Way I see it is you're paying a player in his prime -- who ravaged the AHL and was among the best Flyers in his SSS last year in both scoring, possession, etc. -- to score ~18-20 points. They gave Bellemare a contract for 250k less. It's basically zero risk. We have the cap space too. The fact that he did so much more than score, that he was a terror in the dirty areas, played good defense, transitioned well, and so on maybe shows he wasn't just riding some good luck and adrenaline. He legit played well.
If he plays like he did last year (not expecting 30 goal scoring) and looks the part of an NHLer and gets 30-40 points, depending on PP time, a role he's good at, it's a steal. If he shows it was just a SSS, it's no biggie. We signed Dale Weise to 4 years and $2.35 mil last year. Free agency really is that bad. Besides Justin Williams, who is on short fair deals at his age and still could cost almost $4 mil, you're overpaying for crap usually. Best usage of free agency is these high upside, bargain bin signings. What free agent has 30-40 point potential, on a deep team yet, and costs this much?