Confirmed Signing with Link: [WPG] Bryan Little signs extension (6 years, $5.29M AAV)

[GoJetsGo55]

This seems like a terrific contract.

Very excited about it.

It's going to be tough fitting under the cap once everyone is paid but this certainly helps out. Having our top 2 C signed to under $12 mil/year is fantastic.

 

[NDiesel]

I hope he stays healthy, I enjoy watching him play

 

[FlamesFan18]

Great deal for a very underrated player.

 

[Peggy]

Little couldn't get 8 years as a UFA, though.

And yes, Little absolutely could have gotten more via free agency...which is why I think free agency is best utilized to fill in depth spots and not how you acquire front-end players, bidding wars and a salary cap rarely work together well. Little took less to stay where he's comfortable, nothing wrong with that. Good for him and good for Winnipeg.



Oshie was Washington going all-in in the short-term to keep the cost down...and likely thinking there's going to be amnesty with the next damn lockout. The rest, though...great examples why I think high-priced free agents are the worst possible way to build a franchise.


My stance is more that it is unwise to sign most of these players for as long as they're being signed, not that it doesn't happen.

Shorter term would be great, But it doesn't work that way when players want guaranteed money

5 years would look nicer, But 5 mil isn't a lot. It's a lot more flexible than +6 mill
Can't really ask for a better/more realistic contract

-Connor McDavid makes more than scheifele and little combined
-Patrik marleau is 37 and has a 3 year contract for 6.25

 

[howkie]

5 years for that AAV would been a massive steal, so I´m oki with a 6th year, he has earned it.

 

[rent free]

odd aav, but good deal for him

 

[Maukkis]

Congrats Peg fans. I find this deal interesting. 20g/40pt guy who misses significant time in recent years and will be 30 in Nov. The price of business in today's NHL I guess. If you guys are happy with it, I say again....congrats on locking him up. Should retire a Jet.

I mean, yeah, keep on ignoring his GP. And I agree - he will start his eleventh year in the NHL as a Jet/Thrasher, and I would love to keep it that way all the way to the end.

Great deal. Anyone saying otherwise has no idea about Little's worth to the Jets.

True. Watching the Jets play without Little is an atrocious experience.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I don't like this offer....




I LOVE IT!!!

So fair in every way possible. Isn't horrible either.

 

[Stuzchuk]

great deal for Little/Jets
very good indication on Turris Contract value now

 

[ijuka]

I think that this is a very important signing. Getting a very solid 1C and 2C locked up for the next 7 years is a pretty big deal.

 

[TorontoTrades]

Little is underrated. Solid contract.

 

[Pongs21]

Was expecting 6x6 so very happy with this signing! 5 years would have been ideal, but with the way contracts seem to be going lately, that AAV is fantastic!

 

[Street Hawk]

5 years for that AAV would been a massive steal, so I´m oki with a 6th year, he has earned it.

Fewer years men's a higher cap hit. I think when we dig into his annual payments through cap friendly we will see that it drops off in the later years.

Which is normal. If you want only 5 years the cap will be higher.

Just a matter of whether the jets have any flexibility to live him should his play drop off in the final years.

 

[Saitama]

Love this contract!

 

[deckercky]

I think that this is a very important signing. Getting a very solid 1C and 2C locked up for the next 7 years is a pretty big deal.

2C underrates Little.

Winnipeg has their 1A and 1B centers locked up for 7 years for under $11.5M. That's incredible.

 

[biturbo19]

Really friendly cap number. The term is a bit on the long side, especially for a guy who has already run into a fair number of health problems. But when he's healthy, that's an absolute steal for all those UFA years on his last shot at a big "money deal". And his game has never really been built around blazing speed or anything, so that dropoff may not be that disastrous for him.

 

[KPower]

6 years for a guy turning 30 that can't stay healthy?

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Don't think it will end up being a good contract
He will be 30 years old when his new contract begins and will get paid 5.3 million until he's 36 years old. He's also already had several injuries in the past 3 years.

But if he remains healthy and produce at the same rate as he's doing now for most of the years of his new contract, it's a steal

 

[TS Quint]

Really friendly cap number. The term is a bit on the long side, especially for a guy who has already run into a fair number of health problems. But when he's healthy, that's an absolute steal for all those UFA years on his last shot at a big "money deal". And his game has never really been built around blazing speed or anything, so that dropoff may not be that disastrous for him.

What health problems? Any part of his body continuously causing him to continually miss games? Or a couple unfortunate injuries?

 

[TheDoldrums]

Don't think it will end up being a good contract
He will be 30 years old when his new contract begins and will get paid 5.3 million until he's 36 years old. He's also already had several injuries in the past 3 years.

But if he remains healthy and produce at the same rate as he's doing now for most of the years of his new contract, it's a steal

He turns 30 in a couple of months so the deal basically begins with his age 31 season.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

If he can stay healthy it is an good signing. Probably a year longer than I would want. But this is for being a good loyal soldier to an organization.

 

[biturbo19]

What health problems? Any part of his body continuously causing him to continually miss games? Or a couple unfortunate injuries?

You can call it "unfortunate injuries" if that makes you feel better. That's a fair assessment of it. But the point remains, it's happened to him...and has kept him out of the lineup for significant periods. An ironman he is not. And the durability of players and that sort of thing doesn't typically improve as a player ages later into their 30s. Maybe they are just "unfortunate injuries" and he'll buck the trend, but there's a reasonable expectation that he may not. That's going to raise questions on a contract like this.

 

[Whileee]

You can call it "unfortunate injuries" if that makes you feel better. That's a fair assessment of it. But the point remains, it's happened to him...and has kept him out of the lineup for significant periods. An ironman he is not. And the durability of players and that sort of thing doesn't typically improve as a player ages later into their 30s. Maybe they are just "unfortunate injuries" and he'll buck the trend, but there's a reasonable expectation that he may not. That's going to raise questions on a contract like this.

Do you even know what his injuries were the past couple of seasons?

2015/16 - fractured vertebra from a bad hit from Stralman - completely recovered.
2016/17 - high ankle sprain from a freak play where an opponent fell onto his ankle.

Neither of those are expected to have any long-term impact on his health. The concept of "injury prone" is over-used on these boards. There's a big difference between someone with a chronic injury (e.g. herniated disc, repeated concussions, severe knee injuries, sports hernia in an older player) and a player with discrete injuries that tend to heal completely (e.g. fractures, sprains, etc.).

 

[ps241]

You can call it "unfortunate injuries" if that makes you feel better. That's a fair assessment of it. But the point remains, it's happened to him...and has kept him out of the lineup for significant periods. An ironman he is not. And the durability of players and that sort of thing doesn't typically improve as a player ages later into their 30s. Maybe they are just "unfortunate injuries" and he'll buck the trend, but there's a reasonable expectation that he may not. That's going to raise questions on a contract like this.

Not sure I fully agree. Bryan Little was always a very durable player for most of his career. His games lost from the beginning of his career were 3, 3, 5, 8, 0, 0, 12, 25*, 23*

His two big injuries were a freak accident where he fractured his neck on the Stralman hit then two shifts into last season he had a guy fall on him in an odd way. Those came kind of back to back but once he was back last season he was fine. Of coarse as guys get older there is always risk but Little has had a decent track record.

When I think of guys for the Jets who have ongoing durability issues I think of Perreault, Kane, Bogosian, Myers, and Enstrom after he was 30.

I guess we will find out over the next few seasons but I expect Little to return back to his healthy ways this season.

 

[Bristo]

A lot of money for a guy that's injured quite often lately.

Oh, knock it off - it's not like he's made of glass, he's has two big, freaky injuries that happened two years in a row. Other than these last two years, he's hardly missed any games. He's far from injury prone.

He's a high end #2C. So underrated. His Agent needs fired. Worth atleast 6mil per.

He publicly commented months ago that his intention was to stay and retire as a Jet. Maybe he meant it, and just wanted to stay with his team? It's not ALL about the money for everyone.

You can call it "unfortunate injuries" if that makes you feel better. That's a fair assessment of it. But the point remains, it's happened to him...and has kept him out of the lineup for significant periods. An ironman he is not. And the durability of players and that sort of thing doesn't typically improve as a player ages later into their 30s. Maybe they are just "unfortunate injuries" and he'll buck the trend, but there's a reasonable expectation that he may not. That's going to raise questions on a contract like this.

You're so far off base that I needed to use that baseball turn-of-phrase.

Little has 670 GP in the NHL over 10 years, and missed the bulk of those over the last two seasons to injuries that are not related to repetative strain or are regular, normal events in a hockey game. VERY freaky accidents (one of them was very probably a cheap shot).

Let's look at this another way. Bryan Little broke his back and played hockey in the NHL again less than 9 months later.

Your assessment is laughably poor.

Do you even know what his injuries were the past couple of seasons?

2015/16 - fractured vertebra from a bad hit from Stralman - completely recovered.
2016/17 - high ankle sprain from a freak play where an opponent fell onto his ankle.

Neither of those are expected to have any long-term impact on his health. The concept of "injury prone" is over-used on these boards. There's a big difference between someone with a chronic injury (e.g. herniated disc, repeated concussions, severe knee injuries, sports hernia in an older player) and a player with discrete injuries that tend to heal completely (e.g. fractures, sprains, etc.).

Word.