Quote:
Originally Posted by The Cobra
I didn't say you were calling him a good 4th line player because he makes too much money.
I'm saying he's being compared against young players making a fraction of what he makes. He should be good based on that comparison.
The Flames don't have a ton of cap room. If Stajan and Brouwer were gone, they'd be able to bring in a better player to fill out the top line.
Stajan is what he is. An overpaid vet that is relegated to the 4th line because he's not good enough to play top 9 minutes. He could be replaced with a slightly lesser player at a fraction of his cost. That player may not be quite a good as Stajan, but the difference would be negligible, and the cap savings could be utililized to upgrade the top 9 forwards or perhaps the #5-6 d-men jobs.
At a $3.5M cap hit, he should be a competent 4th liner. But that doesn't make it a good thing from Calgary's perspective.
Vegas presumably found no takers for Stajan, so passed on him at the expansion draft. That tells me all I need to know about his value to a team in a cap world.
When his contract ends, he'll likely sign a contract for about $1M and be a properly allocated 4th line player.
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It's absolutely useless to complain about his salary, which was set years ago by Burke. It won't change. So put him where he is useful (which he is is) and look at how it makes the lineup work. I'd argue that, outside of the Backlund line, Stajan was the most consistent forward last year. And while we're at it, he's probably not just a fourth liner. He's a fourth liner I'd be OK with as the third line C in case of injury (which is not the case with a young kid) or even as a winger with Backlund if necessity dictated.
This team is not in the beginning of a rebuild. It needs to win and go deep. It'd be great if a Jankowski plays fourth line centre and excels, or if Bennett grans the third line C and improves. But you need vets around as well, and the NHL salary structure dictates that they get paid. And if Jankowski can handle centre, move Stajan to wing. It suits his game fine, and he can still take big defensive zone faceoffs. And kill penalties (which your rookies won't likely be doing).
And he scored a game seven OT winner, which gives him extra credit.