[Signing] Hedman extension with Tampa 8 years $7.875 mil AAV

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

The Hedman deal looks better than the Ekblad deal IMO. But Hedman might be slowing down near the end of the contract.

Stamkos+Hedman were generally signed cheaper than I expected.

Hedman will be 33 at the end of this deal, I would be more willing to bet he's as good/better than he is now simply due to experience.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Ending at 33 isn't bad for Hedman, either; he'll probably get another pretty decent payday at that age.

Anyway, Tampa has a good solid starting G (no matter which one they keep), a #1C and a #1D for the next eight years at a minimum. Yzerman knows what he's doing.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Ekblad vs Hedman.... discuss

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

The Hedman deal looks better than the Ekblad deal IMO. But Hedman might be slowing down near the end of the contract.

Stamkos+Hedman were generally signed cheaper than I expected.

It's better only because of having more UFA years purchased at that price. Ekblad has done more early on than Hedman did. Bang for buck, I think Ekblad's deal will be better in the future.

Both are extremely good defensemen. Hedman is a better playmaker, but Ekblad is the better goal scorer and defender. It'd be fun to see them play as partners at some point.

[Poe969]

Ekblad has to be the best young defender drafted in quite a while. The kid is just really good, if he gets more of a mean streak he could be elite.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Both are extremely good defensemen. Hedman is a better playmaker, but Ekblad is the better goal scorer and defender.

Sorry man, but this is some homer shining through. Hedman is better at absolutely everything. Which isn't surprising; Ekblad is still on his ELC - maybe someday he will be better at those facets of the game, or all of them, but he isn't yet, and the next question is going to be if he's an elite level D playing without Brian Campbell, or merely a really good top pairing guy (he struggled, relatively speaking, when paired with Kulikov).

Hedman is a top 5 defenseman in the league and there are no questions that need to be answered in that regard.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Sorry man, but this is some homer shining through. Hedman is better at absolutely everything. Which isn't surprising; Ekblad is still on his ELC - maybe someday he will be better at those facets of the game, or all of them, but he isn't yet, and the next question is going to be if he's an elite level D playing without Brian Campbell, or merely a really good top pairing guy (he struggled, relatively speaking, when paired with Kulikov).

Hedman is a top 5 defenseman in the league and there are no questions that need to be answered in that regard.

I don't believe that to be true. Ekblad has scored more goals now than Hedman did at the same age, or even the last couple of years. I will grant you that Hedman is the better playmaker and possession driver. However, I think Ekblad is already at the same level, if not better, in his own zone. If he struggled with Kulikov, that's more likely because Kulikov struggles at times in his own end, not because Ekblad isn't absolutely elite.

It's not homer glasses. I see both play regularly and Ekblad is miles ahead of what Hedman was at the same age. Hedman struggled a lot in his first few years, and there was talk of sending him back to junior because he needed to learn the game. Ekbald had no problems playing good defense in the NHL at 18 years old, and is already in the conversation of best defensemen in the game at 20.

I don't go over the moon for players too often. I see warts on my own players easily enough and recognize where they need to improve. I see Ekblad a lot, and I almost never see him make errors, and he often takes the puck away from attackers easily. He hasn't figured out how to transition up ice quickly yet, hence why he was paired with a puck mover, but that will come with time. Once he's past his own blue line, he has elite vision.

The kid is a stud, and will likely be better than Hedman long term. That's coming from a huge Hedman fan too.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

If you're comparing Ekblad to Victor-Hedman-5-Years-Ago, you're probably right, but if you're comparing the two now, Hedman's clearly better. No way to know who will be better long term, really.

As for the with-or-without Campbell, he's played about 80% of his career to date with Campbell, and that's gone really really well, but the 20% without hasn't been anywhere near as good. So it's a reasonable question as to what Ekblad you get next year. Not whether he'll be good; he's going to be good. But whether he looks more like a 20 year old.

I can't ####ing believe Chicago got Campbell for 2 million bucks.