Mikos87
Registered User
- Mar 19, 2002
- 9,064
- 3,244
This implies that enforcers have actual value in the modern NHL when they really don't. The only guy you named who can actually help a team is Dorsett.
While that role has diminished in todays game, these guys are a rarer commodity and have teams bidding for their services. That's why the contracts are what they are.
It's different with players that are tweeners or play on perennial losers since they can be replaced with kids or other options. Take a look at a guy like Olli Jokinen, puts up numbers, has all of the things you want in a center, yet he's gotten one smaller contract after another.
Take a look at how many playoff games Olli Jokinen has played in 15+ years in the NHL and it's easy to see why a guy like him gets lesser contracts than his "value". Olli Jokinen has played a grand total of 6 playoff games in 15 years. 6 playoff games, and that was a year where he joined a low seeded team as a rental.
Never has Olli Jokinen played on a team that for an entire season and made the playoffs. Hell he even cost this Ranger team to miss the playoffs in 2010 by not converting on the shootout.
A similar scenario applies to Stempniak. Although not as bad.