F A N
Registered User
- Aug 12, 2005
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What Hughes showed defensively at the NHL level last year was far from anything he had shown previously. If you only saw a few games, it’s hard to shake a narrative that was built years prior. It’s the reason Hughes makes 7.8 and not more - that contract wasn’t a slam dunk the moment it was signed.
Everyone knew what Hughes could do. But his defensive performance over three years had you questioning whether he could elevate above being a guy who needed an elite defensive dman to carry him in second pair matchups.
Hughes' contract was interesting since Makar kind of set the bar and then Heiskanen signed for 8 years. RFA contracts under Benning have actually been decent and tends towards being conservative so some of it might be fine negotiating (with the Canucks also cap strapped).