Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Like Eldrick said I would be okay giving him close to market value on a two year deal max. Chances are he may be in the $4 million range to which I would probably investigate the rest of the market. The thing about Butler is you either bring him in a long term deal for low dollars without a NTC (so you can move him easily when you feel younger players are ready to step up) or a short term deal for close to market value. They can't sign him at market value for long term as IMO that would be a mistake.
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IMO I would go with 2 years, $2.5M per.. which I guess compared to this might look low, but the key is that Butler/contract have to be readily moveable and should never be seen as an anchor. Look at this years trade deadline, how many teams had to eat salary..... these days, teams simply can't afford to have players paid well above their worth, and Butler's contract has to be movable.
If not..... like I said, at the end of training camp, there are always 5-6 guys available on the waiver wire who can probably come in and fill that bottom pairing role. Might not be as good as Butler, but won't come with an anchor contract too. And there is always the waiver wire... I'm hoping that Butler takes a discount and we lock him up for $2.5M for a few years. Especially for a team that isn't likely to challenge for a playoff position, its not a huge problem to fill taht No 5-6 position that it might have been a few years ago when we had to plug that No 5 position with a guy like Marchment or Staois.