Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith will be eyeing major extensions
The Daily Faceoff: David Pagnotta, when asked about Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith’s contract extensions with the San Jose Sharks, the role Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier will eventually play in Celebrini and Smith’s numbers.
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Irfaan Gaffar: “I want to talk about Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith and the San Jose Sharks. Because obviously you see Leo Carlsson, obviously you see Connor Bedard. I don’t think any of those deals affect Macklin Celebrini at all. I think Celebrini will get him no matter what the number is going to be, ‘Yep to Jose Sharks. It?’
Will Smith is very interesting to me. “
Pagnotta: “Me too. And then this is where I think their camp is looking at this, and I’m looking at how the market is playing out, saying, ‘Okay, where do we fit into all of this?’
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And I think one interesting piece of business that obviously hasn’t happened yet, that I believe will affect Smith’s deal ultimately, with him and Macklin. I mean they can enter the season with their contracts. There’s no rush either way, either, and I haven’t gotten the sense at all from any of their camps or the Sharks that anyone is rushing this.
But Cutter Gauthier in Anaheim, I think his number will play a role in what Will Smith ends up getting. And, you know, there was talk that we talked about a few weeks ago the $15 million range after Leo Carlsson’s $18 million deal. Then there’s Keith Yandle’s report that Gauthier wants $18 (million) as well. I don’t know exactly where that is. I still think it’s close to 15.
But whatever that number will be, and whatever that period is, that contract again, I believe it will have an impact on how the Sharks proceed with Will Smith and how Will Smith and his camp proceed with the Sharks. So it’s something you should always look forward to.
The Ducks, it’s the situation with them, how things are going there, not just with Gauthier, but you know they’re trying to free up more cap space to give them more breathing room and things like that with (Chris) Kreider and (Frank) Vatrano and everything on the trade market.
So there is no immediate rush there. But I can tell you for sure that he knows that Will Smith is looking at Gauthier, saying, ‘Your number is going to affect my number. We’ll find a good number so I can get one.’
Gaffar: “Well, you know what we always say: 20 goal scorers get paid. 41 goal scorers get paid. 41 goal scorers will definitely get paid, and that’s what Cutter Gauthier had last season.”
If you look at Will Smith’s numbers quickly, he had 24 and 35 points for 59 points. Eight power play goals. 17 power play points. I mean, obviously, look, he’s not a scoring guy there. He’s there, he’s not the first choice there. Cutter Gauthier is now becoming the number 1A option or the 1B option, for Leo Carlson there, in Anaheim. So it will be interesting 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 will be Smith’s number. I’m saying if it’s him, if it’s him, 1A Smith’s the 1A to Celebreni again, and Gauthier is 1. Smith’s not going to be the same, but it’s going to affect it in terms of, you know, Smith looking for the ‘X’ and Gauthier’s ‘Y’ signs and then Smith’s number suddenly goes up closer to ‘Y’ than it would to ‘X’.
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