{"id":524282,"date":"2026-03-26T18:54:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T18:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/524282\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T18:54:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T18:54:23","slug":"young-stars-could-reset-nhl-market-with-next-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/524282\/","title":{"rendered":"Young stars could reset NHL market with next contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"

TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston joins Gino Reda to discuss how players like Connor Bedard<\/a>, Leo Carlsson<\/a> and Adam Fantili could reset the market with their next contracts, the Senators possibly taking a step forward in getting their long-awaited new arena and an important change in season ticket renewals coming to the NHL next season.<\/p>\n

NHL\u2019s young stars poised to reset market with next contracts<\/p>\n

Reda: The great young NHL talent is ready to set a new salary bar. The Sens take a big step towards a new downtown arena. And how do the Leafs plan to sell their new reality?<\/p>\n

Details on these stories and more with insider Chris Johnston.<\/p>\n

CJ, let\u2019s start with the young stars in the league. Given their talent, given the elevated salary cap, are we getting ready for a salary spike in the NHL down the road?<\/p>\n

Johnston: Absolutely. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any question about that, all free agents are poised to push the bar up from where it\u2019s been.<\/p>\n

But I think it\u2019s really interesting that we have three players picked at the top of the 2023 draft, that being Connor Bedard<\/a>, Leo Carlsson<\/a>, and Adam Fantilli<\/a>, all top-line centres for their teams \u2013 the Chicago Blackhawks<\/a>, Anaheim Ducks<\/a> and Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> \u2013and each of them are unsigned at this point. And it\u2019s not because the teams don\u2019t want to sign them. These players have intentionally held off, I think, in large part because of the shifting market dynamics. And so those are three contracts that will get done at some point before next season and into this summer that I think could reset the bar.<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s interesting of all, Gino, I don\u2019t think those guys would mind if a younger player, that being Macklin Celebrini<\/a>, who can sign his next deal as of July 1 with the San Jose Sharks<\/a>, if he went first in order to sort of establish what the market rate is. Of course, Celebrini is having the most productive of those young stars in terms of his season, almost on the cusp here of hitting the 100-point mark in this year.<\/p>\n

As this season winds down and the focus is on the ice, naturally, thoughts in the front offices and among the agents have already gone to these contracts because I think you\u2019re going to see some big numbers there. And term will be an interesting dynamic as it usually is because this is the last summer that NHL teams are going to be able to sign players to eight-year deals.<\/p>\n

And so, will some of those guys get eight-year contracts? I think it\u2019s possible, but we\u2019ll have to see how that plays out.<\/p>\n

Senators take step towards getting new downtown arena<\/p>\n

Reda: There\u2019s so much more money out there right now. It\u2019s going to be interesting to see how the teams decide to distribute that.<\/p>\n

Alright, let\u2019s shift gears now. For years now, the Sens have realized they need a downtown arena. The 25-kilometre drive just doesn\u2019t work, especially on weekdays. And there\u2019s big news on that front this morning, CJ?<\/p>\n

Johnston: Well, the Sens certainly hope so. They\u2019ve announced a long-term strategic partnership with the Algonquin and Anishinabe Nation. And what\u2019s significant there is I think it clears up any potential thoughts about who owns the land. The Indigenous peoples had previously put in a lawsuit in 2022 about land ownership in that area. The Sens have bought a parcel of land at LeBreton Flats, where, of course, they\u2019ve been trying to get an arena going for a number of years now. And I think that the fact that these groups are working together on a memorandum of understanding in terms of a shared vision for that land is a positive step.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s still a lot of things for the Senators to work out here. Questions about environment, transit, getting in and out, and, of course, who\u2019s going to fund this and how exactly that arrangement will work \u2013 all still need to be tied up before we\u2019re talking about the actual arena being built. But I do think it\u2019s an important step for the Senators. And clearly, this is a team for a long time that sought to get an arena built downtown. And this is another tick along the way, I guess, if you look at the checklist for the Sens to actually do that.<\/p>\n

How Leafs are handling 2026-27 season ticket packages<\/p>\n

Reda: It\u2019s a key step. Look, while the Sens are fighting for their playoff lives down the stretch, the Leafs are already trying to figure out how to get their organization back on the rails for next season. In the midst of that, you got a glimpse into season ticket sales and the plans for next year?<\/p>\n

Johnston: I did, yes. And the renewals will be processed here on Thursday for existing season ticket holders in terms of the 2026-27 season. And look, it\u2019s obviously not gone as the Leafs had wanted on the ice this year. They aren\u2019t actually bumping the cost of the season tickets, but what is happening in 2026-27 is the league and the Players Association have collectively bargained the move to an 84-game season. So there\u2019s a 42nd home game in Toronto and everywhere else in the NHL next year.<\/p>\n

And what the Leafs have done is said, look, season ticket holders, you\u2019re buying 41 games plus one preseason game. That\u2019s the case again next year at the same price. If you want to buy the next game, the 42nd game, you get first dibs at it versus the general public. But essentially it gives them more to sell, as it does with all other teams. And this was done by design.<\/p>\n

Just a reminder: With the owners and the players collectively bargaining that in the new CBA, the idea is to increase hockey-related revenue, as it\u2019s called, the amount of money everybody shares in the pie. And the pie will grow next year in Toronto and all of the other 31 markets as the season ticket renewals start to get processed.<\/p>\n

Reda: The timing of this step for the Leafs, I don\u2019t know, it just doesn\u2019t seem ideal for them. That\u2019s it for the early edition of Insider Trading. The full IT with CJ and Pierre is coming up on the early edition of SportsCentre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston joins Gino Reda to discuss how players like Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4759,5,4,32428],"class_list":{"0":"post-524282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-nhl-sports-hockey-league-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116297006155642120","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}