He'll definitely help the powerplay, which has been absolutely abysmal over the last few seasons. But that contract, dear God. Calgary once again negotiates against themselves, and loses. NO ONE was offering Wideman $26 mil over 5 years, even in this market.
This was my kid brother's take, who is a legendary optimist and diehard Leafs fan (he's in the fistpump gif), but a very rational kid nonetheless; he played junior so he likes to give players the benefit of the doubt and doesn't go out of his way to chirp guys incessantly. Anyways:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geddy's brother
They needed a D man from the free agent pool. They got one, but they did overpay. Its not necessarily that the current management staff is making the WRONG moves, its that they're making them in either very unorthodox ways or perhaps at the wrong point in time...
But I have to say, if you were going to pay that much anyways, they probably just threw away a 5th and a potential roster player... because I have to think that offer would have been one of the highest submitted to Wideman even on or after July 1.
What's frustrating to me is that this was the time to let T.J. Brodie start to take over that role organically, at 1/5th of the price.