You cannot compare the Pacific coast to the Atlantic. The surfing's much better on your end but the water is freezing cold. The Gulf + Atlantic ocean off the Florida coast is luxuriously warm by comparison. Fishing's great in both places depending on what you're looking for.
Both places are wonderful. It just depends on what you want.
Well, I think most Californians would agree that what we want is for weather that ISN'T 90+ degrees with 90%+ humidity for half the year.
Oh, and the water isn't THAT cold down by Los Angeles and San Diego. Up here it certainly is, though. I literally live less than a mile from the spot on the shore nearest to the famous Mavericks big wave surfing spot, and the water here is like 58 degrees year round. Of course, being spitting distance from the water has its benefits too. In summer, we rarely top about 75, and in winter, we rarely get below the low 40s, even in the middle of the night. Oh, and even when there's not a drought, we basically never get rain from late May until late November, so summers are basically always sunny unless there's fog.
Anyway, as for Demers: This AAV was significantly less than I was expecting. A LOT less. 1) He was the
only top-4 RD on the FA market. 2) There were several teams with a big need for RD. 3) Some of those teams had a lot of cap room after missing out on the Stamkos sweepstakes. 4) By waiting until today, he could have driven up prices more, since all the other quality D men were already gone, even the LDs.
So, I was expecting him to not come in ANY lower than 5.5m AAV, and I really expected 6-6.5m. That would obviously be more than he would be worth in a vacuum, but the law of supply and demand usually applies everywhere. There was a huge demand combined with a supply of 1, which I assumed would drive the price way up.
So, this is a really great deal for Florida, I think. They got him in there at close to his actual value, and for decent term. They improved their team and didn't pay out the nose to do it. Great work by Florida's GM these last couple days, in getting the goalie of the future as Luongo is phased out as he gets to 40 years old, and getting the best RD on the market to help replace what they lost when Campbell went back to Chicago.