Another thing that was pointed out from pinslack is that to buy him out in 2/3 years if he doesn't pan out would only cost buffalo 700k a year which is really not crazy and could definitely be pulled off.

Indeed, but honestly it's not a great sign if one of the ways to defend this signing is to claim that "at least his buyout is cheap"

Especially with a guy that is what, 23?

He is 22. The deal is comparable to John Marino, except Marino had more points... I think its Medium risk, High Reward type deal. Worst case you pay an extra 700k ish for him over 7 years. I think for sure he is worth around 3.5m.

Just doing HockeyGM with my mates. A few different leagues.
I even managed to win ones overall. ****s took taxes from the 1500€

Matheson's contract isn't bad. He was misused in Florida and was actually decent in Pittsburgh. He grew into the deal being fair. I don't think it's a steal or anything, but it's not a bad contract.

This is what I like to call a gamble

As man I would have expected a goal before the signing

Cause when was the last time we saw this kind of extension for a guy with 0 goals

Matthews first period anytime
Over 2 goals for Habs
Over 4 goals for Leafs
Matthews gets 2 goals or more
Marner gets 1 assist or more
Bunting the same ^
Hoffman under 1 point is the 😘🤌cherry on top

1$=181$

It was a bad contract at the point when FLA rid themselves of him.

Overall I'd call it more bad than good, throughout it's duration.

23 when the deal kicks in. And Samuelsson hasn't even scored a goal yet.

Also lets remember that with the current cap to be compared to Mathesons contract samuelsson would have had to sign for 5.4m or more depending on how much cap jumps next year. Also lets remember that in 2 years cap is projected to be 88m or 87.5 meaning samuelssons deal is only 4.8% of the cap. Most comparable deal I can find is Ekholms and its a quite a bit cheaper than his. Carlo is another one that is very comparable.

Oh yeah absolutely. When he was with Florida it was one of the worst contracts in the league because Matheson dropped off the face of the earth once he signed it, but he was a solid top 4 defensemen last year with Pittsburgh

..

Matheson's contract was worse because he has signing bonus at the end of his deal, so the last option of a buyout was never really an option



I think we use this argument to tell people it is not a high risk signing, and not to argue it's a good signing.

Well the good news for the Isles is whenever Carolina is on the road thats an easy win for the other team

Most resources I've seen, including CapFriendly, show Barrie on 2nd Pair with Kulak.

Follow-up Q: Matt, does your team have anywhere near the personnel that COL and CAR has to play that style?

I guess we'll see what happens, but they don't have anywhere near the speed and firepower of those elite teams.

The isles defense definitely has the speed and transitional ability. Arguably better than Carolina

yeah I have seen the same thing idk what is up with that but that doesn't change anything about Bouchard he is still very valued in the organization

I’ve been think about it a lot, and I really hope Arizona drafts Bedard. He will take one look at that dump and is going to be running home to Vancouver in no time

This is fairly similar narrative as to what Leafs fans are saying about McDavid and him getting tired about not winning anything in Edmonton.

Knowing NHL, they won't allow Bedard to end up in ARI, since they obviously want him to a bigger market team. Makes more money for them that way.

One year from now, I could almost swear Bedard is in Chicago. Just because as an original six team they have the strongest hockey market out of all rebuilders.

I just realized Dylan DeMelo only has 1 goal in the last 3 seasons combined. That one goal came shorthanded and was a muffin of a shot that was partially blocked

Bedard is a Canucks fan. Surely he will hate Chicago

Gotcha. I grabbed Bouchard in my fantasy league based on the top 4/#1PP expectations so was disappointed it didn't happen out of the gate

Oh what I would do for Bedard to be a Shark. I mean..

Meier (extension) - Hertl - Barabanov
Eklund - Couture - Bordeleau
Gushchin - Bedard - Kunin
Gadjovich - Reedy - Lindblom
Lund - Robins - Coe
Wiesblatt - Weatherby - Raska
Cardwell

Trade Labanc

Ferraro - Karlsson
Simek - Merkley
Cicek - Laroque -
Hatakka - Havelids
Knyzhov - Kniazev

Kaapo
Mann/ Makiniemi/ Gaudreau

Is actually an interesting depth chart with Bedards potential

If all went really well.. by mid 2023..

Gushchin - Hertl - Meier
Eklund - Bedard - Bordeleau
Barabanov - Couture - Kunin
Gadjovich - Reedy - Coe
Robins/ Ozzy/ Lindblom

Could be an actually competitive core, with defence being the main area of work needed to be done through more drafting or hoping one of Laroque, Havelids, Merkley, Kniazev, Hatakka being able to compete for top 4 time with Ferraro and Karlsson.