[Jay Random]

I'm a believer in spending a little above average on defence. Bear with me and I'll explain why:

Ignoring OT, shorthanded time and empty nets, there are 300 man-minutes per game to divide among 18 skaters. Of those minutes, 120 (40%) go to defencemen, which on the face of it suggests that it's worth investing up to 40% of the team's budget for skaters on the blue line. Knock 20% off the cap for goalies, extra bodies, and wiggle room, and you have about $60 million to spend on your top 18 skaters, and so (presumably) $24 million to spend on your six regular defencemen.

The Flames' #5 D is expected to play 18 of those 120 minutes, or 15% of the total time, which seems reasonable. Well, 15% of $24 million is $3.6 million. You'd like to spend less, but on the UFA market, you can't really expect to get any bargains.

The Flames are spending a little over $24 million on defencemen, and Stone is making a hair under $3.6 million. If he can turn in a league-average performance over the term of his contract, it's fair value for money. The question, then, is whether he's an average NHL defenceman. Based on his last two seasons, it looks like he's possibly a bit above average when healthy and scoring, and significantly below average when injured and not scoring. I think he represents a reasonable bet at the price. Factor in his value as insurance in case of an injury in the top four, and I think it's a pretty solid deal.

The fact is, $3.5 million is not a lot of money in the NHL nowadays. I get the feeling that some people are complaining because they think an average player should come in around 2 or 2.5. It's been several years since that was the case. This is not a cheap signing, but I think it's a prudent one and I have no objection to it.