Joined: Jul. 2018
Posts: 349
Likes: 246
Normally I just answer these based on whether or not I think the player will deliver more in value to the team than the cap hit costs them. I would say that is a fair for any deal where the player is very likely to be worth more than they are being paid. There is very little argument to where it can be a bad idea to sign a player who is willing to accept less than they are worth, so that works pretty cleanly in those cases. However I do think in cases where it's borderline or possibly unlikely the player is worth the value, I think it's fair to consider the context and overall strategy of the team, and this is one of those cases.
I think it's actually pretty likely John Klingberg isn't a top pairing D anymore, so there is a good chance he doesn't deliver $7M in value to Anaheim next year, since you expect top pairing quality for $7M. However Anaheim wants to make a bit of a push toward playoff contention, and wants to insulate their young stars. If Klingberg helps this team get to the playoffs, then regardless of whether or not he was worth $7M, it's worthwhile since Anaheim had nothing better to do with that cap space for just 1 year. If they don't, and they flip him at the deadline for any asset what so ever, they basically just bought a pick or prospect for nothing but cash, while getting a veteran presence to help mentor some of their younger players for part of the season. The risk is virtually 0, and the rewards, while likely modest, are still worth the gamble, and they literally had nothing else they could really do with that cap space for just a year. They probably couldn't commit to using the space to take on multi-year cap dumps, so I think this is a good bet.
Even when this type of gamble doesn't work, similar to Hall in Buffalo, it still kind of worked because Buffalo managed to get a Hall for part of a year and a 2nd, which is still better than just sitting on the cap space.
So it's an easy win for a team still working its way out of a rebuild, and the player gets paid well and a chance to prove he is worthy of a longer commitment. I am honestly not sure why we don't see more of this in the NHL.