The eight-year, $62MM contract extension that the Flyers and center Sean Couturier agreed on last week appeared to be a bit of a bargain considering what top pivots have been getting and the scarcity of impact centers hitting the open market. Speaking with reporters, including Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Couturier suggested that he left some money on the table, saying that he didn’t want to “break the bank”, calling it “another way to try to help the team”. Speculatively speaking, given that GM Chuck Fletcher called the 28-year-old their best player right now, it will be worth monitoring to see if they try to make Couturier’s contract the ceiling in terms of their contract hierarchy.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- The Oilers are believed to be looking for a right-shot defenseman that could split time between the NHL and AHL, suggests Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal. Edmonton has limited veteran depth when it comes to their minor league pool so having someone with some NHL experience that can play on the third pairing when needed while being able to clear waivers and worth with their prospects would certainly be beneficial. It’s getting close to the time where PTO agreements will start to be signed and it wouldn’t be surprising to see if this is how the Oilers try to fill this spot.
- Flames goaltending prospect Daniil Chechelev will play in North America this season, his agent Aljoša Pilko of CAA Hockey announced (Twitter link). The 20-year-old was a fourth-round pick of Calgary (96th overall) back in 2020 and split last season between the VHL and MHL, playing in 40 games in total. Calgary already has five goalies under contract for 2021-22 so Chechelev may be headed for the USHL as he was selected in the 15th round of their draft by Sioux City back in 2020. That would give him a chance to get acclimated to the smaller North American surface before possibly signing for 2022-23.
Couterier is an awesome player but calling that team-friendly is a joke.
i mean, you see what some dudes are making lately?
Paying him 7.75m for his age 29 through 37 seasons is not team-friendly, period.
Was he underpaid recently? Of course. It doesn’t change that fact.
Couturier got paid the second biggest contract of any forward in the league since the flat cap has been in place. The only forward getting a higher long term AAV is Brandon Point.. The flat cap has changed the market. His contract pays him 6M more than Landeskog, a very similar player. Coots got fair market value, it wasn’t a discount.
Couturier is now the 17th highest paid C in the league. I’m sorry, but he isn’t the 17th best C in the league. He left nothing on the table. And the contract will be a hindrance for the back 3-4 years of it. At 7.75 it was fair to slightly above market value at 4-5 years. He got it to 8 years got a no trade and it is buyout proof. I’m sorry Brian but this deal is not “a bit of a bargain”.
Yep, exactly. This is a “bargain” contract for exactly so long as Couturier keeps on scoring at nearly a point a game pace and is consistently voted among the Selke contenders. And there’s exactly one guy in the league who’s done that deep into his thirties, and he wears black-and-gold, not black-and-orange. So unless Couturier is Bergeron 2.0 — instead of the dozens upon dozens of guys who aren’t? Then Philadelphia will be lucky if they only bitterly regret this four years from now.
Honestly, for anyone who defends an eight-year contract, are there as many as one player in five who performs at the same level for the entire term?
Maybe they meant it’s team friendly compared to their usual method of overpaying. See Hayes, JVR, etc.
Good players but usually worth 80% or less of what they are paid.