[Signing] Justin Abdelkader Signs 7 Year $29.75M Extension ($4.25M AAV)

[codynw]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=787527

Justin Abdelkader signed a seven-year contract extension with the Detroit Red Wings, general manager Ken Holland announced Thursday.
The contract is worth $29.75 million, an average annual value of $4.25 million, according to TSN.

Abdelkader has four goals in 15 games playing on the Red Wings' top line this season. The left wing scored an NHL career-high 23 goals last season.

Looks like a future buyout to me.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Core piece? I like Abdelkader, but that's a long contract. Good AAV though.

[ComixZone]

Holland should take note...



Too much term, too much money. I just don't think you commit this type of contract to a support player.

[calgaryblood]

Too much term but ok money. He's better than Backlund and Backlund got similar money.

[sharkov]

Detroit could have cap issues for years considering what they doled out for Mike Green

[Fire of the Phoenix]

So, so bad... and I like Abdelkader. I'm really starting to wonder how much Detroit's previous success was due to guys like Nill and Yzerman. Since his old assistants left, Holland has made a ton of bad trades and signings. One of the most overrated GMs in the game IMO.

[CroFlames]

One of the best names in Hockey.

[Icon]

4mil sounds about right, but waaaay too much term for a guy who's going to be passed in their depth chart easily in the next couple years.

Would have done 4.4 x 3 myself.

[Da_Chief]

The guy is a borderline 2nd liner. He's played well with their top guns. But on his own he's not worth the term or the money.

Let's see how it turns out.

He also got a full NTC for the first 4 years. Limited after.

[Flash Walken]

Bouma equivalent if Bouma continues on his upward trajectory.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

One of the best names in Hockey.

Say it with a Punjabi accent and it becomes even more awesome.

[adc]

That seems like way too much money and way too much term.

He doesn't seem like a guy you would be that hurt by if he left for a similar deal somewhere else.

[keenan87]

would you rather have Frolik or Abdelkader as both are getting paid similar money.

[Don't Toews Me Bro]

Holland has made some really interesting contract decisions as gm, such as this one for a player like Abdelkader. Overpaying Weiss in free agency then buying him out 2 years later. Then the Samuelsson, Ericsson and Zetterberg contracts which will likely come back to bite them.

But then he lets guys like Hudler walk in free agency for 4m and Filppula for 5m?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

This is pretty much competent middle six money and he's a versatile guy. So it's not a bad deal AAV wise. Just, as others have said, far too much term. It runs until he's 35, and these types of guys tend to drop off precipitously not long after age 30. If it was 3 years, maybe even 4, it would pretty much just warrant a "seems fair".

[Strange Brew]

I would take Frolik over this guy. This is too much to commit to a non core piece IMO.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

One of the best names in Hockey.

His name would actually fit the rhyming scheme of this Sufjan Stevens song:

Our stepmom, we did everything to hate her
She took us down to the edge of Decatur
We saw the lion and the kangaroo take her
Down to the river where they caught a wild alligator

Sangamon River, it overflowed
It caused a mudslide on the banks of the operator
Civil War skeletons in their graves
They came up clapping in the spirit of the aviator

The sound of the engines and the smell of the grain
We go riding on the abolition grain train
Stephen A. Douglas was a great debater
But Abraham Lincoln was the great emancipator

[Sylvanfan]

Yeah, I guess I'm out of touch, the Frolik's and Abdelkaders of the world shouldn't be getting contracts for more the 4 years.

[Meers]

The dollars are fine, but the term's far too long. The Wings will one day regret this.

[TurdFerguson]