Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
If they sign him for 7.5, so be it - but now it will be harder to keep Bennett and, eventually, Tkachuk's salaries correspondingly down. It snowballs. I like how Treliving is sticking to his numbers (whatever they may be) as Gaudreau is not going to bring a cup to Calgary single-handedly. Not only is every dollar you save on a contract a dollar you can put to use elsewhere in an upgrade, but it also (in theory) allows you to save an additional few dollars with other contracts as well down the road with other players.
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I have never liked this philosophy. I don't think teams can or should worry too much down the line and need to live in the now when it comes to these things. It's impossible to know who will progress, or who won't. Or who might end up getting traded. I doubt even the best GMs in the leage can predict those things with much accuracy past 2 seasons.
Did Chicago ever worry about paying their best players what they are worth? Never, and they got a few Cups out of it because they adjusted as they went. Sure it meant having to trade good players for futures, but it worked for them (and is still working).
You identify your core, pay them what they are worth, then change the pieces around them as needed until one of them is good enough to replace a core player. Long gone are the days where a good team establishes a roster and holds more than a few of those players for several years straight.