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Old 05-15-2019, 10:02 PM   #197
GranteedEV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jayswin View Post
Could you imagine if this guy was GM?
If I were GM, I assure you we would not be on the hook for Mike Stone, James Neal, or Troy Brouwer's buyout.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew View Post
But when Bennett is one of your best forwards, well we saw how that turned out in the Colorado series. He is simply not a difference maker at this point.
Um, this is horrid logic. Sam Bennett was eighth among forwards on the team in ice time despite being arguably our best forward. All that tells us is that he was grossly underutilized when he could have been more of a difference maker. Of course you can't be a difference maker when you're sitting on the bench.

You might have a point if Bennett were playing center and logging the most minutes on the team, as Mikael Backlund did. You can't give him a demerit for something that was outside of his control as a player.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jayswin View Post
That's kind of the point. Bennett playing amazing was not a Bennett that could steal a game or even help majorly change it to a win.
Because he wasn't on the ice after giving us leads in two of those games? Right, so evaluations of players should be made based on when they don't play. Because he made plays to spring Gaudreau (our highest paid player) on multiple breakaways that Gaudreau did not finish?

Yikes.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jayswin View Post
The idea that he's a $4mil player right now is ludicrous and the poster took it even further saying he would be okay with $4.8. And none of that should take away from the work Bennett as put in and the results of a tenacious, physical third liner that every team needs. It's just his salary valuation that's insane.
Salary is not independant from term. You simply have to pay more for more term.

Bennett has 3 years of RFA left.

To buy five years of UFA, you need to increase salary.

If he is valued at 2.5M on a 2 year deal (which is what he will most likely end up signing, by the way) that does not mean that is in the best interest of the team.

Getting him locked up from ages 23 to 30 is extremely pragmatic, and penny-pinching to save a few bucks now is not in the best interest of the team especially if it means risking a breakout where you're paying him a greater AAV such as 5.5 or 6M on a future contract. Not only do you avoid buying age 31+ years that are guaranteed to be underperforming, you avoid the player walking as a UFA for greener pastures, and there are definitely gonna be greener pastures for this one the minute he gets out from the glass ceiling that is the illogical Calgary Flames.

It's not even an overpayment for a middle six forward. We pay an older, less versatile Frolik 4.5M a year to dissappear in every playoffs and that was a contract signed four seasons ago. Elias Lindholm is paid 4.85 and not only had he never even been clearly superior to Bennett at 5v5 (outside of playing way more on a bad team) but that was only for a six year term.

Term is what the Flames should want for both Bennett and Tkachuk. Idealism about guys earning salaries before you pay them is just not realistic in a cap world. You NEED to project and take some degree of risk to maximize term where appropriate. We already botched the Gaudreau contract penny pinching over the kind of AAVs needed to pay a Fantenberg's salary.

Tell me this, since my proposal would be "ludicrous" - What is the AAV you think the Flames CAN get Bennett signed to for an eight year term?

A bridge is NOT always the best solution for both parties.

Finally, let's review what what my absolute upper limit of 4.80M means against an 83 million dollar cap. It's equivelent to:

4.60M in 2018-19
4.34M in 2017-18
4.22M in 2016-17
4.13M in 2015-16
3.99M in 2014-15

For an eight year term for a versatile middle sixer aged 23 to 30, any of these would have been a very solid deal.

But again, my actual opinion is that we should be pushing for around 4.0M x 8Y

That's equivalent to signing someone to 3.325M in 2014-15.

That's the modern equivalent of Matt Stajan's AAV, except for a player actually in or entering his prime, who I think is better than Stajan circa 2015, who has upside to be better than Stajan at any point in Stajan's career.

But sure, call me crazy because you can't see a solution other than a ####ty bridge deal where the Flames either end up losing a valuable piece as he approaches a chance at UFA and a fresh start elsewhere or they end up having to overpay in the future for that same piece because they couldn't be pragmatic when his stock was relatively low.

Eight years of Sam Bennett are certainly worth five percent of the cap in 2019-20, which with cap inflation could end up being a total steal in 2025 and beyond.
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Last edited by GranteedEV; 05-15-2019 at 10:30 PM.
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