$8.5M for a body in front of the net.

Could’ve gotten me, instead.

Evidently they do, as they are signing deals. Or at least they are willing to suffer through some pain in order to be overpaid.

The Hawks are playoff bound next year with this signing.

I can get trying to build a good culture and trying to keep some stability for the younger players but with the amount of teams looking for goaltending help this year they could've got a nice return for him

Agreed, but Mrazek was a winner in Carolina. Not that he deserves all the credit, but his first year there they went from a Buffalonian playoff drought to the conference final, and established a winning culture that has lasted more than five years so far. He suffered through injuries for a couple of years after that, but it’s good to see him healthy again and playing well enough to earn this contract. I’m happy for him.

I do think it’s an overpay, but it’s only a 2-year contract, so it’s not going to hurt the team’s rebuild even if he crashes again. Good on them for turning a negative asset into a guy who looks like he could turn out to be their #1 goalie for four years.

People were dunking on the Hawks for the Foligno and Dickinson signings, but that felt dumb to me. Those signings made a lot of sense in my mind, and I treat them as wins.

This one, on the other hand, doesn't feel like much of a win. Maybe a push? Goalies are typically not going to be driving the locker room culture, so I can't really file this under "signing vets who play the right way". And this is a guy who has historically had a lot of up and down play with a litany of injuries mixed in, so it isn't like they locked up a guy who will certainly give them 2 solid years. It felt like he was regularly coming up as trade bait including with many Hawks fans, which made a lot more sense to me. But I guess the return just wasn't worth it.

All I can really think to justify it is that they need to put someone in net, and his slight bump in pay is akin to a cost of living (or cap increase) raise.

he's got better number than allen.

No, the Leafs.

And Allen is a plug, also Allen's advanced stats are better, but neither are good.

Allen rebound control is lacking, lately. Neither are a solution as a starter but Chicago is trying to be actively bad. Next, they probably offer Anaheim too much for Zegras.

Not the worst of the three $4+ million contracts they've signed recently, but not the best either.

His given basically a plank check to every moderately good player in his team in the next contract negotiations. Reichel will now be asking at least 4M, Vlasic same or more, damn even Zaitsev can demand maybe even more than his current contract... Not suprised if Beauvillier would get the same when he is 1m guy....

Reichel has no leverage. He’s not arbitration eligible and he’s been a healthy scratch the past two games. Vlasic actually would deserve $4M if he signs an 8 year deal. Zaitsev is gone as a UFA likely.

These contracts serve a purpose which is veteran leadership, getting to the cap floor, and frankly to convince these players to play for the worst team in the league. No one is signing Reichel and Zaitsev for his veteran leadership.

This is a tough deal to evaluate.

In a vacuum, no sensible argument suggests that Mrazek has been good enough to earn this salary from a contender. However, I get entirely that teams looking for lottery picks for a few years will pay a premium for good veterans to help establish some stability during the transition. The term is fine for Chicago's plans, and Mrazek seems to have found a groove and is playing respectable hockey.

I have seen some comments that overpaying now will be hard to reign in later, but I think that is overblown. I am not saying KD won't overpay later, but it isn't about what he is doing now, it's about how he values players now. If he fully understands he's overpaying stabilizing veterans to attract them to a team that is going to lose a lot, then shifting those values as the team improves won't be difficult. The reality is he's likely signing a lot of 1-2 years deals for too much AAV in the transition, and those deals are so far removed from the important long term contacts he needs to sign letter, they won't really have any impact.

However, if KD thinks he has a steal in Mrazek in terms of value (I don't think this is true), then he simply doesn't value players well, and it will be an ongoing issue, but not because of this contract establishing a precedent, it will simply be that KD overpays in general. Either way, I think the risk of "establishing a precedent or culture of overpaying players" is overblown.

Im not a fan of this approach vs signing vets to contracts, and then trading them at the deadline for youthful assets= which you can never have too much. Even if the vets have great seasons- you cant cash in because even eating 50% of a 1 year deal can make that contract too pricey, and this is a HUGE overpay, as a UFA no one else is giving him even $2mil, lucky to break $1mil really. All these inflated contracts cant be sitting well with other gm's as you know agents will be bringing these up as comparables for their own clients.

Deserved good for Petr