[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Love the player. Really like what he adds to the team, but i'm not doing 9 million.

My thoughts from the other thread a few weeks back are the same. Paying a 37, 38, 39, or 40 year old player $7,000,000 is a mistake.

Give Gio term and front load the contract.

Front loaded contract. Contract drops with age. For reference sake, Stephane Robideaux's contract this year as a 38 year old was for $3,000,000
Dan Boyle $4,500,000 at age 37
Bryce Salvador $3,250,000 at 38
Gonchar $5,000,000 at 40

6 years:
$7,000,000 (2016/17 Age 33)
$7,000,000 (2017/18 Age 34)
$7,000,000 (2018/19 Age 35)\
$4,000,000 (2019/20 Age 36)
$4,000,000 (2020/21 Age 37)
$4,000,000 (2021/22 Age 38)
$3,750,000 (2022/23 Age 39)
$3,750,000 (2023/24 Age 40)

Average cap hit is $5,000,000

When you look at the amount of players the Flames will have come out of their entry deals by 2022 that $5 million cap figure for a 39 year old player is absolutely crippling as that's Wideman cap money for a guy that won't be nearly as good at that age. Flames would be extremely lucky if Gio at 38 years old could play as well and as many games as Dan Boyle did this season for the Rangers and even at that Boyle only got 20 points. The salary really doesn't matter as you would be talking $15 million in cap money still left on the deal at the age of 38. It's just too long of a deal with a $5 million annual cap hit.