3-year term sounds surprising at first, but it's really a non-issue with a $1/15M cap hit.
If I'm not mistaken, you can bury $1.15M of salary in the minors:
The minimum NHL Salary is set in the CBA (11.12.a) and is as follows: 2012-13 – U.S. $525,0002013-14 – U.S. $550,0002014-15 – U.S. $550,0002015-16 – U.S. $575,0002016-17 – U.S. $575,0002017-18 – U.S. $650,0002018-19 – U.S. $650,000 2019-20 – U.S. $700,0002020-21 – U.S. $700,0002021-22 – U.S...
puckpedia.com
If that's the case and we can bury his full cap hit in the minors, than we could've signed him to an 8-year extension and it wouldn't have made a rat's ass difference to our cap. We can waive him at any point of this deal with zero impact on the cap. 3 years at $1.15M is better for us than a 1 or 2 year deal at a higher AAV.
The guy is 30 so his play shouldn't completely drop off a cliff anytime soon, but if it does...so what? Waive him and move on.
Let's face it - we have to have someone in the organization that can square up against Rempe. The guy injured two of our players this year and is going to be a Ranger for the foreseeable future. MacDermid addresses that issue - otherwise, they'd surely have to go shopping in UFA for someone...possibly at a higher AAV.
MacDermid seems like a good locker room guy by all accounts, is konwn by the staff/players, has the flexibility to play F/D and is accepting of a role as a 13th/14th forward that is frequently a healthy scratch.
The more I think about this signing, the more I like it.
Only possible negatives would be if you feel like he shouldn't be on the roster at all (in which case, tell me how you deal with Rempe) or you feel like the additional $375K cap hit between MacDermid and a league-minimum guy is somehow important.