This was literally no one who is comparable to Holl in terms of ability, availability, term, and cost. This is the Copp argument all over again. You want to sign an UFA RHD between the ages of 28-32 who isn't an absolute liability one one or both of the ends of the ice? 3-4M dollars a year is what its going to cost you.
To save time and pages of back and forth, here are the obvious retorts:
"What about Scott Mayfield? I'd rather have him" - was never in play. Was resigned and to a SEVEN year deal. Remember, the point of these stopgap FA's that Yzerman is signing to to make sure they phase out or are tradable if and when one of our prospects pop. Long term deals are not on the table right now unless you are Larkin or Seider.
"Holls not's worth 3.4M!!" - By market rate, he absolutely is. Holl is in his prime earning years. You wanted a semi-competent D-man, it's going to cost you either in money or a term. Other UFA D's his age on the 2nd half of their prime years following a bridge:
Orlov (31yo) 2x 7.75MAAV
Gudas (33yo) 3x 4AAV
Schenn (33yo) 2x 2.75AAV
OR you could chase the 1st time UFA on the front half of their window (28yos):
Mayfield (28yo) 7x 3.5AAV
Graves (28yo) 6x 4.5AAV
Clifton (28yo)3x 3.3AAV
Soucy (28yo) 3 3.2AAV
That's it... that's the options. Outside of Orlov (too expensive) and Mayfield and Graves (crazy term and never in play), I wouldn't say any of these guys are better value at term or contract than what Holl is.
"Gudas is a beast!" - sure, he hits hard but he is also 33 years old, plays an incredible physical game, hasn't played a completed season in like a decade due to injuries or suspensions, can't contribute offensively, and is already on the decline. You think 33 Gudas is meh? Wait till you see 36 year old Gudas!
"We should've just signed a guy for 1yr till Ed is ready!" - we did, that's Shayne Gostisbehere.
"Instead of Holl and his 3yrs! Just sign a guy!" - Okay, Your last real option outside of this was to give a 1yr - moderate money deal to an aging veteran who had serious warts or is looking to reboot their value: OEL, Klingberg, DeAngelo, Cole, Shattenkirk, Erik Johnson, Marc Staal, etc. ...but those guys are either expensive or so old or broken, that is basically adding another Petry. Or we could add in a young, cheap guy which is exactly the kind of guys we were signing the last 3 years and everyone was losing it because they were awful (Strecher, Oesterle, McIllrath, Hagg, Nemeth, etc.). So we went down that route for the last few years while we cleared the books and built up the pipe and the organization again.
Holl is not a world beater. But he is a perfectly fine RHD capable of filling a spot Bottom 4 and is definitely not overprices, or have too much term, etc.
