Quote:
Originally Posted by cowtown75
Deals like this make me cringe. I understand it's a calculated risk, but it's an expensive one with lots of factors in play that are unknown- injuries, overachieved in his second year, the unknown future salary cap etc. I also worry about the ripples this will create for other future signings when a player has a good second year and they want all the money in the world. I know this seems to be the new wave of reality but if the cap doesn't go up that much it's going to be hard to put together a quality NHL team in the future. That aside, huge contracts based on probable potential have always made me uneasy unless it's a slam dunk talent like a McDavid, Crosby or any other generational talent.
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Completely disagree.
The number of young stud players who look to be on the verge/at the point of stardom that remain/improve on their fantastic play after a great sophomore season is FAR greater than the amount of players who stagnate/regress.
If Chabot was to have a similar season or improve on last season, his asking price next offseason would very likely have been double digits in terms of AAV.
By negotiating this quickly, the Senators potentially saved themselves $15-$20M over the next 8 years.
If you were to do this with 20 stud upcoming RFA's, the amount of deals that would look like absolute steals in a few years time would GREATLY outweigh the amount of deals that end up looking like fair/dud contracts.
That's why so many players prefer to play out the final year of their deals before negotiating, because they know they'll very likely make much more money by even just slightly improving on their previous seasons.