Despite being presented with that option by Pat Brisson, Cole Caufield never considered signing a so-called “interim” contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

“When we started discussing the contract, it was six, seven or eight years,” revealed Brisson, the American forward’s agent, in an interview with JiC, Tuesday. He liked the direction the team was taking. He loves the city, he loves Quebec. […] We spoke to him and his family about “Bridge” to weigh all the options. After considering all the options, he wanted at least six years.

Brisson mentioned five players who were used as a basis for comparison in the contract negotiations with the Canadiens: Nick Suzuki, Tim Stützle, Josh Norris, Matthew Boldy and Dylan Cozens.

Caufield’s case was different, however, because unlike those players, five years (rather than four) separated him from full autonomy. He received slightly less money than expected.

“If Cole was four years old instead of five, he might have made $8 million or $8.3 million at that point,” Brisson said.

This amount would have been higher than Suzuki’s. Caufield ended up earning an average annual salary of $7.85 million, $25,000 less than Suzuki’s $7.875 million.

“With Caufield we fell into the same situation as Suzuki,” explained Brisson. It was important to the Canadians that their captain was paid a little more. We accepted the situation.”

Watch the full interview in the video above.