For the last couple of offseasons, an easy story heading into July 1 was to goggle at how much the Leafs were going to pay out in signing bonuses. The Leafs flexed their rich-team muscles by signing John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander to contracts with huge signing bonuses and very low base salaries in every year of the deal. Those deals were all front-loaded as well, so that the player would have a high percentage of the total contract value spent on Gucci beanies before the contract ever ran out. That was the best way for a player to gain an advantage from a team when all those deals were signed, and it was a good way for teams to negotiate away from even bigger AAVs on those deals by giving that monetary advantage to the player.
No one wants a John Tavares style contract this season
