He is best buds with Keller. So I think those concerned about the room are right to have that concern. That said, I think Keller likely ok'd this and they will re-sign him for less.
And what if he's always best buds with Keller? Do we keep him forever?
Fisch played at the Program with Brendan Warren, Auston Matthews and Charlie McAvoy. Why did we never sign Warren after we drafted him? Why don't Toronto or Boston sign Fischer now?
Shane Doan had best buds (Yandle, Vermette) and they went away too. It's a business. They can still be friends and play golf in the summer or link up when they're in each other's town.
Am not huge fan of Fish but he had better year last year and he makes Keller happy. Think Jack Haley and Dennis Rodman.
He also had a bigger role last year than he should, or will going forward if the team is going to be any good.
2018: 5th on the team in scoring among forwards (Keller, Stepan, Domi, Dvorak)
2019: 11th (Keller, Galchenyuk, Hinostroza, Stepan, Panik, Richardson, Cousins, Crouse, Archibald, Garland)
2020: 13th (Schmaltz, Keller, Garland, Dvorak, Kessel, Soderberg, Stepan, Hall, Crouse, Hinostroza, Grabner, Richardson)
2021: 11th (Kessel, Garland, Keller, Schmaltz, Dvorak, Brassard, Larsson, Bunting, Crouse, Pitlick)
2022: 12th (Keller, Schmaltz, Kessel, Boyd, Crouse, Hayton, Galchenyuk, Eriksson, Larsson, Ritchie, Ladd)
2023: 7th (Keller, Schmaltz, Maccelli, Crouse, Hayton, Boyd)
If "having a better year" = scoring more, then looking back, his "better years" correlate to the Coyotes being awful. The only two years when his offensive production was top 9, the team was awful. The year we made the playoffs in the bubble, his offensive production was that of a healthy scratch. I suspect it's because we had other, better players than Chris Fischer.
I get it, he's had some injuries and missed games, but in 2020, Jason Demers played fewer games than Fisch and still out-scored him. Loui Eriksson and Andrew Ladd out-scored him last year. He's not "growing into a bigger role" ... he's 26, he is what he is, and that's a 1 yr / $900k player.