It is pointless man. You don't give 3 year deals to bottom liners just because they have a nice 20ish game stretch. Just utterly pointless.
Yeah you do... Byron was an awesome contract and at the time he was a 4th liner. And if it don't work out, you bury his salary in the AHL. No risk at all and like I said... it's rare to find a big body who can skate and provide some goals. They guy shows up and is a decent piece on the 4th line.
You have to realize that he is age 26 and has matured. The talent is there and you are pinning him as a future bottom liner who is not going to be the same player in the future as he is for us this year. Maybe you have a point if I was giving him $1-$2M AAV range. I am banging on him giving us 5-10 goals on the bottom line and giving us a solid responsible two way game. He's +8 on a team that has allowed way more goals than allowed. I think he is better than you realize or are willing to admit.
I would target the 3 year deal and he would like that but I would of course start at $800 or $900. Maybe $1M works. Hard for me to predict where he would start but I would give him a Byron type contract and if it don't work out, we have a decent asset for our AHL team.