I thought Wilson would get around that amount until Beagle got paid 3 million a year. Now I'm thinking Wilson will be around 4.5 but I wouldn't be surprised at 5 at this point...

Totally different skill sets. Beagle is hockey's only triple crown winner. He's the best at faceoffs and breakouts in the league. You have him on the ice with a one goal lead, and icing is no longer a rule you worry about, because you're going to win the faceoff and get the puck out of the zone again. He's also got a couple playoff game winning goals, and championship rings from each North American pro hockey league.

Wilson's a body-checking specialist, good for about one hit a period. He also ramped up his offense to eleven goals and just over thirty points this year..... Nail Yakupov, the first overall pick from the draft WIlson was taken in, scores more goals and assists and just made the league minimum last year, after getting bought out. This summer he didn't get a qualifying offer and I hope the Caps invite him over to play, because he speaks Russian and could work well with some guys they have..... but my point there is that Wilson's offense is not getting him paid. Just the checking. For that I think comparables might be, like, Leo Komarov, with as many hits, but up to 17 goals a year, signing for 3M yesterday?

Does that sound close? I think WIlson's younger and could argue his ceiling is slightly higher than what Komarov is expected to do over his next contract, but at a certain point you also have to negotiate on past performance a bit.



Edit: one great thing about the Dowd signing: he may not be as good at it, but he was playing almost exactly Beagle's role in Vancouver. His 28% offensive zone starts are almost as challenging as Beagle's last year. The difference is that Beagle's been playing that role for longer, and has gotten it perfected already, while Dowd is still just 50/50 on faceoffs, to Beagle's 60/40. Playing with better wings in Washington and some different coaches should help Dowd pick up a few new tips, but given that Dowd's previous years featured slightly more offensive zone starts than defensive, Vancouver didn't just stumble into the Beagle sweepstakes by accident. They had an idea that it would be good to have someone who could get them out of their own zone, and when they couldn't make one, they went out and got the one that already existed. And Washington responded brilliantly by signing their half-baked attempt, without missing a beat.