I seem to recall that not only 2 years ago, there was a lot people on CP ready to trade Gio. Now it seems he is indispensable somehow. Don't get me wrong I think he's done a great job for the team this last year and a half and has been a great captain as well.
I don't think he'll end up with $9 mill/year, but I would dare venture to say that anything over AAV $7 mill/year is an overpayment for a guy that has played great for such a short period of time.
What happens if Gio signs for AAV $8.5/year for 4 years and then hovers around the 40 point mark for the length of that contract (which according to the last 3 or 4 full regular seasons would put him anywhere between 20th to 30th in defenseman scoring)? there are a lot of defensemen in that range that make considerably less than an AAV $8.5 mill. I think people will start to talk trade again.
or is the higher salary more for leadership than scoring?
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