Nathan MacKinnon Says He'll Take Less Money Again Because He Wants To "Win With This Group", Deserves A GoFundMe On The Side
I think we're finally past the point where we have to say that Nathan MacKinnon is one of the most underrated players in the world. Sure, your friends who don't watch a ton of hockey still might not know his name as well as they'd know Crosby or Ovechkin. But 99% of actual hockey fans at this point know that Nathan MacKinnon is a full-fledged superstar in the NHL. There were a few years there when he was kind of an afterthought when the best player in the league conversations would get brought up, but that's not the case anymore.
With that being said, Nathan MacKinnon is without a doubt one of the most underpaid players in the league. He's got 3 more seasons after this one left on his contract at $6.3M AAV. Not terrible money for a 24-year-old but just look around the league. Connor McDavid is making $12.5M per year. Then you look at the mess that the Toronto Maple Leafs have gotten themselves into. William Nylander held out for the first 2 months of last season to sign for almost $7M AAV. Mitch Marner had a mini holdout to get to almost $11M AAV. Auston Matthews is making $11.634M AAV since hockey players are all nuts and need to work their number into their contract somehow. So if Nathan MacKinnon wanted to, he could go out on July 1, 2023 and make however much money he wanted. But Nathan MacKinnon is ferda boys, and not just on Saturdays. He's ferda boys 24/7/365. And he's so ferda boys that he's willing to take another pay cut just so the 'Lanche can keep this crew together and win a Stanley Cup together.
Forbes - There’s a silver lining for MacKinnon, too. Thanks to his team-friendly deal, the Avalanche were well within their means to sign 30-goal scorer Mikko Rantanen, the final RFA holdout this fall, who signed for six years at $9.25 AAV.
Colorado still has over $5 million in cap space, which will help quite a bit next year when RFAs such as Andre Burakovsky and Nikita Zadorov are due for contracts.
That’s a luxury not afforded to some other teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have more than $33 million committed to three players (Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner) for the next four seasons. The Maple Leafs have maxed out the salary cap and have five of their top-six defensemen set for free agency after this season.
That’s the type of situation MacKinnon wants to avoid. Balanced teams are often the ones left standing at the end of the playoffs, which is where he wants to be. Deals like his, as unfair as they might be, help make that happen.
“We have guys that we wouldn’t (otherwise) be able to bring in,” MacKinnon said. “On my next deal, I’ll take less again. Because I want to win with this group.”
When MacKinnon hits free agency, he'll be 27-years-old and about to turn 28 right before the season. He'll most likely sign a long-term deal which means that by the time that deal is up, he'll be on the backend of his career. So he'll be hitting free agency right at the peak of his prime and that would most likely be the biggest ticket he'll be able to sign in his career. After that it'll most likely be either shorter term deals or significantly less value. But does Nasty Nate give a fuck? Not at all. Because as long as he's able to help keep the boys together, that's all that matters to him. What a legend.
And it shouldn't be surprising in the slightest. The moment you saw Nathan MacKinnon on an episode of Trailer Park Boys, you knew that this kid was always going to put the crew in front of himself.
He'd live in a shed with Bubbles and all his cats if that's what it would take to win a Cup or two with this Colorado Avalanche team.
I know that he's still getting paid millions of dollars to play a game for a living but it's just human nature to be greedy. It's human nature to want and want and want and want. And when you get what you want, you always want more. But that's not the case for guys like Nathan MacKinnon. He's not the only player in the history of sports to take a pay cut and he sure as shit won't be the last. But it's just great to see a young superstar in the league right now make a point that he'll prioritize the logo over his bank account. Kyle Dubas could only fantasize about having a guy like this.
But yeah, I think that Colorado Avalanche fans should probably set up a GoFundMe account right now for MacKinnon because this man deserves to get paid extra heavy on the side if he takes another team friendly deal.