I just researched Ryan Smyth's stats for this blog post. It was my intention to use them to argue the return for his 6.25 million dollar cap hit (even though he's owed just 4.5 million in 2011-12) was not enough. I have to rephrase that now, because on a shear performance basis, on the strength of his third straight 20 goal season, and fresh off of a year in which he played all 82 games his totals aren't bad, and, he should fit nicely on the Oilers Power Play and show the way to their young stars, however, 6.25 in cap space is HUUUUUUGE.
LA's GM Dean Lombardi is going to use that space to make a serious run, and his team is still deep with young talent despite thinning out the herd in the farm, so you would think that it would be worth a heck of a lot more to him to get rid of that financial burden. Colin Fraser is a great grinder, but paired with a seventh round pick they didn't give up much, but Steve Tambellini could've atleast gotten a prospect back with that.
Look what Slats got for Gomez for crying out loud.
My point: taking on 6.5 million in cap space is worth a whole lot more than one 20 goal season, especially on the eve of what is sure to be one of the greatest UFA crops ever.
If this is my team I'm happy our former captain is back, but wondering why our GM didn't ask him to bring young talent with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment