From Sportsnet’s Luke Fox’s “Quick Shifts“:
With only the Sabres (13 seasons) owning a longer post-season drought than the Red Wings (eight), the growing discontent with Detroit’s rebuild under icon Steve Yzerman comes honestly.
No playoff games for you, spectacular Little Caesars Arena.
But Stevie Y earned an emphatic boardroom W this week, locking up star forward Lucas Raymond (eight years times $8.075 million) and stud defenceman Moritz Seider (seven years times $8.55 million) for the prime of their careers.
Yzerman, remember, came from Tampa Bay, and his Lightning crafted a hard internal cap that would yield deep rosters and, soon after he moved on, championships. Now he’s doing the same thing in Michigan.
Yzerman drew a hard line. No player was to rake a higher AAV than captain Dylan Larkin ($8.7 million). That meant not giving Seider an eighth season of term, but it keeps the team’s pay scale in place and sets the tone for the next negotiation.
Seider, in particular, is a steal.
A big, edgy righty with offensive flair and an ironman streak that traces back to his NHL debut and Calder Trophy campaign?
With the cap on the rise, Seider is going to be one of the sport’s greatest bargains before too long. I seem to remember another German RFA turning into a steal of a deal, too…
