You go back and forth on different things,” Verbeek said. “Each side tries to make their case, and so eventually there’s some commonalities that you can kind of put to bed. And then you start working on some of the other differences, but overall it was back and forth on terms, sometimes back and forth on dollars. Ultimately, we ended up settling where we settled, and it’s not really one thing or the other. It was just a host or combination of things.”
Now, after months of negotiating and a week of skating back home in Ottawa with the 67’s of the OHL, McTavish has his own 6-by-7 in his pocket to get up to speed and get to work.
“Obviously, (the 67’s are) not the pace of the NHL, but we’ll see how he does,” Verbeek said. “It’s just going to get used to pushing at that pace, and Joel (Quenneville) runs a high pace practice and it demands that you get skating… I think he came in at a good time. If he gets any later, it might have been a little more difficult for him. But I think he’ll be in a good spot when he gets here Monday.”
Below is a full transcript of the media call with Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek on Saturday (questions and responses edited for clarity):
Why did this deal get done now?
Obviously, I think both sides felt the need to get to training camp, and obviously, like I said before, training camp’s an important part of preparing for the season. And Mason, as I was, we were both eager to get Mason into camp and to get some reps under his belt. Not only for the new systems, but the conditioning part as well. So you know, it’s a really good day for us.
With the last three long-term RFA deals signed, this is the only one where the player did not have arbitration rights. Lukáš Dostál and Troy Terry both had arbitration rights. This deal, Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale all went into camp. Why do you think that was?
I think that’s just the nature of the beast. It’s just the way it happens. I think every agent has a process. We have a process that we go through and you like to get these things in as sooner or earlier than later, but they just play themselves out. And so, you know, this thing was no different than the last time with Jamie and Trevor. I think this time around, we got it done much earlier than last time.
Can you at all shed a little insight into how you and McTavish’s agent Pat Morris got this over the finish line today? Because, you know, certainly it was a bit of a struggle to get to it, maybe even as late as this morning. But can you shed any light on how you guys push it over the line?
Well, struggle. I mean, like I said,.. Both of us, we have our processes, and I think he has his way of negotiating, and I have mine. But I think ultimately, I think both sides realize that you have to get the player in camp. The player wants to be in camp. And so you work towards compromising. So, that was basically how it went the last couple days, actually. So, it was just a process.
Do negotiations like this often turn on one phone call?
No, there’s kind of a build-up. I think both sides can kind of sense to where a deal’s going to shake out, and I think the best deals are always the deals with both sides are unhappy, right? And I’m not saying that we’re unhappy, but that’s the process to where… (audio issue)
I got the general tone of it in terms of compromise and maybe some give and take and maybe both sides not getting everything that they wanted. I think that’s where you were going with it, right?
Pretty much. That summarized it very well.
Does this feel like, now, we’ve got goals for this season, now we’ve got everything in place to attack those goals. Do you kind of have that feeling now?
I mean, when you got, you know you know, the players that get planned on back in the fold and, you know, and everybody’s now working towards a common goal, which is the playoffs. Yeah, you feel good. Now we got some time to prepare with everybody in the lineup. And so that’s a good feeling.
On the surface, it seems like a fairly common compromise you see, in these situations in terms of term, in terms of money, even the trade protection. Can you give us any insight into maybe some sticking points or delays? What kind of dragged this out? Was it term? Was it dollars? Was it any detail?
No. It’s all kinds of things. You go back and forth on different things. And so, each side tries to make their case And so eventually there’s some commonalities that you can kind of put to bed. And then start working on some of the other differences. But overall it was back and forth on terms, sometimes back and forth on dollars. So ultimately, we ended up settling where we settled and it’s not really one thing or the other. It was just just a host or combination of things.
As already alluded to, this is three of these types of negotiations in a row that have gone pretty deep. Next summer, you’re looking at five prominent RFAs. I know you had spoken at the outset of camp saying that you might look at how you’re going to approach that. How have you considered that, looking ahead? Because when you’ve got one guy, two guys, that’s one situation. When you’ve got five, it’s a little bit different.
Yeah, no, that becomes difficult. Like I said before last week, we’re looking internally, I’m seeing if we can get some out of the way before next summer. So, we’re looking into that, and we’re seeing where that can lead to with our guys. It could be a situation where guys want to wait till the year’s over and we can approach it that way, or might be a couple of guys that will look into it and want to explore it. So we’re going through that process right now, and see if we can’t work some things out before next summer.
You said last week that this minus Mason, and now obviously he’s back in the fold, was pretty much the group that you were going to start the season with and going to roll with. But you still have considerable cap flexibility. How much do you value that, especially in the year where we might see it like last year, there were sort of two trade deadlines, maybe something pre- Olympic break and then the actual deadline. Can you just address maybe having that flexibility in what could be a pretty active market?
Well, obviously, that’s a long ways off, but it’s certainly having that flexibility and the ability to be able to, we’re in a scenario where we can add or make our team better at the trade deadline. I think that’ll be something we explore. And obviously with, you know, this year’s new playoff cap situation, it will be very interesting how all of us adjust to the different landscape when it comes to that.
When we talked about the other negotiations that you had, whether it was with Troy or Trevor or Jamie, you said that ultimately the contracts became fair market value. Is that where you feel like you got to with Mason’s deal?
Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, I think both sides got a really fair deal. And certainly, if you look around at all the young players, it’s certainly, from our perspective, fair market value for a player of Mason’s caliber.
Were there any comparables that you were kind of going directly off of to find kind of a guideline?
I don’t want to get into that.
Beckett Sennecke gets another game here tonight. What have you seen from him in your evaluations through camp so far?
Well, I think he’s starting to feel more comfortable with the pace of play. When I watched him in junior last year, he could really do a lot of the things that he wanted to do, and I think (in camp, he’s) understanding that he has to push hard and work hard and skate hard the entire shift, and he can’t really coast. Some of the other stuff is getting used to being hit all the time. The one thing here is they look to finish checks, and you can’t look guys off like in junior. Part of it is understanding the strength. He has decent strength to his frame right now. His weight could obviously improve, but I think he’s got a fine balance right now to kind of keep growing into that body of his. So, I’m looking for him to improve his details with his defensive game and understanding where his responsibilities are and being aware and having an urgency for those responsibilities. Obviously, we all know he’s very talented offensively, highly skilled, really good vision and sense. But you know, the difficult part. Is defending in your zone and managing the puck, even though he’s not exposing the puck when he’s in the offensive zone and protecting it. So those are little details that we’ll continue to stress with him, and I expect them to get better in the next week to ten days.
Two of the last two years of this deal are going to be UFA years for Mason. Are there no trade clauses attached to either of those years?
Both years are no trade. They’re limited and modified no trade clause.
And coming into camp, will there be any process toward easing him in or is he just feet to the fire?
We’re going to just kind of stay on top of it. Obviously getting up to the pace, and then he’s been practicing with the Ottawa 67’s. Obviously that’s not the pace of the NHL, but we’ll see how he does. I’d like to get him in for the first three days and see where he’s at. It’s just going to get used to pushing at that pace, and Joel runs a high pace practice and it demands that you get skating. We’ll monitor that. I’d like to get him into the last game of exhibition and then he’ll have three more good practices before we start the season in Seattle. So I think he came in at a good time. If he gets any later, it might have been a little more difficult for him. But I think he’ll be in a good spot when he gets here Monday.
Can you clarify, if possible, the terms of the no trade clauses? 10-team?
No, we don’t get into that.