Let’s for fun take a look at guys that get paid 7 million. Or just under. Let’s throw Fleury out as he is a goalie. Trying not to be biased how many would pick Fiala over the guys on the list. Age obviously plays a factor so let’s say it’s a 1 year deal.
May as well throw the D men out too I guess.
I’ll take Seabrooke and Kesler from your group lol. Just look at all that “free” cap space!
Contracts are a game of comparables, but there’s lot more to compare than just the AAV. Term and RFA/UFA status make a huge difference in the AAV. The Barzal and Matt Tkachuk contracts are both 3 year bridge deals that end with crazy Qualyfying Offers… they would be a lot higher AAV on a long term deal. Nylander is a very comparable player, but the signing situation was way different. He was coming off his ELC and a long ways from UFA status, no leverage for him lead to a nasty hold out. Compare that to Landeskog who was full on UFA when he signed but took a hair cut to stay with Colorado, which he was publicly pissed about. Also have to look at the cap when these contracts were signed so you are comparing percentage of the cap. Example, Bergeron’s contract was 10% of the cap when he signed that deal. So the exact same contract in 2022 would be $8.2m AAV. Bergie’s also a future first ballot HOFer so please don’t think I’m trying to compare him to Fiala.
One more thing with Kevin… you can’t say oh he started in a slump, just look what his stats would be without that. He consistently goes through those slumps to start every season so you gotta ride the rollercoaster and plan for the average with him.
If Fiala wasn’t ready to take a team friendly “fair” deal last season, why would he now after another good season? He’s also gotta be legimately worried about getting traded if he does sign a team friendly deal with term. I don’t think he signs for 3+ years on anything less than $7m.
