So you mean to tell me it is likely he won't get either two goals or two points to pass his last season goal/point totals?
Come on. Also this is is second full season after his contract was signed, so saying he is expected to continue to drop in production (when he is on pace to surpass both of last years totals in goals and points) is short-sighted.
---
What franchise goal scorer gets paid $4 million a season?
I was referring to per game stats, not total stats. More games are bound to equal more points, but would you really say that we should be expecting one-dimensional play with so-so stats from a guy we have signed for 11 years? As I said, he is bringing less and less beyond his scoring, and his scoring is not to par. The thought in 2009 when they signed him for 11 years was that he was trending up, not down. Based on his per game stats, everyone rightfully expected 40 goals and 68 points through 82 games. Compare this season and last to his contract year, its a pretty sharp decline statistically, which is the basis for most folks defense of him. Add in that he floats incessantly and works less every night while climbing on the back of Datsyuk to do all the heavy lifting. He is a passenger and hasn't stepped up jack with his team down.
And no, I wouldn't expect a franchise goal-scorer to be paid $4mil/season, I would expect him to be signed to a franchised-contract of say, 11 years, and I'd expect him to be getting paid around $5.25mil/season on top of such ludicrous job security, which he is. Folks need to quit looking at the cap-hit as a wash right now, because he is already nearing the edge of his usefulness at that price, and I can't imagine he'll be able sustain this little plateau for much longer given the his continual decline since signing his contract.
Lets say he is playing to his cap-hit. Right now he is getting paid $5.25mil/season now and playing like a $4mil/season. The fun part? 4 years from now when his play has continued to decline, same story $5mil/season and a $4mil/season cap-hit. And in 6 years when his pay finally starts to dip, still a $4mil/season cap-hit.
The guy getting worse doesn't bode well. His statistics are not up to par with a player granted the contract he was, and yet they are the only defensible position for most. Watch the games and its an entirely different story, moving from decently mediocre to abysmal. And above all else, his attitude is s*** when he can't be bothered to get up for games when his team is down and dropping quickly in the standings.
Edited by b.shanafan14, 15 March 2012 - 07:05 AM.
