Mm-hmm.

And preparing, uh ...

You know, we're trying to do forecasts on, on where the cap's going through the NHLPA, through our own observations.

I'm very fortunate.

Uh, my partner is my son, Ryan Cader, who, uh, just graduated.

He graduated from Boston College undergrad.

He just finished a two years, uh, master program in sport management from Boston College.

No problem there.

And maybe they were setting themselves up for this off-season and all these big extensions, but how quickly do you think we get to a point where salaries are gonna start to level off because there's just not enough teams that can pay these guys?

Well, I mean, the system's designed, uh, for a tiering of teams in wh- in what, in where they are on it.

I think everyone knows not everyone can go to the cap, just like everyone knows that- You know, a third of the teams will be in the middle, and maybe a third of the teams will be in the, uh, the bottom.

But that's why there's a band between the, the high, the highest you can spend and the lowest you can spend.

So the system's designed for this.

Um, that's why they have revenue sharing and, and kind of everything else.

And, you know, I give a lot of credit to, uh, Marty Walsh and a former client of mine, who I represented since he's 15 years old, Ron Hainsey, um, and how they've been able to work with Gary and Bill of the NHL and have helped craft out this system.

I need a time out [laughs]

I mean, how much of a, of a cascade from the Leo Carlsson deal even do you see in something like the Ryan Leonard deal?

Well, I, I, I think it just was able-- Leo's contract was just able to access the new reality of post-COVID, uh, contracts.

You know, post, uh, you know, the cap not being flat anymore and the cap rising at such a significant rate.

I think between 2024 and 2028, the cap i- is gonna rise 40%.

That's a huge jump, and it's gonna continue to rise as revenues, uh, continue to pour in, especially with the new TV deal coming in and a number of different factors, uh, expansion, a number of different factors that will, uh, lead HRR to keep growing.

And, I mean, that's the whole basis of this system, is the owners get rewarded and the players get rewarded as they grow HRR together, and it's a 50/50 split.

It's a fair system.

[laughs]

[laughs]

And, you know, at that point we'd identified that we felt the th- the, the, uh, key comparable is, you know, was Connor Bedard, and we wanted to...

Our, our plan was to wait and see where he ended up, you know, in his negotiation, then probably negotiate from there.

You know, we'll let, we'll let Bedard set the market, and then we'll negotiate from there.

That was our plan, and we figured in Sep- by September we'd fly out to California and get a deal done and, you know, be ready for camp.

I, I think that, um, you know, Leo's big thing was to avoid any holdouts, uh, situation or avoid missing camp at all, like, like most players, and I think that that's fair.

Um, you know, we obviously, obviously there was a potential for an offer sheet, 'cause it's written into the CBA.

You must feel kind of relieved in some ways that it worked out this way.