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Originally Posted by Finger Cookin
Stajan's contract isn't awful, it's completely ordinary.
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3+ million and 4 years are both clearly top 6 numbers. In fact, most teams only have 2-3 core guys signed for more than three years at any given time. Stajan is bottom 6, ~12 minutes a night player on this team, who has so far played at a 10 point pace. We can afford that contract, sure, but the size of that contract will clearly limit our chances when we try to move him. (We might need to retain some of that salary.)
(I'm saying "when we try to move him", because something has to go badly wrong in our center development for us to need Matt Stajan for the next four seasons.)
For the record, I think it was an okay contract given what we knew at the time of the signing. At that time we were unsure whether or not we would still need top 6 minutes from him. Centers are important and good ones are hard to get, especially for a team expected to be a lottery team. Overpaying the guy we had, especially someone considered a valuable locker room presence, was IMO a wise move.
It's looking like an awful contract now, but only because our prospects have so clearly overshot expectations. That was a chance we took at the time of signing. I was okay with it then and I'm okay with it now. We could afford to play it safe.
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And he'll have no trouble making the lineup. Jooris and Colborne will be better off helping our depth on the wings.
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If he recovers completely, I think so too. And I hope he does. But that kind of injury at his age could effectively turn out to be career-ending. If he loses a step, he could be done.