A Chicago Blackhawks Bargin …
Last week Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman checked a big item off his to-do list when he signed star winger Artemi Panarin to a two-year, $12 million contract extension.
While $6 million per year is hardly chump change, it’s pretty easy to look at this deal as a very favorable one for the Blackhawks.
Panarin is 4th in scoring since entering the league yet, as it stands, 49 forwards are scheduled to make as much or more than Panarin in 2017-18.
The three players with more points than Panarin (Patrick Kane, Sidney Crosby and Jamie Benn) carry an average cap hit of $9.56M in 2017-18, a difference of more than $3.5 million per season.
Panarin was scheduled to become a restricted free agent, so he and his rep(s) didn’t have the leverage to bully their way through negotiations, but it’s clear the Blackhawks did quite well here.
For the sake of comparison, let’s take a look at how Panarin’s contract stacks up vs the rest of the top-10 scorers since the beginning of 2015-16.
As you can see, only two players are scheduled to make less than Panarin next year. Seguin registered 32 points during a lockout-shortened season prior to signing his deal. Wheeler’s career-high was 64 points (in 80 games) before he inked is, so neither player entered negotiations with a more impressive resume than the one Panarin has now.
What makes this such a good deal for the Blackhawks is, on top of producing offense at an elite rate, Panarin is also an excellent play driver.
At 5v5, the Blackhawks have taken 53.1% of the shot attempts with Panarin on the ice and just 46.4% without him. Among 271 eligible forwards (minimum 1,000 5v5 minutes), Panarin’s Corsi For% Relative to the team of +6.7% ranks 3rd in the NHL.
Simply put, a lot of good things happen when Panarin is on the ice and, at 25, that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. This seems like a steal for the Blackhawks.
Teams will be calling the Devils about P.A. Parenteau …
Every year there are a handful of quality players who, for whatever reason, end up signing cheap contracts they will almost certainly out-perform.
Perhaps the most obvious summer signing to do just that was P.A. Parenteau.
In 2015-16, Parenteau recorded 20 goals, 41 points, 168 shots while also driving possession at a solid rate (+3.88 CF Rel%).
Despite his impressive totals, Parenteau was only able to parlay his strong season into a one-year contract with the New York Islanders worth $1.25 million.
Parenteau didn’t even dress in a game for the Islanders before they placed him on waivers and sent him packing. A handful of teams passed on Parenteau before the New Jersey Devils decided to take a shot on him.
In the least surprising turn of events ever, claiming Parenteau has paid dividends for the Devils.
In 37 games Parenteau has found twine 11 times (a 24-goal pace over 82 games), which is more than Claude Giroux, Nathan MacKinnon, Brad Marchand, Jakub Voracek, Corey Perry and Ryan Johansen, to name but a few. That the Devils are getting that kind of production from a waiver claim is a huge advantage.
The Devils are all but a lock to miss the playoffs so, in a way, they won’t be able to take full advantage of his production. That said, you can bet teams looking to add scoring depth will come calling at the deadline.
When that inevitably happens, the Devils will parlay a player they acquired for free into a decent draft pick and/or prospect. Every team that passed on Parenteau a few months ago is surely regretting it now.
Note: numbers via CapFriendly, NaturalStatTrick, and Stats.HockeyAnalysis.
Written by Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell)
