-Vintage Canuck- Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mll Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Starts when he is 32. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboose Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Great player, questionable signing. Nashville looks like they're going to spin their tires aimlessly for a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Mind Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 1 minute ago, Caboose said: Great player, questionable signing. Nashville looks like they're going to spin their tires aimlessly for a few years. Agreed, I thought they'd look to move him for futures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanuck Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 This contract has 'trade with retained salary' partway through the term written all over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Giving term to players is this age group is always questionable, however, I don’t hate this deal as much as many of the others like it. The cap hit is pretty good. It’s actually under where I’d rate Ekholm’s current value. The term is a concern. It’s a fair bet he’ll remain effective over the next five years (ie: the one year remaining plus the four year extension), but there almost certainly will be some decline. However, the starting point is a 23 minutes per game, minute munching two-way D with size, and a team leader and alternate captain. And also a longterm, homegrown player in that organization, who has been significantly underpaid at $3.75M. (To-date, at least by the stats, Ekholm has provided nearly $40M in surplus value to the Predators, over and above his career earnings.) A shorter extension at a higher AAV would probably be a smarter move IMO, but it’s hard to know what the player was looking for. Maybe Ekholm’s side was starting out asking for eight years, and they came down to four, which is certainly a much more palatable number from the team side. If they still can get 20+ minutes per game, and close to full seasons played, from Ekholm over the next half decade, they’ll probably have done quite well on this contract. And at least the deal isn’t starting out as a massive overpayment, which is more often the case for UFA aged players. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-AJ- Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Probably an okay deal, but it might not age super well unless Ekholm himself does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 I mean, if Nashville was going to spend their money anywhere it was probably gonna be their D. Him and Josi are the pillars of their defense, and likely will be until they bring someone in or their other guys prove they can step up. Sure, the result may be them spinning their wheels a bit, but given the age of their other players they weren't ever going to tear it down and commit to a rebuild. Most of their guys are in their mid twenties or pushing thirty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoreanHockeyFan Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 (edited) Cap hit and term seem fair in isolation, but I don't see how this contract fits with the future of Nashville and their impending rebuild/tool/whatever you want to call it. Surprised Ekholm doesn't want to move to a team that's more on the rise to be honest. Edited October 13, 2021 by KoreanHockeyFan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrissex95 Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 Okay so Nashville is going to have to keep Johansen because he's untradeable. They'll try to keep Forsberg, who could net a massive return. It'll make sense to trade Josi at some point, they'll need to retain salary but a team that has a plethora of picks and prospects might want to give up a lot for him. Rinne is gone and Saros is good enough to hold the goal for another five or six seasons. Granlund and Duchene also stay. What I'm saying is that with these prospects coming up through the ranks are good (i.e. Evangelista, Tomasino, Tolvanen, Afanasyev, L'Heureux, Svechkov) but they're all forwards. Eventually, Nashville is going to have to replenish their defense. I don't see that happening in 2022 with all the forward headliners they have and in 2023 they could be candidates to get Connor Bedard, an elite forward they've never had. But, it's time for Nashville to rebuild this team, which is why I'm disappointed in this signing overall. Ekholm should've been moved to a team like Toronto, Florida, Colorado or Vegas for some quality young players. I'm talking about defensemen or goalies, maybe another center. They won't get anything back for Johansen and probably negligible for Duchene but they'll get a huge haul back for Forsberg and Josi. It's time to move on to something bigger, faster, stronger and younger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentSam Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 (edited) On 10/13/2021 at 11:08 AM, Coconuts said: I mean, if Nashville was going to spend their money anywhere it was probably gonna be their D. Him and Josi are the pillars of their defense, and likely will be until they bring someone in or their other guys prove they can step up. Sure, the result may be them spinning their wheels a bit, but given the age of their other players they weren't ever going to tear it down and commit to a rebuild. Most of their guys are in their mid twenties or pushing thirty. He will be sought after for a team making playoffs,. Bring a good pick, possibly prospect too. We might even be able to deal with his contract next season… we could be minus Schenn, Bowery, Hamonic Hunt next season. (thats about 5m) Edited October 14, 2021 by SilentSam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 (edited) 13 minutes ago, SilentSam said: He will be sought after for a team making playoffs,. Bring a good pick, possibly prospect too. We might even be able to deal with his contract next season… we could be minus Schenn, Bowery, Hamonic Hunt next season. (thats about 5m) If they decide they want to commit to a full blown rebuild, he'd def be an appealing piece. I just don't see it happening sooner than later, I see them trying to compete unless the next season or two completely go off the rails. They might be better off trying to trade players like Ekholm and Josi for younger blue chips guys further along in their development than picks tbh. Picks are lottery tickets, I could see them wanting something like a Byram. They might have to add for a piece like that, but they might be willing to. A playoff team with a window might be willing to sacrifice a blue chip guy to bolster their cup odds, with Colorado simply being an example of such a team. I don't think they'd move Byram. I just don't see them being willing to strip things down for picks the way Arizona has, I think they'd prefer more established prospects. Edited October 14, 2021 by Coconuts 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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