I live Vlasic, but thats way too much.

There will be a big offer to Willy.

I agree there is still a lot left for the rebuild but you have some weird things here to this not adding up to an accurate outlook.

- Crevier likely doesn’t get his contract renewed at the end of the current season. Even if he does, his shot at playing in the NHL is unbelievably miniscule. Probably the same with Saarela.
- There will be UFA signings each year to some extent. The only one you made is for a player currently playing in the AHL. Loved Hayden when he was here but not sure he is cracking NHL rosters in two years.
- Giving Vlasic too much.
- Entwistle is not a 2nd line player and will not get that contract. 4th line/healthy scratch player at best if he’s even still here in two years.
- Slaggert likely a 4th line type player
- Gajan will not be ready by then.
- Jecho or Hensler will not be in the NHL by then
- What happened to Kurashev? Kaiser? Guttman?
- Safonov could be coming over from the KHL

Feel like you could have picked some better things to pan out. Like one of Hayes, Greene, Ludwinski, or Savoie to make the team. Rinzel or Del Matstro on defense.

Again ALOT pans out lol. Chances are we pray to get him cheap and cover up Seth Jones nightmare contract.

For future reference you see John Hayden and Cannahawk just know it’s not too serious a post. Agree on pretty much everything you say though. Blackhawks current roster is full of players who won’t be here in two years. So unless they really do commit suicide and sign Nylander there is still a lot of tanking to do.

This is my nightmare…

Seth Jones doesn't have a nightmare contract. I kept telling people over and over, he needs a proper partner. Then he had McCabe and they played awesome together. Now this year he has Vlasic and they play awesome together. We need to stop worrying about Jones and stop perpetuating the outside narratives about him and his contract. Funny how a decent amount of people will talk crap about him and then try to sneak a lowball offer for him, in the same sentence. That means they realize he is good on a bad team too and they just want to use that narrative to get him for nothing. It definitely isn't ideal for a rebuilding team to have a contract like that on the books, but it is what it is, and now that he has a solid partner he is doing great and playing up to the contract.

Meh... Ideally you would like to have a larger sample size before signing him to this kind of contract, but I wouldn't mind something like this. It has just as good of a chance of looking like a bargain deal down the road.

I guess the way I look at it is...

A.) what's Vlasic's best case scenario? because that'll help guide his ceiling with regards to cap hit. I think if EVERYTHING pans out in his favor he's Brent Seabrook. That's not Makar money. That's not Duncan Keith money, but it's still good money. I'd like to assume we win a couple cups before Vlasic's big pay day, but let's assume we don't for a moment. We are currently projected to have the #2 OA pick afterall.

B.) he's played 35 games. (yes I acknowledge this has been mentioned). IMO, a 1-2 year deal is only going to be at ~$2.25M per year. Kurashev obviously plays a different position/role, but he at least has 201 games to date. I don't see his 2 year deal being much higher if at all than Kurashev's.

C.) With the assumption of year 1/2 being ~$2.25M...are we really thinking years 3-6 he'd get $7M per? (This is how the $34.5M would get split) That just seems WAY too high. Arb IMO isn't going to give a defense 1st Dman $7M even if/when the cap increases.

So I'm 100% on board giving Vlasic a 2 year prove it deal OR something more reasonable on a 6-8 year deal, but $5.75M per just doesn't seem like a bargain at all to me. It feels like a Dameon Severson contract who had over 600 games under his belt. Hampus Lindholm got $6.5M and he also had 600+ games under his belt. It just seems like $5.75M isn't even going to be his 2nd contract and that's even if he's absolutely crushing it. He's never been a points getter. Which is 100% A-OK! We all need the Hjalmarsson's of the world. He probably needs to be a bit more realistic. Guys much better than him got these types of contracts and that's with a better pedigree behind them. Maybe Vlasic will get to this point one day, but not really any time soon.

***EDIT*** Ryan Graves contract might be a bit closer at 6 years $4.5M, but that still seems high because that was after 5 seasons and a UFA. Vlasic is in an odd situation. He's arbitration eligible, but he's literally 1 game outside of Calder eligibility because he played in 6 NHL games last year instead of 5 NHL games.

For sure. It's also a different time/era, though. With the planned rise in the cap, players will be demanding a larger piece of the pie. $5.75M will likely be the new $4-4.5M within a few years. If he continues playing this well defensively, and also starts to blossom more offensively, while averaging top pairing minutes, there is a chance he could command even more than this proposal suggests.

Honestly, though, I am not opposed to a short term prove it deal, either, and it's more realistic. I am just ALSO open to a longer term deal and making the bet that we get some surplus value out of him from it. Although, $5.75M is definitely on the higher end of what I think is a reasonable bet.

Edit: Also, we would be locking him up earlier. Which would help thwart any poor aging of the contract. How many times do teams wait until players are closer to UFA status to give dmen the bag and then the contract ages poorly because they already have a lot of miles on them. Idk... Just a different way to think about it, trying to pay players in their prime years and then take a more conservative approach as they age. But, either way is cool, and I completely understand the want to have a larger sample size.