Under the current collective bargaining agreement, NHL teams are more apt to spend money on players they have drafted and developed rather than paying top dollar for veterans in free agency.
The effect of clubs investing more cap space in keeping young players -- such as the reported eight-year, $100 million payday coming for Connor McDavid -- is that the league's superstars rarely reach the open market while still in their primes.
And with that, the free-agent pool is limited, and many of the multiyear contracts that are handed out come from win-now teams looking for the final piece of the puzzle instead of building-block players.
Which multiyear contracts will give those contenders the boost they need in 2017-18 and beyond, and which deals might turn sour by the end of next season (or before)? Let's have a look:
