Rumor: Alexander Edler: 3, maybe 4-year deal imminent, AAV $5.0 - $5.5M, no Expansion Draft protection

[CanaFan]

...? Edler had double the points Stralman had last year and was playing 4 mins more a night. That and Stralman was playing on the team with the 2nd best record in NHL history... the Canucks were not that.

That seems like a poor comparison.

How much PP time you think Edler would have got behind Hedman and McDonough?

Stralman had 16 ES pts in 47 games.

Edler had 16 in 56.

There’s your “difference”.

 

[Fire Benning]

I’m uneasy about the 4th year if that’s what it ends up being.

 

[Captain Bowie]

I wouldn't mind a signing in free agency like Stralman, Benn, or Chiarot, allowing us to still be open to trading one of Tanev or Hutton if a good deal presents itself.

 

[CanaFan]

gardiner only becauase of age?
in terms of player they are now, edler easily

personally rather edler at 5mil for 4yrs than gardiner for 7.5-8mil for 7yrs

But they aren’t the same age, are they?

And what you prefer at what rate has nothing to do with your statement that Edler was the “top dman on the market after Karlsson”.

 

[CherryToke]

Hopefully there's a no PP clause if he signs.

 

[Luck 6]

Maybe better AAV, doubtful better AAV AND 4 year term. Could see it from a team that is in Cup-mode, doubtful any that are 50/50 to be a bottom 10 finisher this time next year.

You May be forgetting how crazy teams get on July 1st.

When guys like Myers fly off the board for 6.5mil / 7 years, there will be teams lined up to get Edler 6 mil for 4 years.

 

[sting101]

Glad to hear he's coming back.

Not really a fan of 4yrs. Hoping its 3

 

[CanaFan]

You May be forgetting how crazy teams get on July 1st.

When guys like Myers fly off the board for 6.5mil / 7 years, there will be teams lined up to get Edler 6 mil for 4 years.

Different ages though. Teams overpay in the decline years (33-36) of a guy like Myers or Gardiner to get the prime (28-32) ones. With Edler you don’t get the 28-32 part, just the 33-36 part. It’s not an apples to apples comparison.

 

[VC]

Wanted a 2 year deal, was fine with 3 and with 4, expecting him to be litr'd by then. I don't like a 4 year contract but at the same time don't expect him to play it out. I hope they are treating that final years as a bonus paid retirement year, being cynical or not.

 

[bandwagonesque]

That’s ... how these boards work??


Should I believe whatever suits you instead?

If you want to sway my opinion, try offering ... something. :shrugs

You're making visible effort to believe something everyone else easily sees is unlikely to be true. It's not my responsibility to disabuse you of that belief, and I doubt anyone could.

 

[lawrence]

lets hope its 3. Although he was utilized as our top pairing don't think he can do it. hope he can mentor Juolevi/Hughes the best can.

 

[Megaterio Llamas]

My original hunch was it would take something like $6x4 to keep him around.

They really did have us going there for a while though eh

 

[CanaFan]

You're making visible effort to believe something everyone else easily sees is unlikely to be true. It's not my responsibility to disabuse you of that belief, and I doubt anyone could.

You might if you offered some evidence ... differences in deployment, production, games played, injuries, etc etc. Anything other than “wow, you’ve gotta be the only one out there who thinks that” would probably have been a good start.

 

[opendoor]

You May be forgetting how crazy teams get on July 1st.

When guys like Myers fly off the board for 6.5mil / 7 years, there will be teams lined up to get Edler 6 mil for 4 years.

Maybe, maybe not. The last 33+ year old defenseman to sign a 4+ year contract for more than $4M a year was Mark Streit in 2013. Before that it was Chara in 2010. So 2 guys in the last decade.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

My original hunch was it would take something like $6x4 to keep him around.

They really did have us going there for a while though eh

Yes they did.The media trolled Canucks fans hard...Its also interesting to read all the different takes earlier in this thread "How dare they (the management) treat our best D-man like that?"....To later in the thread ..the possible 'crippling' 4th year-instead of 3....and now we're the Edmonton Oilers.?

 

[82Ninety42011]

As much as this pains me to say maybe Benning is learning. If Edler signs for 3 and not 4 years this is a Benning win that makes me happy. 4 years and I'm not as happy but will live with it knowing we don't need to protect him in expansion.

 

[m9]

Such a bizarre thing that no NMC in the 3rd year is a "win". Who else in the league is giving him that given the situation?

2 years for any amount was the goal and would be a win for the team.

If he wanted 4 years, 3 years is a reasonable compromise for both sides. Hopefully it still comes in at that.

 

[Melvin]

If we’d played Biega or Schenn instead of Gudbranson all year we probably make the playoffs last year. We do have one thing Edmonton never had, which is an elite goalie.

I don’t see how anyone can realistically expect a team with no defensive depth to ditch their top 2 defenders and replace them with nobody. They aren’t going to go 2015 Leafs at this point.

Obviously we shouldn’t be in this position but once we’re in this position ...

. Hmmmm.

The Canucks were 9 points out last year. I don't think replacing RealGud with Schenn for 60 games gets then close to the playoffs, and I think they overperformed. This looks like a 75 point team to me with Edler. Without him, and with some cheap veteran stopgap in his place, it's maybe 72 points...? Sure, Benning is such a moron that hed somehow find something even worse, but you can't defend his being a moron based on him being a moron.

 

[alternate]

They will become EDM... It will be 2015 Leafs... If Biega and Schenn played over Gudbranson... Can't ditch a top2 Dman without replacing him... MS, every one of these statements can be categorized as a false premise. It's alarmist rationale. Let's park this and instead examine it through another lens:

For a supposed rebuilding club, one that has had a top10 pick in 5 of the past 6 years, signing an aged veteran to retirement deal is not the standard course. I know you understand this because you have outlined management's ineptitude as a reason to chase Edler now. Not that you would advocate signing Edler had there been a better framework here. However, when acknowledging this you are actually adopting Benning's perspective to judge this deal. You are not in fact adopting the perspective of a rebuilding club. One that walks away from potential anchor contracts.

I find this stuff fascinating because it's amazing to me how fans can adopt the paradigm a GM wants them to adopt, eventually. Regardless of whether those same fans have maligned the moves of the GM that have led to that paradigm.

In this case, I think Melvin has the right of it. Then again, there may have been more leeway had Benning not saddled the team with poor contracts. That way, this retirement deal would have that much less of an impact... Such is life.

Don't think it makes any sense to be looking at this move through the lens of a "rebuilding " team. People's opinions on Benning's method of rebuild retool rewhatever had been rehashed to death around here...but that's moot now.

With Bo Horvat going into his 6th year, Boeser his 3rd, Petey his 2nd, Gaudette and Hughes and Demko arrived, we are through the rebuild stage. We aren't a finished product, but we've got a lot of key pieces in place...not Cup contenders yet, but for better or worse rebuild 1.0 post-Sedins is mostly done. Just need to have a top 4 dman or 2 emerge, and add some complementary pieces.

But evaluating any Edler signing from the position of rebuilding is wrong imo. Instead, you need to ask what hurts our young core more....a 4th year from Edler, or letting him walk and trying to replace his 24 minutes as our #1 defenseman. We aren't at a must win stage, but if this core is going to be as good as we all hope it's going to be, it is time to start pushing for the playoffs.

If you refuse the 4th year and Edler walks, what's your plan B?

 

[xtra]

I just fear that even with signing edler that benning is going out there and throwing a stupid contract at gardiner or worse Myers.

 

[I in the Eye]

I like Edler... I'd rather have his contract help cripple the franchise than some other player I don't care about... I already don't care for 2/3rds of the roster. We are the No Name brand of NHL franchises. At least Edler is a brand name I can get behind.

 

[polarbearcub]

I like Edler... I'd rather have his contract help cripple the franchise than some other player I don't care about... I already don't care for 2/3rds of the roster. We are the No Name brand of NHL franchises. At least Edler is a brand name I can get behind.

If it means we don’t sign Myers, then this is a win.

 

[RandV]

But they aren’t the same age, are they?

And what you prefer at what rate has nothing to do with your statement that Edler was the “top dman on the market after Karlsson”.

If Edler is signing at a $5mil cap hit then it's fundamentally the same thing. Based on his play last season Edler is probably worth $8M this year. So at 4/20 the compensation could be viewed something like:

33 - 7
34 - 5.5
35 - 4
36 - 3.5

Gardiner will be 29 when the season starts, and as a UFA is expecting a 7 year $50M contract. Which would break down to something like:

29 - 8
30 - 8
31 - 8
32 - 8
33 - 8
34 - 6
35 - 4

Like I said it's the same type of contract Edler would just be missing the top half of Gardiner's. If this Edler contract looks unusual it's probably because top level players are signing long term deals so you may not get that many hitting UFA at age 33.

The thing is, if you want to compete in the current NHL you're going to have to risk these big cap hits on players in their twilight years. You're core players are eventually going to hit UFA, and players like the security of long term contracts. At some point it's going to come down to biting the bullet on one of these deals or losing your core player, and it can be a crap shoot guessing when players will burn out.

The good news is the cap is pretty high and it's extremely hard to spend every penny wisely up to the cap - most top teams are going to have a Callahan or a Marleau on them. In Vancouver's if we sign Edler to a 4 year deal ideally Benning strikes out on everyone else then get's canned at the end of the season, in which case with Edler's 4th year all the other bad contracts are off the books by then. His overpriced cap hit can be this or next year's 1st rounder still being on an ELC.

 

[mathonwy]

You May be forgetting how crazy teams get on July 1st.

When guys like Myers fly off the board for 6.5mil / 7 years, there will be teams lined up to get Edler 6 mil for 4 years.

Easy.

Edler is a workhorse and eats minutes like Pac-Man eats Power Pellets.

 

[DonnyNucker]

I just fear that even with signing edler that benning is going out there and throwing a stupid contract at gardiner or worse Myers.

Gardiner would be our top defensmen easily