Brouwer and Bouma deals were poor. The thing is the core/top players have all been signed at either reasonable or great numbers. And now many fringe players are taking discounts to stay. Stone and Versteeg could've easily moved on and fetched far more in salary and term.
Poor contracts form the Oilers have spanned since long before Chia's tenure. And include many of the core/important players. Talbot is the one shining example of a bargain, but his coming out party as a starter was also very recent. If he was due for a contract this year, he'd be taking them to the cleaners just like Connor and Leon. Remember the infamous 6x6 deals? Terrible. Then you have Lucic, Russell and soon to be Draisaitl's monstrosity. And I guess McDavid's can be considered fair given inflation, comparables and what he provides, but in no world is a 13+ million a year contract considered good, or great. Or as some astoundingly put it, a "steal".
Enjoy cap hell.
|