Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman with an update on the Red Wings ongoing negotiations with vital RFAs Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman—the NHL's answer to Woodward and Bernstein—is back with another update on the ongoing (and, for Red Wing fans, anxiety inducing) contract negotiations with vital restricted free agents Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider.

This time, Friedman responded to a report from the Detroit Free Press that Dylan Larkin's $8.7 million annual cap hit might serve as a de facto limit or internal cap on Raymond and Seider's new deals.  It's a trend we've seen around the NHL, perhaps most notably with Patrice Bergeron and the Bruins.  Friedman said that he could not confirm that report but that it was consistent with his understanding of the negotiations, also pointing out that Larkin had greater leverage when he negotiated that deal as a pending unrestricted free agent.

Friedman said of an $8.7 million AAV, "I don't think that would be necessarily a problem for Raymond.  I think if there is a player who potentially—without knowing for sure—but if there's a player who I suspect might try to go above 8.7 of the two, it would be Seider, but again I don't know 100%."  "From what I understand about Raymond, someone said they heard about a report out of Sweden that there had been some progress," Friedman continued.  "I didn't see that report.  I'd heard something similar, but until it's done, it's not done, so we'll see where it goes."

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