They also have players like Josi who are paid much less. Can't just compare our top 3 with their top 1.
Josi has an AAV of $4 mil. It's not like he is paid insanely less than any of NYR's top 3, and I wouldn't choose him over any of them.
See below for a post I made during the preseason; so doesn't take into account changes since then... but since you're giving me a hard time, here ya go. Still a good deal when you expand out to top couple d-men on the top defensive teams in the league. It was responding to a guy saying it would be tough to have about $15 mil tied up in the top-3 d-men.
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I would 100 % disagree with the bolded. Those three guys make up half of this team's defensive core. So to have half of your defensemen locked up for years to come at $15 mil, with a salary cap anticipated to continue to increase, is a pretty good deal to me. Not even to mention that the 3 guys aren't just any 3 defenders; they are all guys who would be first pairing defenders on a lot of teams. To get that at about 20 % of your current cap space (ignoring the fact that this % will probably go down in the next few years) that seems pretty damn good to me.
Want some comparisons to demonstrate how damn good of a deal this would be if we could lock those three up for the next 4-5 years at about $15 mil? P.K. Subban just got $9 mil per year. Immediately eats up almost two thirds of $15 mil. Guys like Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Drew Doughty, Zdeno Chara, etc are all getting between $7 and $8 mil per year. Immediately eats up half of that cost. Not one of McD, Girardi, or Staal's potential contract would come close to any of those high-paid defenders' contracts. And while none, save for possibly McD, are as game-breaking as those guys (minus P.K. - what a joke of a contract), they are all close enough that those are damn good deals by comparison.
Want to look at how much other teams spend on their defense corps? And on their top 3 highest paid defenders especially?
Let's take a look at the top 10 defensive teams in the league last year by GA:
1. LA: Doughty makes $7 mil per. 3 highest paid come in at $14.2 mil. D-corps costs them about $19.6 mil.
2. Boston: Chara gets about $7 mil. Their 3 highest paid defenders total to about $14.35 mil. Right now they are paying just under $20 mil for their d-corps. This does not include Torey Krug though. And in the next few years, he will command a big pay day.
3. St. Louis: 3 highest paid cost $16.15 mil. D-corps costs them almost $26 mil.
4. NYR
5. San Jose: 3 highest paid bring home about $13.5 mil. Their d-corps costs them about $17.55.
6. Montreal: Their two highest paid defenders alone reaches $14.75 mil. Add in their third and you get to almost $19 mil. Their total d-corps currently costs them $25.2 mil.
7. Minnesota: 3 highest paid come in at $11.7 mil. Total d-corps costs them about $16 mil. But, one of those situations where within a year or two, a lot of those guys are going to be due some pretty hefty raises.
8. Pittsburgh: 3 highest paid for next year come in at $16.25. Total d-corps costs them $22 mil.
9. New Jersey: One of the few exceptions. 3 highest paid at $9.2 mil. Total d-corps at $12.6 mil. Side note - despite the solid GA, I think we all agree that we don't want NYR to emulate Jersey's performance last year; so even though it is an exception - maybe not one to hold up as an example to prove your point.
10. Anaheim: One of the few exceptions. 3 highest paid comes to $11.2 mil. Total d-corps costs $22.4, because they are less top heavy, spread the wealth more evenly among their defenders, and have 9 on the capgeek roster currently. Remove two of those and you get close to $20 mil.
Other top teams in the league:
Tampa Bay (215 GA): 3 highest paid come in at $14.6 mil. Total d-corps comes to almost $29 mil (but includes 9 dmen, so subtract 2 and you get to about $27 mil).
Chicago (220 GA): 3 highest paid come in at $15.4 mil. D-corps costs them $24.5 mil.
Colorado (220 GA): 3 highest paid come in at 10.6 mil. Total d-corps at $17.6 mil.
So outside of Minnesota, Anaheim and Colorado, you see a lot of the top teams are paying in the ballpark, or above $15 mil, for their top 3 defenders - and in many cases not getting near the overall quality that NYR could get if they locked up McD, G, and Staal for the next 5 seasons.
The place, in my mind, to save money (perhaps by infusing youth on ELCs, perhaps by picking up aging vets on discounts), is in the bottom 3 d-men. Not in quality, core pieces that you have right now, that you know have worked well in your system and for your team for years, and that you can sign to very reasonable - if not comparably cheap - contracts. This isn't to say that having a bottom pairing of Klein and Moore isn't a luxury - it is; but the quality of the top 2 pairings is a lot more important than the third. It is harder to find quality guys on good contracts for your top 4 than it is to find serviceable defenders for the bottom pairing. Not to mention the bottom pairing is much more easily sheltered if needed.
