Quoting: Space
Lost me at third best D. I'll give you Chychrun but who's the other? OEL lmao?
Trouba and Spurgeon both signed before covid, a better comparable is Pietrangelo who signed for 8.8m last offseason, but Pietrangelo is much better defensively. I suppose it depends if there's any truth to what Friedman said about wanting to sign closer to home and if he's got a soft spot for the team he grew up cheering for. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Egtx04SXYAIfyh_.jpg
Yes, I have Chychrun as their best d-man, OEL is in my eyes third atm, but I'm not sure if they resign Goligoski for next year. Rielly had one good year 3 years ago so I would rather put him in the same category as Gustafsson, DeAngelo and Gostisbehere who were also briefly thought of as superstars, than consider him to be on par with players who have solid season-to-season records. So yes, I consider OEL to be better than him.
Yes, sure take Pietrangelo who signed 8.8M until the age of 37, you aren't getting as much out of those 2-3 last years. You have signed Dougie until he's 34. Everyone always want to go to Toronto for less since they are Toronto, right? Well, I can only remember that happening with around 5 players: Tavares (not really a discount), Spezza (yummy, his prime years!), Thornton (he's still getting better, teams were probably lining up to get him), Marleau (there must have been a bidding war here for this UFA), Simmonds (The JvR-Bozak-Kadri PP in one player! Wow what a great signing). If you have some other examples of when this has actually happened, please enlighten me.