Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
Tampa Bay is actually an argument for signing key guys that you drafted long term and not letting them walk.
Just continually try to add and build around them via the draft or trade.
They didn't trade Stamkos when he was UFA, they re-signed him to what was market value at the time.
He went to UFA and almost left Tampa, he took a bit of a discount for about $1.5M but they didn't trade him when he was almost UFA.
Vasilevskiy is the third highest paid goalie in the league. He's worth it, but it wasn't a discount.
Kucherov is the 15th highest paid player in the league, it's expensive but he's been worth it.
Point pretty much signed the same bridge contract as Tkachuk, and will now be getting $9.5M next season.
Hedman was one of the top 5 paid d-men in the league when he signed that deal I think. He signed that deal coming off a 47 point season, and then exploded for 72 points the following year. It was a fair value contract at the time it was signed.
Tampa Bay blueprint has been to lock up your stars, and then do what you need to do to fill in a team around them.
The real key for Tampa is they never went and overpaid for UFAs. Some of the guys they drafted didn't always live up to the contracts (Johnson, Killorn has been up and down).
But they never went out and tried to sign Troy Brouwer's or James Neal's.
They just drafted well, kept adding pieces via trade or the draft, and paid their own stars when the time came. Didn't overpay for UFAs.
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But they also didn’t over pay to resign their guys too which is the argument I’m making. Resign Gaudreau and Tkachuk yes but not for $11 mil as that is a over pay but a lot compared to Tampa signing kucherov and point to $9.5.
Killorn stepped up with top guys injured and has more points than Tkachuk and Lindholm but he is just depth and Tkachuk is $11 mil good. He’s not and we can’t over pay him by $2 mil. Teams like Tampa don’t do that