[Trade] Panthers acquire rights to Yandle for a 6th + 4th. Signed 7 yrs, $6.35 AAV

[Erratik]

Originally Posted by Saqe

You can argue about his defense but he is elite offensively. Also an elite skater.

There are no arguments about his defense - it's atrocious. He is a liability every time he is on the ice. The Rangers couldn't wait to let him walk.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by theslymonkey

My goodness. What have you done for me lately?
One year ago Wideman was 4th in defensive scoring. Yandle has been consistently around 50 points for years.

Wideman's also been a consistent scorer recently. Excluding last year's disaster, he has registered years of 56, 21 (in 46 games), 22 (lockout), 46, 40, 33, 30, 50, and 36. Those are darn good numbers, like Yandle's.

That all looks great on paper, but Keith Yandle is simply not a very good defenseman, defensively. He won't be a great skater heading into his late thirties and makes poor decisions. When his offensive play deteriorates, this contract will look real bad -- and that's without the NMC considered.

[Erick Estrada]

Is Dale Tallon still calling the shots in Florida? This is the type of deal he would make. Honestly I used to think Yandle was a really good defenseman in Phoenix but he was not very good as a Ranger. It's going to be hard for a team in free agency to top this for worst contract as there's really no way you can positively spin this one. It's simply a terrible deal.

[theslymonkey]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Yeah, in the way that Dennis Wideman is: moderately offensive, with slow skating, poor defensive play, and (now) an albatross contract.

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Wideman's also been a consistent scorer recently. Excluding last year's disaster, he has registered years of 56, 21 (in 46 games), 22 (lockout), 46, 40, 33, 30, 50, and 36. Those are darn good numbers, like Yandle's.

That all looks great on paper, but Keith Yandle is simply not a very good defenseman, defensively. He won't be a great skater heading into his late thirties and makes poor decisions. When his offensive play deteriorates, this contract will look real bad -- and that's without the NMC considered.

Contradiction?
I guess I don't need to argue my point any further.

[nik-]

This basically prices Ekblad at 10 mil a year.

[theslymonkey]

Originally Posted by theslymonkey

Contradiction?
I guess I don't need to argue my point any further.

Quote from Scott Cullen's Statistically Speaking.

Yandle, 29, is one of the premier offensive defencemen in the game. Since 2010-2011, Erik Karlsson is the only blueliner to record more points, and Yandle can handle a more significant role than what he was given in New York,

[Bandwagon Surfer]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Yeah, in the way that Dennis Wideman is: moderately offensive, with slow skating, poor defensive play, and (now) an albatross contract.

With what defensemen are signing for right now I am feeling much better about his contact. I do not think he fits with the Flames anymore as we have younger players pushing him down the roster. But in the last few days I have become much more optimistic that another team will want him as an offensive defenseman and see is contract as fair value.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by nik-

This basically prices Ekblad at 10 mil a year.

Maybe if he was a UFA

[bax]

13th highest paid defenseman in the NHL

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by theslymonkey

Quote from Scott Cullen's Statistically Speaking.

Yandle, 29, is one of the premier offensive defencemen in the game. Since 2010-2011, Erik Karlsson is the only blueliner to record more points, and Yandle can handle a more significant role than what he was given in New York,

Wow, I wasn't aware of that.

Yandle is extremely durable. Since 2009, he's played more than an average of 82 games per full season. About 82.3

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Bandwagon Surfer

With what defensemen are signing for right now I am feeling much better about his contact. I do not think he fits with the Flames anymore as we have younger players pushing him down the roster. But in the last few days I have become much more optimistic that another team will want him as an offensive defenseman and see is contract as fair value.

Wideman's contract has never been an albatross, the Flames themselves have said in the past they were not even trying to move Wideman, contrary to the "reports" that we were. I don't think the idea of moving him because a reality for the Flames until the deadline last season was approaching and then his suspension made him unable to be traded. We wouldn't get full value due to his NMC and the size of his contract, but it is hardly the albatross people like to imagine it is.

[Jason14h]

I don't get what is so bad about this . Have people not seen what defenseman sign for as UFAs?

Seekers got 5.5 million last year . For 1 million extra I would sure rather have yandle.

And 37 for a good skating D isn't the end of the world , especially when the cap will be 20 million higher by then . And who cares about 7 years down the road , so much can change by then!

[Caged Great]

We signed Wideman for 5.25 four years ago. If you factor inflation that would be 5.75 or so now. Yandle is a better player than Wideman by a decent margin, which makes the 1 million dollar difference. It's a year or two too long, but it isn't a horrid contract. Plus they are in effect replacing the cap hit of Brian Campbell with Keith Yandle, which is a major upgrade.

Top offensive D always get paid, unless they're employed by the Flames.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

They essentially replaced Campbell's bloated contract for Yandle's. Hooray.

Clearly the new GM learned how to overvalue certain veteran players from Tallon. Not that I think Yandle is that bad, and the the AAV isn't too bad, but my god...that term is very, very long for someone like him. I think Yandle is just as good as Campbell was defensively, maybe better and more physical, and he can skate just as well and create offense. Plus, the Panthers are woefully short on experienced defenseman, so they had to sign at least one UFA this off-season.

I didn't like trading for his rights, giving up draft picks in the process. If he's an upcoming UFA you make your pitch like everyone else and have a backup plan in case it doesn't work out. Trading for negotiation rights should be reserved for RFAs only.

Not loving the moves of the new management team right now. Hopefully this is the only big name they go after this year.

[StrykerSteve]

That is one godawful contract. Good lord.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

I don't care what he's done over the past few years offensively, that will be one of the worst contracts in the league in a hurry.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I don't even mind the term, but I figured giving him 7 years you'd be able to get him down closer to $5m per...

[Vinny01]

If Gio hit the market this summer I wonder what he would have got? Horrible contract by the Panthers

[Poe969]

I don't think it's terrible but it's not that great. I think he'll actually be really good there for 4-5 years then it'll start to look really bad.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

^That sounds about right. In the meantime, even when he's playing well, seems likely to be a bit of an overpay, but not a disaster.