Nicklas Bäckström has signed a new contract with the Washington Capitals.

Can't say I'm a fan of the deal.

9.2 Million for a guy who's not even a PPG player and it's signed until he's 37. Big Yikes from me.

He needed to be signed but not for that much. I would have gave him 8m/per year.

Had him at 7.5x4 max, contract only gets worse from here :/

Guess Holtby isn’t getting signed

Habs fan u can't talk weber and price are signed until 40

Not sure what that has to do with anything. This is still a terrible contract.

I'm ok with this signing. To me, it's easier to accept giving big money to players that have already done something as compared to the young up and coming players that haven't done anything yet. #1C on a Stanley Cup Winning Team means something. WAS got him to accept a 5 year contract when I'm sure he could have got an 8 year somewhere else. (Higher total dollars to him) I would have thought a little less than $9.2M, but not too much less.

Holtby's gone for sure after this, but I think the writing was on the wall anyways. Not a huge fan of the AAV, but Backstrom was underpaid through his entire prime, time to give him some well-earned money. Only bright side for this contract is that Backstrom's game isn't physical or speed oriented, so I'm not expecting a gigantic drop-off in performance by 37, but anything can happen.

This contract may reflect the reality of what it costs to get a player like Backstrom, but I feel like the cost is about fair for exactly what he is at this moment, meaning a 70-75 point center who is decent defensively, the problem is that with there being 5 years at this number, he is likely to regress quite a bit over the life of this contract.

At this age, I would have liked to see more of the Thornton treatment, shorter terms for what he is worth. Like say 2 years at $9.2M or 3 years at just over $8M would both be fine. But this has a high liklihood of not being great a year or two in, and being very ugly for the last year or two.

This type of thinking would be ok in a Non-cap league, but the reality is you have to pay for what you are going to get, not for what you got already. Younger players pushing to get closer to their actual value means it's not going to be a good decision to sign players based on their past achievements.

This may be an unpopular opinion but I feel like when you win a Cup, this is easier to do. If they were still hunting for this group's first (that being Backstrom, Ovi, Carlson, etc.), I'd scoff at this deal. But I feel like when you win and remain competitive, it's lower stakes to make a move like this. He earned it, why not give it to him? By the time it expires, the Caps will probably be rebuilding anyway.

I mean this is an overpayment for what he offers, but considering his previous contract and the fact that this could have been much, much worse I don't hate it. It is still too much for too long so I voted no, but I don't hate it nearly as much as I expected.

Edit: a good deal of the contract is in bonuses, especially near the end of the deal. That is less than ideal for wsh.

woah

Unless they bust. I 110% get that the peak years are younger, but that's not always the case for every single player in the NHL. Backstrom is still playing at an elite level. There are also other components to this...how the team is doing. Sub Par teams like New Jersey can afford to spend $7M on Nico Hirshcer because they're banking on that contract being a good contract down the road. Has Clayton Keller with AZ earned with $7.1M yet? no. TOR has done that for Matthews/Marner/Nylander. They're cap strapped this year, but down the road they're hoping these contracts are steals. Another part is team construction down the road. WAS is a team has (who they believe is) Backstroms replacement developing in London. there will be 3 of those 5 years with an ELC as a center.

Yikes expected the term but the AAV is too high. Should be 8 max. imo

I mean he can be resigned he just can take more than 8 mill

Well that's what people expected before the season started. Holtby has been very streaky for like 3 years now. Holtby is looking for a big contract, which he won't get (at least from the Caps). Caps have Samsonov and Copley as a cheap back-up for next year

cuz the habs signed weber right? and its different signing a star goalie to 40 and signing a center to 40.

Good Luck In Cap Hell!

I don't think the plan was to ever resign Holbty with the emergence of Samsonov

And Backstrom negotiated this contract by himself... imagine if he had an agent doing the work lmao.

Bad contract.

Makes Panarin look like a steal

ANd we're pissed at it

They can probably fit him in, but Gudas probably wouldn't be staying and they might need to make a trade.