Quote:
Originally Posted by saillias
Hey look, Oilers just gave 4.5 million to another bottom pairing defenseman.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Read Only
Money is way too high but term is pretty good.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wastedyouth
The Oilers just paid a 5th to outbid every other team that would have sent an offer to him in UFA. Smrt.
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I realize this is a Flames board but can we please maintain some semblance of reality?
4.5 is absolutely fair for a guy who would play 2nd pairing minutes on half the teams in the league and certainly in Edmonton. There's limited downside risk because it's a two-year deal. I would not be surprised if someone would have offered him $5M for longer on the open market, particularly given that the UFA class this year is absolutely terrible. The best UFA d-men available are a 38 year old Dan Boyle and Matt Niskanen and the cap is going up so teams have room to do stupid things.
I'm not saying Nikitin makes them a good team but there's really no reason to criticize this contract at this point. Makes little sense to me from Nikitin's perspective. Although, Nikitin does have a history of making nonsensical decisions...
What the heck is he even thinking on that play?