couldnt afford 2nd t
Joined: Sep. 2021
Posts: 1,014
Likes: 434
Overpaid by 1M or so. Take away his name value and reputation, and he's an 8M player.
Tkachuk is the closest comparable at 9.5M this off season, and he blows Barzal away. You can say Barzal is a C, Tkachuk is a winger, but Tkachuk is also a power forward, which makes him coveted. Fiala is another one that is pretty close in age and term, he signed for 7.875M and is the better player, he's just not a center.
Because the cap is going to go up to 100M within the next 4-5 years, I cannot see this contract ever being that bad. It still isn't a good value signing. If the situation was they had to overpay to keep the player, they probably made the right move. If that wasn't the situation, they got out negotiated.