The ironic thing about this comment is I'm the only one in this thread actually looking at the bigger picture.
I don't care about giving a guy who hasn't proven ****, other than he has a 5 hole the size of the Grand Canyon, extra money so that if he does in fact pan out he won't want extra money. Please. It doesn't work that way. If Bishop ends up being a number one at the end of his contract status he will easily be demanding Howard money. That's not a discount. At all.
I also find it funny that you yourself were saying they should lowball the hell out of him while they can and that it's a business. But I guess that doesn't matter now.
It's fine. It's my opinion and if everyone is fine with Yzerman handing out contracts to his own players like Feaster did then enjoy the dismantling of this team when they get good. Just like before.
1m isn't make or break, but it's a big deal when you are already close to the cap and have a LOT of things needing fixing.
Theres a reason i'm not a GM, either. At some point you have to look at numbers and remember you're dealing with human beings and agents that are worth keeping happy for long term work and contracts.
Bringing up the idea that he'll cost Jimmy Howard money if he continues to improve is ridiculous, too... you're the one ****ing complaining about the lack of a bonafide number one, J - if this happens, i'll ****ing hand deliver his checks to to his stall in the locker room.
The fact of the matter is, you bought an extra year of him for a completely, totally reasonable amount of money with Garon coming off the books. Bishop, financially, is Garon+1m, and hes currently a .920 goaltender. Lets take a look at other goaltenders around those numbers and what they're making:
This is with a variance of half a percentage
8 James Reimer TOR 28 26 763 .925 17 5 5 62 2.36 825 3 0 1 0 1,575:17
9 Ray Emery CHI 20 18 417 .923 16 1 0 35 1.91 452 3 0 0 0 1,102:11
10 Viktor Fasth ANA 22 20 534 .922 14 5 1 45 2.16 579 3 0 0 0 1,247:56
11 Jason LaBarbera PHX 14 9 343 .922 3 6 2 29 2.61 372 0 0 0 0 665:55
12 Jonathan Bernier LAK 13 11 259 .922 9 2 1 22 1.86 281 1 0 1 0 709:00
13 Jimmy Howard DET 36 36 921 .920 17 12 6 80 2.31 1001 3 0 1 0 2,081:58
14 Ben Bishop OTT, TBL 20 19 587 .920 10 8 1 51 2.68 638 2 0 0 2 1,140:53
15 Devan Dubnyk EDM 34 33 928 .920 12 14 6 81 2.61 1009 2 0 0 0 1,863:50
16 Marc-Andre Fleury PIT 29 27 691 .919 21 6 0 61 2.26 752 1 0 0 2 1,619:17
17 Braden Holtby WSH 32 31 907 .917 20 11 1 82 2.67 989 4 0 2 2 1,846:02
18 Kari Lehtonen DAL 31 30 814 .916 14 11 2 75 2.67 889 1 0 2 0 1,686:15
Fasth makes 1 now, 2.9 next year.
Howard will make 5.3.
Dubnyk makes 3.5.
Emery 1.15, on a stacked team.
Labarbera 1.25 on a defensive oriented team.
Bernier 1.25 and needs a contract.
MAF gets 5 million.
Lethonen gets 3.55.
Reimer gets 1.8.
Holtby gets 1.85 next year.
At his price, it is completely reasonable and affordable for this team. If he ends up costing more, it means hes a ****ing stud and we have solved our goaltending issues, at which point I wouldn't hesitate to give him 5 million. Thats what we're ultimately after.