As said, the Orpik contract is clearly the worst by far and I would suggest the Poo contract in Edmonton is next.
The DE contract is a bad contract for sure, but it doesn't really hurt the Flames at all. It is relatively short term and less than $3M. These types of deals do not wreck your salary structure, nor hamstring your team - especially when your team has the lowest team salary in the entire league. If that is what we had to pay to get the player we wanted for the term we wanted, and there were other bidders, I'm ok with it.
Compare it to Niki Niki in Edmonton - they had no current competition for the player (they traded a 5th rounder to ensure they wouldn't) and yet still paid a "healthy scratch from CBJ in favor of Nick Fricken' Schultz" a long term big money contract. Anyone care to compare the third pairing salary for Smid/DE to Edmonton's third pairing of Niki Niki and Ferrence? Both will likely be equally bad, but while Oiler duo might be a bit more mobile, the Flames duo is infinitely tougher and by all accounts better in the room with the youngsters.
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