how anybody could give neilsen an A is beyond reason . how holland gave that contract to a 30 something who'd never scored more than 30 points is mind boggling . he must base contracts in friendships / personalities not talent . if i could dump one contract itd be neilsen
Let's see:
Frans Nielsen was coming off a 52 point season.
Was one of the top free agents in a weak free agent class.
Reputation for solid 2-way play.
Penaltyshot specialist coming to team struggling with penalty shots.
Direct replacement for Stephen Weiss [4.9 mil x 5 years] with comparable term 5.25 mil x 6 years.
Keep in mind Weiss was a direct replacement for Filppula who signed a 5 mil x 5 year contract same offseason as Weiss.
It was more or less market value for his role at the time with the extra cost of added years due to weak FA class. Plus trade protection, big whoop, everyone on Detroit gets trade protection. Howard, Abdelkader, Green, Helm, Ericsson, de Kaiser, Daley. Pretty sure missing someone to boot.
Just be glad its not David Backes.