Quote:
Originally Posted by Thrillhouse
This is a lot of money. I'm not gonna say they overpaid, he is their franchise but still, a lot of money. Only Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin are getting more.
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It's essentially the same deal Vinny Lecavalier got. Slightly more money per season ($8.25 mil compared with $8 mil, I think), but shorter length. And to the above poster,
Eric Staal's contract is hardly even in the same league as DiPietro's. Less than half the time. If you're going to pout, point the finger at Philadelphia (Mike Richards 11 years), Washington (Alex Ovechkin - 10 years), and Tampa Bay (Lecavalier - 8 years...I think it's 8, someone correct me if I'm wrong).
That being said, I'm not a fan of contracts over 4 years anyway. However, had we signed Staal to a contract like that, we would not have been able to resign him. The fact remains, however, that Staal is our best player and future captain. The team considers Staal's 70-point campaign two season ago an aberration. They're thinking he is more likely the player that put up 100 points in 2005-2006, his rookie season for all intents and purposes, or the player that averaged 2 points per game after team captain
Rod Brind'Amour went down. He put up 82 points in 82 games last season, while leading the team in every offensive category (goals (38), assists (44), points (82), games played (82), game-winning goals (7), power-play goals (14), power-play points (35), shots (310), takeaways (56) and total time on ice (1,774)).
Long story short...we'll see. What is certain is that this team should be a contender in a wide-open Eastern Conference. Keep in mind, Carolina has nearly double the amount of man-games lost due to injury than the second place team over the past 2 seasons. It's hard to compete when 4 of your top 6 forwards are gone for half the season, still this team should have made the playoffs last season.