Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntingwhale
I'm curious as to why not? To me he's the definition of a franchise player. He's won a Norris (albeit in a lockout season). He's an exciting player that people pay to see. He's marketable. He put down a load of money to help at a local hospital. He took the time to learn french specifically so he could interact with fans and media. And he is a game breaker on the ice.
Sure he makes a couple bad defensive plays and has a high risk style. But IMO that's doesn't mean someone isn't a franchise player. To me a franchise player also involves what the player does off the ice. And Subban is very much involved in spades. He's their face of the franchise and go to guy.
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I'm not as big of a fan of the higher risk, high reward offensive defensemen. I think in general those guys get overrated and overpaid because of their points. Give me a slightly less offensive d-man who's better in his own zone and makes 2-5 million less every day of the week. I don't think his salary is crippling but I'd much rather build around guys like Keith, Doughty, Josi, Brodie, etc who make less money but IMO are better all around defensemen.
His trade value should be massive and EDM is going to have to be willing to overpay if they want a top two defenseman. MTL could be in a situation where they get more back for Subban than he should be worth. PHI turned Mike Richards into two players younger and better than Mike Richards. PHI turned Jeff Carter into two players about as good as Carter IMO. If MTL can turn Subban into 3-4 high level assets that helps them become a legitimate contender more easily.