Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith will be eyeing big extensions
Daily Faceoff: David Pagnotta, when asked about Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith contract extensions with the San Jose Sharks, the role Leo Carlsson and eventually Cutter Gauthier's will play in Celebrini and Smith's numbers.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Irfaan Gaffar: “I want to talk about Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith with the San Jose Sharks. Because you obviously see Leo Carlsson, you obviously see Connor Bedard. I don't think any of those deals affect Macklin Celebrini at all. I think Celebrini is going to get his no matter what he says the number is going to be. The San Jose Sharks are going to be like, 'Yep. When do you want to do it?'
Will Smith is more of an interesting one for me.”
Pagnotta: “Me too. And then this is the one where I think their camp is looking at this, and looking at how the market's being played out, going, 'Okay, where do we fit in all of this?'
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And I think the one interesting piece of business that's obviously not yet happened that will, that I believe will affect Smith's eventual deal, and him and Macklin. I mean, they can go into the season with their contracts. There's no rush on either side, and, and I haven't gotten the sense at all from either of their camps or from the Sharks that anyone's rushing into this.
But Cutter Gauthier in Anaheim, I think his number is going to play a factor in what Will Smith ends up getting. And, you know, there was talk of we had talked about this a few weeks ago the $15 million range after the $18 million Leo Carlsson deal. Then there was Keith Yandle's report of Gauthier's looking for the $18 (million) as well. I'm not sure exactly where that is. I still think it's closer to the 15.
But whatever that number is going to be, and whatever that term is going to be, that contract again, I believe, will affect how the Sharks proceed with Will Smith and how Will Smith and his camp proceed with the Sharks. So that's something to keep tabs on.
The Ducks, it's status quo with, with how things are going there, not just with Gauthier, but you know them trying to free up additional cap space to give them more breathing room and things of that nature with the whole (Chris) Kreider and (Frank) Vatrano and everything on the trade market.
So there's no immediate rush there. But I can tell you with certainty that you know Will Smith is looking at Gauthier, going, 'Your number is going to affect my number. We'll figure out a nice number so I can get one to.'
Gaffar: “Well, you know what we always say: 20 goal scorers get paid. Center icemen get paid. 41 goal scorers are definitely going to get paid, and that's what Cutter Gauthier had last season.
Just looking at Will Smith's numbers very quickly, he had 24 and 35 for 59 points. Eight power play goals. 17 power play points. I mean, obviously, look, he's not the guy that's the goal scorer there. He's, he's not the number one option there. Cutter Gauthier slowly now becoming the number 1A option or 1B option to, to Leo Carlson there in, in Anaheim. So it's going to be fascinating to see.
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Pagnotta: “Sorry, Irf. But that, that's what I'm referring to. I'm not saying that Gauthier's number is going to be Smith's number. I'm saying that if he's the, if he's the, the 1A Smith's the 1A to obviously Celebreni and, and Gauthier is the 1A to Carlson. So the number of that he'll get, Gauthier, will affect Smith. Won't be the same, but it'll affect it in terms of, you know, Smith's looking for 'X' and Gauthier signs for 'Y'. Then Smith's number suddenly creeps up closer to the 'Y' than it would the 'X'.”
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