I mean, if he stays what he is... With the cap going up, he's worth it.
I think we're really close to $8.5M being the going rate for a good No. 2, a good No. 1 being $10M, and an elite D being around $12M to $13M (ignoring the oddity that is Karlsson today; that's really rare) within 18 months or so.
He'll have to regress quite a bit for the player to break even on that contract. I think the team does very well out of the deal. It's not about dollars for the player. Faber gets to forego a typical bridged second contract and gets long-term stability in a place he's happy. He's knowingly giving up money for stability and that's a totally legitimate call. He's never going to have a sword hanging over him ever again, never
has to sign another contract or perform to get that next deal, and that's worth a few million dollars to secure that peace of mind. The team makes out, though, no question.
I don't believe in teams gambling where the second contract is concerned with too many of their guys at once, but with special players it makes a lot of sense. You really have to guess right with your player, though.