if the team wasnt ready to win now, i'd say the years are more valuable. but they're in cup contention right now so i think the savings over term makes this a good deal for the team i think.
I mean the guy has a chance to play for a cup and get good stats for a next contract to cash out later. I know we all assumed it would be a 6-7Mx7 but now the more i think about it, this kind of makes more sense.
I don't have a problem with short-term contracts. Used to be you want to lock a guy up long term to get as many years as you can out of him before you lose him for nothing as a UFA, but more and more players seem to be signing extensions these days instead of becoming UFAs (I don't have the stats on that -- it's just the way it seems to me), so the longer term becomes more of a gamble because you don't know how good the player is going to be in 6, 7 or 8 years. Also, young players usually want more AAV to sign long term, so short-term contracts are a good way for a team in win-only mode to keep the cap hit down. Then hopefully when it's time to re-sign the player, they can afford to give him a raise because the cap will be higher.
yeah I think unless its a high-end young player, who you want locked up long-term, it's almost smarter to keep it 3-4 years.. easier to move, and mitigates some risk (obviously, there's risk that the player blows up his value on next contract, but that's a good problem to have too...)
His numbers were very solid the last 2 seasons. He's earned the AAV, but I'd like to see him score a bit more. The Avs will need him to do so in an increased role next season.