Quote:
Originally Posted by 1qqaaz
I didn’t say I was worried. I said the contract’s short term basically removes any potential upside.
The Flames give out way too many bridge contracts to young players. At some point, they just have to commit. It worked with Andersson, Hanifin, and Lindholm. They should have done everything in their power to give Tkachuk more term (like he wanted).
You don’t have to be an elite player to get term. Nashville gave many years to Jarnkrok and it was a steal.
To win a cup, a team needs optimal cap efficiency. Cap efficiency requires having good players on long value contracts. These contracts are gambles (as they players are often young and unproven), but they are practically necessary. This is one of the main differences between the Jets and the Flames. The Jets have more contractual stability.
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The young player also needs to want to sign long term, rather than bet on himself. Moreover, you get the occasional anchors that way as well.
Steinberg was arguing in the offseason that we should give Dube a 6x6! Because he had a 45P season, and he's young. I'm glad the Flames didn't do that.
I'm also happy that we gave Mangiapane only 3 years. Because he isn't living up to the price tag so far in my eyes.
We could've locked up Kylington to 4-6 years as well at a higher cap-hit. In a way I think we got lucky he only got a bridge deal. That said, the team might have been able to terminated the deal, and looked petty as a result.
Bouma was another example, he ended up getting bought out. What if we gave Duehr 3-5 years after last season?
I don't mind the team locking players up long term, but it really needs better scouts, or better talent evaluators at the pro level. I think Conroy is better than Tre at projecting a player's potential, but it's too early to tell.