Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Malkin costs $9.5M for the next 7 years. For the remainder of the contract, he will be 29 - 35 years old.
Offensive players put up their best numbers in their 20s. In other words, Pitt has gotten the best years of the deal, now the crappier years remain (still some good ones obviously).
He is one-dimensional, and I am not sure I would be keen on his influence in the room (pure, unwarranted speculation on my part - and not saying a negative, just not exactly a positive).
Question: who gets the most points over the next 7 years, Malkin or Bennett? Keeping in mind that Bennett probably averages less than $4.5M per year over that time.
So the trade is a 30 something Malkin for Bennett, another $5M UFA and a 1st (and probably more).
Not a chance.
Not to mention, what do you say to Giordano when you're paying Malkin $9.5M?
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There is always going to be a premium on proven talent, even if they are at the plateau, or just south of it. A team can't be afraid to include such players in their pay structure though as it is literally impossible to fill a roster all with players both pre-apex and contributing. Right now we have room in the pay structure to add such a player, if it made sense. I'm not sure it does make sense for other reasons, but overpaying a player that is still likely to be very productive is not really an issue IMO.
I am also not sure that elite players fall into the same statistical curve as other players when it comes to sustaining peak production. Going by age statistics, Iginla should have dropped off a lot more than he has in recent years. Special players tend to hang on longer more often than average players.