I see a lot of comparisons to Stajan 4 year contract but the higher salary cap actually plays a big role here.
Ryan signed for $3.15M of a $79.5M cap - that is 4% of the cap.
That is equivalent to $2.7M contract when Stajan signed his extension 4 years ago or a $1.56M contract when the cap was first introduced in 05/06. (Pretty much what we signed Tony Amonte to in 05/06).
Think a big reason a lot of these contracts look crazy today is because of the big jump the cap took the last couple years and individual player salaries are catching up with that now that the elite players are making $12M instead of $7-8M.
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