I know a lot about contracts, actually. And deferring to Chi's wisdom seems a little off given he's universally seen to have overpaid on every major signing he's made, except, I guess, walk-on Chiasson and maybe McDavid. Lucic, Russell, Draisaitl, etc. - are those examples of Chia's acumen in "situations like this"?
Koskinen is not in a better position than Jones. Jones was not just pretty good in the AHL - he was excellent (and the AHL is a much more similar league to the NHL than the KHL). He also had international experience, as well as being well known as one of the best backups in the league. He didn't have that many NHL starts, but they were over a couple seasons, so not just a one season hot run, like Koskinen in the early part of this season. He'd already beaten Scrivens out of a job in LA. Finally, he had been traded for for a pretty big price, and therefore knew that SJ was going to have to sign him. And he still got $1.4 less than Koskinen.
Koskinen, on the other hand, had no North American experience, had a terrible last 10 games of play, would have known that a number of goalies were coming onto the market in the offseason, had a rival in Talbot, who though bad this year, has been good in the past and had frankly played roughly equal to him in the most recent games. Tell me - what team was aching to sign him in the offseason?
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