Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
That's not really fair though, is it. He's paid under $5M, nowhere near what top offensive Dmen are paid. He's paid similar to Tanev, Oleksiak, Sanheim, Brodie, Pulock, etc.
He's paid according to what he is - a minute eating all purpose defenceman who can defend and move the puck. Who is 23. He's going to be more of a Tanev than a Gio IMO.
|
I would argue that it's not fair to compare defensemen some of the defensemen you listed i.e. Tanev, Oleksiak, Brodie and etc because they're getting paid for their UFA years whereas Hanifin is not. He's also turning 25 in a couple months and is probably closer to "he is what he is" category, which is a good skater, but not a driver in any area on the ice.
People on CP can make up their own minds on what he really is which isn't really the question i'm ultimately trying to raise anyway. My main point is that money needs to be moved out for next season and in my opinion, Hanifin's contract is one of the ones at the forefront.
As an aside, I'll make this as clear as possible, I'm not saying Hanifin needs to go because he's been bad this season. It's more so about the team's cap situation, value per dollar and supply vs demand. I mean sure, I'd love to shed Lucic's contract next season instead of Hanifin, but nobody is taking that albatross nor can it be bought out for any significant savings. With a flat cap, teams will also be reluctant to take on money, so you have to give teams a "reason" to take on money and Hanifin can be one of those "reasons."