Quote:
Originally Posted by Oil Stain
I dunno. How is David Clarkson worth 5.25 fôr 7 years with one season over 40 points?
That's the market.
Mostly all the free agents this offseason had some warts but they all got paid.
Gagner had some good ammo going into arbitration. 64 points over his last 82 games. Top 30-40 in league scoring last season.
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over the last 2 years Gagner's linemates have been Paajarvi and Hemsky.
A blue chip prospect that the Oiler's gave up on and a 5M/yr star that the Oilers would dump if they could. Gagner did not and does not make his linemates better.
Elias... at age 37 got a 3 year 5.5M contract after playing on a line with Clarkson. Zajac while playing with Clarkson singed his 8 year 5.75M deal.
Playing with Gagner did not help his line-mates. Clarkson does.
If Clarkson can make Bozak or Kadri into true #1 6-7M dollar centres then his contract will not seem so bad.
I thought the Flames would be helped a lot by Clarkson in that it would give Backlund and Baertschi a chance to develop. The Flames are now hoping for David Jones to do that role. less risk of a franchise crippling contract but more risk in it not working out. Still a much better option than any of the Oilers tiny top 6.