EHM The Blue Line

Hey guys, got a really serious problem here.

I have a real problem renewing contracts of my best players. Usually it shows up as theyre not interested in renewing contract with my organisation. Im managing Colorado Avalanche at the moment, season 2018-2019. Won 1 cup so far and heading for presidents trophy this season.

Problem is, that my best players are usually not willing to discuss about the new contract (most of the times, I am able to renew their contracts, but I guess Im overpaying them a little. For example McKinnon wasnt willing to discuss new contract so Ive offered him 6.2 mil while his running contract is 4.7 mil (last seasons 82GP/74P, this season 58GP/63P so far). Same applies to Duchene(6 mil to 7.6 mil), O'Reilly and Varlamov. Varlamov will most probably become FA as he isnt willing to renew contract.

I cant see any reason for their unwillingnes to renew contracts because of personal matters as all of them had/have status enjoying playing for the team etc...

Any help would be appreciated

Happens quite a bit. Just be patient, in the playoffs they will start yelling at your for new deals. Or they won't....

Where are you in the season? Many tend not to accept offers til January at the earliest. Mimics the way it has been, most re signings in NHL do not come til after Jan 1. Sometimes they get deals done before the season. Also, still offer them what the $ default to if you figure they are worth it when they say do not want to negotiate. They often sign for it, and I usually add an extra year on.

If you figure they are not worth what they are asking...then you do not sign em and let em walk. I do ... just did it with Derek Dorsett and his 2.5 not willing to negotiate wants.

Im in march and was able to renew all the players except Varlamov so far. Last season with O'Reilly, he even became UFA and asked for the less money he was earning season before. It seemed kinda silly, so I hope this happens with Varlamov too ))

Yes it might just happen. Or they will become unhappy at playoff time and want a new contract.

Usually they'll sign for whatever the default is plus an extra year or two. Sometimes a touch less than the default, even if they are not interested in negotiating. If they refuse that then you'll most likely have to wait it out or offer something excessive.
I recommend offering them a contract as early as possible as often their demands will go up throughout the season, it won't kick in until next season anyway so it'll save you money. I made the mistake of negotiating with Kapanen for too long and his demands just gradually went up. Once out of contract he still wanted the same and took it to arbitration and I'm worse off by a long way!
Wennberg on the other hand wouldn't talk, but then decided he wanted a lower contract before arbitration.

I would like some kind of explanation to why players reject a contract extension when there is no obvious reason why; especially if it's a deal the player proposed in the first place.

All of my RFA's were unwilling to talk until after they became unrestricted free agents with retained rights. Then on the first day of UFA they all signed with me. Weird.

I wasn't able to re-sign Voracek and also I couldn't sign almost anyone in the free agency. I was offering the same amount as the other teams but I also offered really high bonuses but the players still went to the other teams.

I think something might have been changed in the latest patch. I'm now having serious issues with contracts and player interest, especially amongst players coming out of their entry level contract just not wanting to sign and players turning down higher contracts than they're on.

Same here. Since the last patch for 2 years of gameplay every player I try to re-sign says he does not want to negotiate. Some of them will still sign deals if the offer is good enough, but most don't want to talk until July 1st. Weirdly, RFAs who turned down much larger contracts before July 1st are happy to sign their qualifying offers once we hit July 1st.

You might be able to use that to get them to take a pay cut. Previously I've found negotiating as early as possible was better as the more the season goes on the higher the demands get. Arbitration sucks though, it always offers them huge deals.