Ugh. At first glance, not happy with the contract. He would have gotten that in free agency probably. But lets all remember the cap is 70 million now. By last years standards, this deal is like 4.25-4.5, which while great isn't terrible. We'll see how he plays.
On one hand, I'm not thrilled, but I would have been less thrilled going into next season with the defense core we had. See how he plays with Bouwmeester, and hopefully we have a solid pairing on our hands.
Man, I feel for u guys. Having watched Wideman in the east, he is a nightmare defensively(almost MAB clone). Every PP oppurtunity he creates, he immediately follows it up with a bad break or two in his own end.
Good player, horrible contract. If Wideman can get 5.25 million, Ryan Suter should be able to get 8/9 million loool. Honestly Jay Feaster is just confusing me. This team just has no direction, they are all over the place. With this Wideman contract there is no way we keep Jay Bouwmeester. Honestly at this moment you might as well just rebuild, trade Iginla and Kipper and actually give them a chance to win the Cup cause these moves are ridiculous.
Let's take the wait and see approach. I'm curious what other D get on July 1st.
It feels a little much in my mind, but in a weak UFA market (and with better UFA players in general), you overpay. Wideman is certainly no exception at that price, but it might just be the way the market is running this year.
One other thing, signing Wideman makes a weak UFA pool even more terrible. If the Wings miss out on Suter or the Flyers can't re-sign Carle, then Bouwmeester suddenly becomes more a viable asset and the prices goes up.
Weird then that JBo was so much worse without him and we gave up so many more goals when our "top" pairing was on the ice...
We're comparing Reggie and Wideman, not Reggie and Butler. This last year we didn't have a top pair, we had a top guy. It was Jbo, and that's about it. He needs help. By bringing in a guy like Wideman it allows everyone else to play within themselves a little more.
JBo doesn't have to do everything, Gio doesn't have to play quite so many minutes. Butler can play against easier competition.
I certainly don't dispute that he'd get that on July 1. But why do we have to be the suckers who gave it to him? It's basically the same deal for the same player that Columbus made to get the Wiz last year. Hopefully not to the same result.
Let's take the wait and see approach. I'm curious what other D get on July 1st.
It feels a little much in my mind, but in a weak UFA market (and with better UFA players in general), you overpay. Wideman is certainly no exception at that price, but it might just be the way the market is running this year.
I have a feeling we are gonna see some worse d-men sign for around 5 million on July 1st, then this will look a bit better.
