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Originally Posted by The Cobra
Chicago’s lack of success was based more on their core aging and decreasing their effectiveness.
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Their lack of cap space hampered their ability to rectify the situation.
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Or maybe it’s what happens when you trade Artemi Panarin for Brandon Saad.
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I don't think the Chicago teams of the last 5 seasons were an Artemi Panarin away from being a contender. Besides, how would they have fit him under their cap anyway?
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Or when you pay Seabrook when you shouldn’t.
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That's just it, sometimes you sign players to big contracts expecting that they'll keep their current performance going for many years, but there's always a chance that things don't turn out the way you hoped they would. The risk is that you could find yourself with a giant contracts on your books and underperforming players, then your hands are tied for several years as you can't get those contracts off your books.
Johnny and Chucky are great players, but I don't see them as $11m+/year players. Hopefully they see the value in keeping this core group together, and see winning Stanely Cups as more important than tacking on an extra million or two to their annual salary.
Right now the Oilers big 2 have a combined cap hit of $21M/year. Compare that to having Johnny & Chucky at a similar combined cap hit. These two players, while great, aren't close to as talented as the two guys up north. I don't know if I'm comfortable with the idea of the Flames paying Johnny just $1M/year short of what McDavid is getting paid, on an 8 year deal...