I'm extremely wary of paying Igor over $10 million for 8 years. He isn't as good or as consistent and Lundqvist. He isn't a total workhorse like Lundqvist either. Henrik played over 60 games per year in his prime, and he rarely suffered stretches of poor play like Igor endured this past January to the All Star break. Igor plays around 55 games per year.
If we can't get him signed for $9.5-$10 million, I seriously would consider moving him.
Maybe going into this season unsigned hurts his performance and lowers his asking price.
This is how teams use their goalies now. Workload management is way more of a focus than it was even 10 years ago.
I'd like for them to go into this season with him unsigned rather than hand out the biggest contract given to a goalie ever. Money is a powerful motivator and if he wants to get that contract, alright, go do some shit that makes me okay with paying you that much money.
I will say that by saying that Igor has to this point his his career been a better playoff goalie than Hank ever was. It's not really that close either. Between the 2 of them he's had the 2 best xGSA runs and these numbers are cumulative and this will be the 3rd year in a row that he finishes 1 or 2 for the playoffs despite not playing beyond the 3rd round (he was #2 last year and they got eliminated in the 1st round!) I know he gave up some stupid goals during the Florida series but Hank also gave up dumb shit in the playoffs too (as does every goalie.)
12 million is goofy nonsense so on that point I agree. I think the ship sailed on getting him at even 10 for 8. They won't trade him now - the only realistic options IMO are
1. Extension
2. Trade mid season if the Rangers are out of it
3. Walks as a UFA