Or Lindros, Bure, Staal (this year aside), Gomez, Phaneuf, Gaborik, Richards, Richards, Nash, Green, Campbell, Lecavalier, Heatley, Spezza, etc. etc. There are a lot of elite players who can burn teams through injury or decline. And when they do it can drag a whole franchise down. I don't think EK is going to go that way, but it's a huge risk at that dollar value. Spread that salary around and the risk disappears a bit. EK is my favourite player in the league, but I understand how hard a decision this is for the team.