Anyone who watched him when he was with the Blues knew what he could be, the issue is that Berube refused to play him because he’s completely clueless when it comes to defensemen

I don't think it's really fair to compare Hughes' contract to Dunn's. Hughes signed his long-term deal coming off his ELC, as an RFA without arbitration rights. Oftentimes, those sorts of contracts turn into bargains. Dunn on the other hand was an RFA with arbitration rights who was only one year away from qualifying for unrestricted free agency. He had significantly more leverage than Hughes did. Plus, in the seasons before signing their contracts, Dunn and Hughes posted very similar stat lines: a 64 point pace with 23:40 ATOI for Dunn, and a 60 point pace with 22:48 ATOI for Hughes. So I choose to view it as Hughes' contract is a bargain more so than Dunn's is an overpayment. In fact, Dunn's contract is pretty much right in line with what top-pairing LHD earn in the NHL today. And make no mistake, Vince has quietly become that caliber of player.

Well, regardless of if we think he's closer to a no.2 or no. 3 caliber defender, the reality is that he was the no. 1 guy on the back end of a team that made the playoffs, and perhaps more importantly, exceeded most people's regular season expectations. If I'm being honest, I expect the Kraken as a whole to come back down to Earth somewhat next season, I just don't see anything from their off-season to suggest that they're going to be able to take another meaningful step forward any time soon. Doesn't mean they'll miss the playoffs, but they're probably still a ways away from being able to challenge for a top 3 spot in the Pacific division.

You could look at it that way, but I view the Dunn/Larsson pairing as more of a situation where they enhanced each other's games rather than covered each other's weaknesses. Being paired with a shutdown defenseman like Larsson allowed Dunn to venture forward more and not have to worry about defending as much, but Dunn also improved to where he was a capable defender in the defensive zone. He wouldn't have gotten as much ice time as he did (23:40 ATOI last season) if he couldn't handle himself in his own end. On the flip side, Larsson has posted career highs in points ever since arriving in Seattle; I'm sure having an offensive threat like Dunn on the other side helped, but Larsson has made noticeable steps forward in his offensive game as well.

I knew he was getting a raise, but I wasn't expecting this big of a raise. I have to vote no here. I'm not saying it is a terrible deal, but it is not a good one either.

Whatever the case, they are more likely than not to regress back to being 2nd pair caliber next season as a duo

Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Personally I believe Dunn and Larsson are more than capable of maintaining their top-line production and will do so, but I guess we'll see.

Even if they do, I don't fully trust either of the Kraken's other two pairings(Dumoulin + Schultz, Oleksiak + Borgen) to hold their own in top four minutes

I like the term for both sides the AAV seems about a million too high though.

That seems like a lot based on one good season.

Better than Filip Hronek, Nurse, Krug, Seth Jones, and many more who make equal or more than him. Great contract. Will be curious how this affects other signings for defenders. Especially when I would not consider him an elite defender but a very good one. Has the possibility to be 1 mill to much but it could be much worse. This is very trade-able if needed.

How is this a bad signing, he put up good points for a 26 year old def, and is a cup winner!

Dunn has always been solid defensively

Lack of consistency and one season of this kind of production

I like Dunn, Think this is pretty fair for him after a really good season.

This seems like a contract that will be called terrible by a lot at first then age really well. And if it doesn't SEA didn't make that long of a commitment to him.

He’s had more than one good season

">

at best Dunn makes this an okay deal, more likely its an overpayment. I wasnt expecting anything more than 6mil per, i like the player but not at that price, had to vote no.

At least the Kraken avoided getting themselves saddled with this contract into his 30's when he will likely decline. It's a little high on the AAV for him across the league, but for the Kraken it's fine and he forms a solid top pair. I do think his success is somewhat replaceable on the open market any given year but you would pay at least 80% of this price to do it; so might as well go with what you know.

When I saw it, I was like: "4 years at 5.5-6.5 mill, it's great for both sides, especially on a short term contract" but... Not worth the risk IMO... He might turn out great for the next 4 years, but I think they could have gotten him for cheaper.

For only 200k less than Morgan Rielly on a shorter term deal when the cap goes up... I'm glad the Leafs extended Rielly for the money and term they did

My initial reaction was that the AAV was too high. But when I look at their cap situation going forward, it is probably fine at that 4 year term. Let's check back in again in 2025, but at that point, the contract will only have 2 years left and the cap will be way up.

Montour was probably a flash in the pan, Dunn is at the age where he should be getting good.

But Florida fans look out since Monty is going to see this and say "Ka-ching"

No he hasn't. Army wouldn't have exposed him to Seattle in the first place if that were true

I agree that Montour isn't a top pair caliber defender, but he's still good. I can see Dunn being maybe a perennial 50-60 point defenseman, but I don't think he's a 70+ point superstar blueliner

Sounds a lot like Fowler, though his deals a bit older, he's making 6.5. not vadd defensively, good not great defensively, durable but not physical, and can eat minutes. Does that sound like Dunn?

I'd say Fowler is better defensively than Dunn, but not as gifted offensively