Tanner Pearson’s contract is a steal for the Los Angeles Kings …
On Tuesday afternoon the Los Angeles Kings took care of some housekeeping by signing RFA forward Tanner Pearson to a four-year contract extension worth $3.75 million per season.
Pearson may not be a household name but he has quietly turned into an excellent and underrated player for the Kings.
Over the last two seasons, Pearson tallied 39 goals and 80 points while averaging ~15 minutes per night for the low-scoring Kings.
During that span, Pearson averaged more goals per 60 minutes of 5v5 play (.92) than the likes of Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Toffoli, Sean Monahan and Phil Kessel, while producing points at a higher clip (1.67 per 60) than Nathan MacKinnon, Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Jack Eichel, and Alex Wennberg to name but a few.
Pearson has not only been a very efficient producer at 5v5 but, Trevor Lewis aside, every player Pearson has played meaningful minutes with has been as good or better playing with him than without him.
By all accounts, Pearson has been an effective player for the Kings and at 24, his best days are still ahead of him.
Rob Blake’s first contract signing as GM of the Kings sure looks like a good one.
Ben Bishop may not be a big upgrade for the Dallas Stars over Kari Lehtonen …
Signing Pearson wasn’t the only thing Blake was up to on Tuesday as he traded Ben Bishop’s rights to the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 2017 4th round pick (originally the Montreal Canadiens).
While many look at Bishop as a significant upgrade over Kari Lehtonen, who carried most of the load for the Stars last season, the numbers suggest that isn’t necessarily the case. Lehtonen was actually better than Bishop in most key categories.
The differences aren’t large, however, Lehtonen managed to post the better numbers despite playing for a Stars team that ranked 28th in preventing scoring chances at 5v5. By comparison, the Kings were 6th best while the Lightning finished 8th in that regard.
Bishop’s advantage in overall save percentage essentially comes down to the penalty kill. He held his own playing for a pair of top-15 units while Lehtonen couldn’t salvage the league’s 30th ranked penalty kill.
The Stars better hope Bishop can fix that because history suggests he won’t provide much of a boost, if any, at 5v5 (his three-year average is a .925 SV%, .001 better than Lehtonen’s last season).
That’s a big gamble to make when you consider how pricey it will be to get Bishop locked up.
Written by Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell)
