Team friendly contracts
I've seen alotta ppl hope the players do this and I think there is nothing wrong with being hopeful but, especially since the Demidov signing, people keep comparing it to the Habs? Like there is alotta people saying the vibes are just as good here and team is happy to be here and even if we assume that's true am I fried for thinking its not really possible to replicate Habs contract environment by nature of having the Macklin Celebrini on the team.
All of their core guys are signed within 1.5 million of each other (7.8-9), nobody on the team is going to get that close to Mack's contract, there is massive difference between your superstar taking 17 mil instead of 20 mil and your elite players having to take 9 mil instead if 11-12 to be team friendly. Habs GM even says this during the signing press conference.
Other than it being a job and you should maximize your earnings, the contract also shows your value to the team. From the FO to the fans they value their young core pretty equally. But San Jose will always value Celebrini more and you can also see it in the fan sentiment of "as long as Celebrini signs, it's fine if X ends up walking." (Hope this doesn't sound like I'm saying the sentiment is wrong, its to be expected) Nobody calls MTL an individual players team the way SJ is Celebrini's team or the Hawks are Bedard's team.
Finally, perhaps most importantly, players value cup contention. MTL is fresh off of making it to the ECF while Sharks haven't even made it to playoffs. There is alotta hope yes but I don't think its fair to compare the situations at all. There is just no precedent set here and its not fair to expect the guys to set one now when the Habs precedent mostly originated from Suzuki signing during cap freeze/before his breakout. Ntm city cost of living diff, team sponsorship diff etc.
tl;dr Macklin is gonna get paid way more than the second highest paid player and that makes it difficult to replicate the Habs situation.
Edit: the point of this wasn't that the players should or shouldn't take less than they are worth but that people should stop comparing MTL'S situation/contracts with ours/our players as a realistic comp. Mack's contract will only set a team ceiling, wont be a team friendly precedent even if he takes the team friendly 17 instead of the max.