We agree on the bolded. My point is, at fair market value, he is still tradeable if we decide to deal him at the
decrepit age of 32 or 33 (or, he could keep himself fit and degrade very little, like Lidstrom exemplified, to bring up another smooth skating example...). Still better to sign him, at fair market value, to use your expression, than trade him for pennies on the dollar, from a purely commodities management standpoint. The only way this goes off the rails is if MB overpays significantly and makes him untradeable, as can be argued about Price for example. If he has a $7m AAV contract, and it's broadly understood that he is worth $7m, then he is most certainly tradeable, more so than if he is not under contract in future years, because in the latter case the strength of the team in relation to him is dwindling with each passing day, much like a stock option valued at a price below the stock itself (both worth $0 at a specific deadline).