[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Yeah - can't say I'm a big fan of this bridge. I'm still sitting here hoping we land Bennett on a long-term/lower cap hit deal. When teams can get those done on the right player it looks amazing. Look at Nashville, they're built on these type of deals: Josi - 7 years, 4M per, Ekholm - 6 years, 3.75M per, Ellis - 5 years, 2.5M per. Josi had played a grand total of 100 NHL games, putting up 22 points and was given a guaranteed 28M.

If you pay a young player for what they've done previously, you're going to get them on a short term cheap'ish bridge deal. If you believe in a player, and he's yet to fully prove himself, you can potentially lock them up longer term for a lower cap-hit. If you believe in the player, you do it.

...seeing as a good chunk CP spent last year condemning Hamilton, Gaudreau, and Monahan...yeah, I'm not surprised the stick in the mud financially conservative folk don't want to gamble on getting a sweet heart deal. They can't look past a bad stretch of 15 games and are ready to give up on young players after a rough October.

Imagine had the Flames upped Brodie's contract to 5M per and got him for 7 years opposed to 5 years at 4.65. Minor "overpayments" on wise gambles like that can end up in huge benefits to the team.

But you have no idea of Brodie had any interest in that contract. I don't like contracts where the player is betting against himself. Personally I'd rather pay for performance than potential.