Hated on players who would be seen in a different light if they were paid slightly less

[HockeyVirus]

This thread is not meant to be like "Erik Karlsson at league minimum is the GOAT" but more like "Kevin Hayes at 5M would be one of the highly regarded 2nd line centers in the league" type things.

In a cap world, salary matters. And I think there are a lot of quality players out there that would be seen differently if their salary was slightly less. Thoughts?

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[MileHIGHAvz]

Off the top of my head I would say Darnell Nurse fits that criteria. Most Oilers fans trash him because of the money he makes + his performance, but most of them also say if his contract was a few million less they would have a much greater outlook on him

 

[RefalancheStillLose]

Daughty
Bobrovski
Benn
Seguin

At about 3-4m less than what they currently make, most would probably think is reasonable for their play.

Nurse at about half would probably be viewed ok

 

[Tripledeke333]

Tavares, Matthews and Marner. If paid less Toronto wins a cup, or at least has a few respectable runs. They would be viewed as the saviors who brought a competitive hockey team back to Toronto after so long, vs. the “Overpaid Playoff Bum” image they have now.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Panarin

 

[The Nuge]

Daughty
Bobrovski
Benn
Seguin

At about 3-4m less than what they currently make, most would probably think is reasonable for their play.

Nurse at about half would probably be viewed ok

Lol what? If Nurse, who’s a lower end #1 dman, but still a #1 dman, was paid similar to guys like Chiarot, Jensen, Leddy, etc he would be seen as just “ok”? It’s hot takes like that that show Nurse has turned into one of the most underrated dmen in the league

 

[McGarnagle]

I think this applies more to guys like Mike Reilly who could be a serviceable bottom pairing defenseman puck-mover and PP specialist on most teams in the league but is buried in the AHL because of his cap hit and considered an albatross.

 

[The Nuge]

I think this applies more to guys like Mike Reilly who could be a serviceable bottom pairing defenseman puck-mover and PP specialist on most teams in the league but is buried in the AHL because of his cap hit and considered an albatross.

Probably one of the best examples in the league. If he made 1-1.5 like he should, lots of teams would want him. But with that absolutely baffling albatross of a lottery win that Sweeney gave him, nobody wanted to take him for free last year

 

[tarheelhockey]

Darryl Sutter would win the Jack Adams if he were paid less.

 

[DL44]

Tyler Myers

 

[Salsa Shark]

For the Rangers someone mentioned Panarin Id nomiante in addition:
B Goodrow, V Trochek, J Trouba

pattern here.....

 

[Ruggs225]

This screams trouba. If he had. $6m cap hit nobody would bat an eye. $8m though and its a tough swallow.

Also panarin. Again if he was at $10 or $9 it would be much easier, but $11.6 is just to high for his one dimension.

 

[Toby91ca]

Off the top of my head I would say Darnell Nurse fits that criteria. Most Oilers fans trash him because of the money he makes + his performance, but most of them also say if his contract was a few million less they would have a much greater outlook on him

Agree with this....recall the time his uncle told me that he's the best defenseman they have, but he's overpaid...simple as that....not often you hear someone so close to the player suggest they are overpaid, but it was a matter fact.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Lol what? If Nurse, who’s a lower end #1 dman, but still a #1 dman, was paid similar to guys like Chiarot, Jensen, Leddy, etc he would be seen as just “ok”? It’s hot takes like that that show Nurse has turned into one of the most underrated dmen in the league

Nurse is not a #1 d-man.
At best he's at the Brent Seabrook level. A good #2.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

Can we just rename this thread Ken Holland: Deep Cuts

 

[stevo61]

Severson

 

[Lady Stanley]

Lol what? If Nurse, who’s a lower end #1 dman, but still a #1 dman, was paid similar to guys like Chiarot, Jensen, Leddy, etc he would be seen as just “ok”? It’s hot takes like that that show Nurse has turned into one of the most underrated dmen in the league

Guy would literally make half as much if he was signed now.

He only got that money because it was during covid, and it was incredibly hard to get a Defenseman to play in Canada.

 

[Sam de Mtl]

Patrice Brisebois back in the days.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

I think this applies more to guys like Mike Reilly who could be a serviceable bottom pairing defenseman puck-mover and PP specialist on most teams in the league but is buried in the AHL because of his cap hit and considered an albatross.

I have to disagree there. I don’t want Reilly at any price.

For every decent game he has, he has about five where his sole role is just turning the puck over in his own zone.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

JT Compher. He's a a very solid 3rd liner that can fill in up the lineup, but his $3.5m cap hit drew a lot of ire from my fellow Avs fans over the last few years.

 

[Fig]

There are a lot of players whose retirement contracts stained their legacy. For instance:

- Vlasic
- Lucic

Lots of posters act like these players were scrubs for their entire career because of their current or retirement contracts. They forget these players were elite players in their prime. There's plenty more of these type of guys out there.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

To most fans, when players get paid, the expectations go way up, and the leeway goes way down.

 

[biturbo19]

Tyler Myers

I don't know about that. A significantly lower salary would certainly help a lot, along with a corresponding demotion down the depth chart to the bottom-pairing.

But even then...i think the Chaos Giraffe would still be at best, a wildly polarizing player. His mistakes are just so calamitous and bizarre, he doesn't mess up quietly like you'd praise even in a cheaper, #5/6D.

I think he'd probably be looked at more like Ceci is now in Edmonton. Which is to say...still not really too well regarded, but maybe...tolerated?

This screams trouba. If he had. $6m cap hit nobody would bat an eye. $8m though and its a tough swallow.

Also panarin. Again if he was at $10 or $9 it would be much easier, but $11.6 is just to high for his one dimension.

Yeah. Trouba is the poster boy for this. Really good defenceman who landed a deal that was kind of insane at the time and suffered criticism for the unreasonable expectations that placed on him. These days though, his contract doesn't even look nearly as ludicrous. He'd surely get more or less the same sort of deal on the open market today. Though it was made even more egregious by the fact it wasn't a deal made on the open market. It was an RFA deal after he basically forced himself to a single destination. Which should have theoretically undermined his leverage pretty badly, showing his hand that he only wanted to play for one specific team. Got paid anyway.

There are a lot of players whose retirement contracts stained their legacy. For instance:

- Vlasic
- Lucic

Lots of posters act like these players were scrubs for their entire career because of their current or retirement contracts. They forget these players were elite players in their prime. There's plenty more of these type of guys out there.

Vlasic's retirement contract has smeared his reputation into oblivion. It's basically erased all the goodwill he built up for all those years where he was one of the best shutdown defencemen in the league on a bargain contract. Kind of crazy.

With Lucic...he's drawn a lot of ire for it during his retirement contract...but i think people do still at least remember what a force he was back with the Bruins.

 

[Canadienna]

Brendan Gallagher.

He was a huge portion of the Habs fanbase's favourite player. Then he signed a massive deal and his play fell off a cliff.

 

[biturbo19]

For my nominations, i'd say:

-Josh Anderson. If he were a couple million dollars cheaper, i think the boards would be flooded with fans making silly lowball trade offers to try to acquire the guy. He's a highly desirable player, as one of the last remaining real "power forwards". But all anybody can ever talk about with him is how much he's paid.

-Nate Schmidt. If he were just on a run of the mill $4M contract commensurate with an unremarkable #4D, i think you'd see less teams and fanbases ready to unload him at a moment's notice. He's a plenty okay player. But at nearly $6M...he doesn't exactly ingratiate himself to the fans or live up to the money.

-Matt Duchene. He's a tricky one though, because every once in a while, he has a season that actually lives up to the full billing of his contract and nobody really minds it. But he does seem to catch a lot of flack for being an $8M guy who only plays like it some years. He's such an exciting, fun player to watch though. At $6M i think he'd be looked at as a steal, or at least a really solid value guy.

-Jan Rutta. If he made like $850k less, i feel like people would suddenly view him completely differently. There's something in everyone's brain that's wired to revulsion when a depth defenceman's contract starts with a 2 and then has numbers after it. If his contract was like $1.9M, i don't think anyone would bat an eye at that and he'd be looked at as the solid, reasonable value #5D he is. But $2.75M makes him sound so overpaid for some reason.

-Patrik Nemeth. Also an example of the same. When he's on a cheap contract, or with significant retention to take him back down to the $1M range, he seems to be received pretty well as the depth defenceman he is. But then he always seems to go and sign a contract that's just big enough to trigger an offended recoil in everyone's brain and he's laughed at as a cap dump/filler/anchor. Then the cycle repeats.

-Cam Fowler. He's fully worth his $6.5M. But it feels like he's often been looked at as decent but overpaid through much of that contract thus far. I feel like if he'd been at $5.5M instead, he'd have entered the conversation viewed as one of the "value contracts" around the league, that fans are always drafting proposals trying to acquire.