Quoting: ErikJohannsen
I took into consideration Matthews and Eichel as comparable contracts. I would love it to be cheaper but I'm just trying to be realistic. Have you ever watched this guy play hockey?
I used Eichel as a benchmark for a long term Pettersson deal and had him at the pretty much the same deal as you do now. But I think that his negotiating power has been hurt after this year.
The number one reason why is he hasn't been able to prove that he can stay healthy. He's missed a decent amount of time over his first three years but especially this year. This was a big focus for Boeser during his negotiations as well. Eichel got one full year in (his rookie year) but Pettersson has missed time in all three.
The second reason would be that his PPG actually declined this year in the relatively small number of games he played. He simply scored at a higher rate in year 1 and 2 than he did in year 3.
The biggest thing he has going for him is that he lit up the Playoffs. That's huge, but it did happen last year before his scoring declined. Draisaitl tore it up during the Playoffs and got a very expensive (at the time) long term contract. He's a PPG Playoff player, which is a decent bit better than Barzal.
I think both player and team will be happy with a bridge deal here. The big ticket will come once the flat cap is at least closer to being lifted and the new TV deal kicks in. Pettersson will bet on staying healthy and bouncing back and the team will make sure he can do that before committing.