Quote:
Originally Posted by Lcsulla
It is a bitch signing defensemen in an offseason like this where really solid guys are tough to come by, you are almost forced to overpay for them. He is capable of being better defensively but has not done so, hence the 4 year contract rather than locking him up long term I think. Comparatively speaking it is an awful deal for a middle of the road guy IMO - his annual cap hit is only 38 grand less than Duncan Keith and amazingly his cap hit is 2 mil more than Nicklas Hjalmarsson annually - both of whom I believe you would agree are better players.
|
Hard to compare to a guy like Keith because he is already under contract and has been. I mean if Keith hit the open market this season, he'd be fetching at least $8 mil per. And with Nik, well as much as it pains me to say it, teams will always focus on the offensive side of what a player can do (not me, I'd take Nik over Barrie and day). And Barrie's got that. Plus, he's right handed, which is like the NHL equivalent of a unicorn for some reason. In the end, this is just another case of the way the nhl is today, like it or not. It's the going price for a young offensive defenseman, and I think Sakic did a decent job of coming out of it not overpaying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lockman21
I'm just mostly perplexed that there's no one they could trade him too instead of putting him on waivers?
|
Or why they didn't buy him out earlier in the FA period? You're right, it is weird.