I'd be more wary of his injury history but I think overall a pretty big overreaction to the contract that might be somewhat overpaid.
Start naming some recently signed big-name UFA players who are signed purely or almost purely during UFA prime-years (25-35) and pretty much outside of Tampa, they are almost all considered overpaid somehow.
It's just how the league works, prime UFA years get paid. They try tack on post-prime years, or RFA years, in the contracts to keep the cap-hit down but when they don't have that option (i.e. signing a 25-27 year old), the cap-hit will be massive.
Top tier players: 'prime UFA years' 11-12M
Second tier players: 'prime UFA years' 8-10M
As good as Couture is, he just signed an 8x8M contract that brings him to 38. If he was signed until he was 35 it's probably a 5x10M contract with how heavily discounted non-prime years are.
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