The Senators made a great move with this signing. The contract Alex Tuch signed last year (7 x 4.75M) was a comparable that I hoped we'd use to get a long term deal done. A 6 year contract at the same cap hit is very close to that.
There are numerous advantages to this contract for the Senators. The prime one is that the cap is climbing, and this contract cost controls one of the Senators core young players. The Senators are a salary team, not a cap team right now, but they might be a cap team in the future. Cap right now is worth significantly less to the Senators than it might be in the future. So they might as well use it to save money down the line. The Senators are paying White 4 million per season in salary for the next two seasons. During this time, there is very little money on the books. A bridge deal might have saved the Senators 2 or so of that 8 million, but it would have come at the risk of White elevating his game and demanding a higher cap hit down the line. Similar to cap, because we have so little salary on the books, depending on what our budget actually is, increasing salary for key players (White, Chabot, Tkachuk, etc) over the next two or three seasons to save salary down the line is probably a valuable strategy.
Keeping White's cap hit low will also increase his value as an asset in a trade a few seasons from now. With the prospect of a new NHL US TV deal, the salary cap could shoot up. This will inflate player salaries further than what we've already seen. If White cements himself as a very strong middle 6C, let alone a strong 2C, 4.75M will be a bargain. We just saw Hayes get north of 7 as a UFA. While Hayes has certain size related intangibles, he's a 2C at best. Guys like Bonino and Hanzal were getting close to 5 as of a few years ago, salaries have inflated further since then. It's not inconceivable that half way through this contract, 4.75M for Colin White might be perceived as a bargain by a trade partner. This would make him more valuable in a trade to a cap team.
There is also very little risk in terms of the Senators being stuck with the salary if Colin White regresses. There are no signing bonuses and Colin White won't be 26 for three more seasons. That means that in a worst case scenario, the Senators can buyout White as late as 2022 at the 1/3rd ratio. The cost of the buyout would be 5.250M and would relieve the Senators of 10.500M of White's salary. This would result in yearly dead cash of 875k per season for six seasons. The cap hit would also be 875k for all but one of those six seasons. In the one other season, his cap hit would be -625k.
Hopefully this points in the direction of the Senators being willing and able to sign their young stars. Yes, they've said they will do that, but they also said similar things about Karlsson, Stone, and Duchene. This is also the first major extension given in many years. The last two were Zack Smith and Bobby Ryan who was signed 6 years ago. This is a huge win for the Senators, and it's nice to see a positive move.
Let's hope Chabot is next.
