Ray Ferraro who is now retired was talking on TSN Radio about countless players he has mentored or is still mentoring usually from the WHL as he lives on the west coast.
Essentially he was saying there is so many players who can’t let go of this mindset that they are top 6 forwards, and they refuse to change their roll, and they could quite easily. He talked with players who had former teammates that got the elusive 6, 7 or 8 year deal. And they thought that becuase they were teammates once upon a time that they could get that too.
You can get paid in this league if you are a very strong forchecker who finishes checks or a defensive specialist.
Like if said player got 3x4 and another 2x3 contract after an entry level deal that is still insanely good money for career.