So doing some research if we go back to the 2010/2011 season, Gaustad played 81 games averaging .38 ppg with a salary of $2.3 million. Kyle Turris played 65 games averaging the same .38 ppg with a salary of $2.65 million and Danius Zubrus played 79 games averaging the same with a salary of $3.4 million. So that season, with comparable numbers and the intangibles that Gaustad brought, his salary was a bargain compared to others in that salary realm.
Moving on to the 2011/2012 season Gaustad played 70 games for Buffalo/Nashville averaging .30 ppg with a salary of $2.3 million. Shawn Mattias and Tim Brent played 70 games averaging .30 ppg but had salaries of $851,000 and $750,000. Kyle Chipchura played 53 games for $550,000 averaging .30 ppg while Matt Stajan played 61 games for $3.5 million while averaging .30 ppg. Stajan is clearly overpaid while Gaustad is high salaried compared to what he brought point wise that particular season compared to the other three mentioned.
What does it all mean? I think at the end of the day, with the intangibles that Gaustad brings, he honestly needs to average above .4 ppg to warrant his current salary. That is going to be hard to do as he'll be lucky to average 12-15 minutes a night with the depth with have up the middle with Cullen, Legwand and Fisher. While his size and faceoff ability are nice, does it warrant the salary he's getting considering we have some of the same type of pieces on the team already. At the time of the deal I didn't like it and after we went out and signed Hendricks and Nystrom for the money we did, while it adds grit and sandpaper to the team, it's hard to justify spending that type of money on guys who average around a point every 3-4 games. Sure, they're 4th liners but those types of guys are a dime a dozen in this league. Save the money for guys that can put the biscuit in the basket.
As far as the rumors go, I think Poile sees what he has after training camp and addresses team needs with the available forwards we have. I can see one of the bottom 6 forwards being moved for a 3rd pairing veteran defenseman or a possible back up goalie or two forwards being moved for d and a goalie. Let the competition begin and see where the chips fall.