Speculation: Roster Building Thread: Part XXV - Time to say Goodbye

[NYR Viper]

Skjei hasn’t been THAT bad. The team itself has been bad. He’s had his ups and downs but he is a solid top-4 defenseman making less than what a player like him would get as a UFA. It’s way too early to say that’s the worst contract Gorton has handed out. I really don’t mind it honestly. He still appears to be trying to determine what his role should be. Offensive of defensive.

 

[ZiGOODejad]

Skjei hasn’t been THAT bad. The team itself has been bad. He’s had his ups and downs but he is a solid top-4 defenseman making less than what a player like him would get as a UFA. It’s way too early to say that’s the worst contract Gorton has handed out. I really don’t mind it honestly. He still appears to be trying to determine what his role should be. Offensive of defensive.

He got forced into a role he certainly wasn’t ready for

 

[Thirty One]

"Yeah, I realistically see them saving themselves from a $5.75M or so contract a couple years down the road if they played it conservatively and went two years today. Which I think is pretty weak savings considering you're taking on a lot more risk and it's 3 RFA years. I'd be very happy to pay him $5.75M in exchange for getting two more years to make sure we really understand who Brady Skjei is as an NHL defenseman."

^ Still how I feel about the contract now.

 

[DanielBrassard]

"Yeah, I realistically see them saving themselves from a $5.75M or so contract a couple years down the road if they played it conservatively and went two years today. Which I think is pretty weak savings considering you're taking on a lot more risk and it's 3 RFA years. I'd be very happy to pay him $5.75M in exchange for getting two more years to make sure we really understand who Brady Skjei is as an NHL defenseman."

^ Still how I feel about the contract now.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[LORDE]

There's risk and reward, for sure. But people talking about protecting ourselves in case Skjei becomes a star... that's like locking your cupboards in fear that your Ritz crackers will become mountain lions.

Congrats. This made me literally lol

 

[nyrage]

This forum needs a trade. Any kind of trade to save us from ourselves. Just something new.

 

[Matz03]

Maybe. By a country mile? I don't think so. Smith was a veteran player who sabotaged himself after proving a valuable commodity down the stretch and in the playoffs for the Rangers. He was also an UFA.

Skjei was coming off a questionable season, a RFA, and the Rangers just sort of handed him that deal and Im not entirely sure why. The best explanation I can come up with is they wanted to send a message that they were investing in their younger players and he was the most promising of the bunch - what a bad reason to hand over a long-term deal when you don't have to.

As for the porous argument that Skjei's play has deteriorated while on a worse team - sure. But that's the type of deal you give to a guy who is going to be a cornerstone for resurrecting the team. He's been anything but that for a season and a half now.

This is all easy to say now, but the fact is the Rangers always signed their homegrown d men who they considered to be top 4 to longer deals instead of bridging them. see Staal, Girardi, McDonagh and now Skjei. He was going to get a long term deal based on how they treat their d men. Overpayment, probably now, will it be worth it down the road? Possibly. Far from worst deal on the team.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

"Yeah, I realistically see them saving themselves from a $5.75M or so contract a couple years down the road if they played it conservatively and went two years today. Which I think is pretty weak savings considering you're taking on a lot more risk and it's 3 RFA years. I'd be very happy to pay him $5.75M in exchange for getting two more years to make sure we really understand who Brady Skjei is as an NHL defenseman."

^ Still how I feel about the contract now.

Nailed it.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

There's risk and reward, for sure. But people talking about protecting ourselves in case Skjei becomes a star... that's like locking your cupboards in fear that your Ritz crackers will become mountain lions.

Ha. Yes. The Rangers really did a great job protecting themselves against a future potential maybe star.

Meanwhile, here in reality, Skjei wouldn't be worth $5.75M annually after a bridge deal.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Not worried about Skjei. Get rid of Smith and Staal first. I felt Skjei has been pretty good the last 5 or 6 games.

 

[Ghost of jas]

https://nypost.com/2019/02/04/not-even-brady-skjei-feels-safe-from-rangers-trade-potential/

For all the flack Gorton gets, this contract may be the leader so far for his biggest mistake as GM.

I have hated this contract since the moment it was announced.

 

[East Coast Bias]

Can’t wait till we give Pionk 5 years 22m.

“It’s not so much the Pionk contract that’s bad as much as it’s the Pionk+Smith+Staal-+Shatty+Skjei combo deal that’s killing us”

 

[Ghost of jas]

Can’t wait till we give Pionk 5 years 22m.

“It’s not so much the Pionk contract that’s bad as much as it’s the Pionk+Smith+Staal-+Shatty+Skjei combo deal that’s killing us”

Why must you do this to me?

 

[Drew4u]

Not a stretch to say that Gorton is one of the worst gms in terms of evaluating defencemen.

 

[Lion Hound]

Not a stretch to say that Gorton is one of the worst gms in terms of evaluating defencemen.

Sather wasen't so hot on that either!

 

[SA16]

@Ola

Please click the following link and then explain to me the relevance of asking me about Cody Franson - Search Results for Query: franson | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League

Perhaps you should be the one checking the archive?

 

[Inferno]

Should probably go to the hospital.

Assumed @Thirty One posted this...did a double take when I saw it wasn't

 

[FIRE DRURY]

Not a stretch to say that Gorton is one of the worst gms in terms of evaluating defencemen.

Let’s see how Miller, Lundkvist, Rykov, Lindgren, Hajek, Ragnarsson + develop first before making a statement like that.

It’s too early to evaluate a GM after a year of a teams rebuild.

C’mon Drew...

 

[Inferno]

Gorton...signs the greatest ufa defenseman contract ever...doesn't know how to evaluate defenseman.

 

[Avery16]

I have hated this contract since the moment it was announced.

same, but for Smith

 

[Ola]

Not one year, that's for sure. The 1/3 buyout wouldn't be available after this summer, so pretty irrelevant.

Have we had a year to evaluate Skjei?

 

[Ola]

@Ola

Please click the following link and then explain to me the relevance of asking me about Cody Franson - Search Results for Query: franson | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League

Perhaps you should be the one checking the archive?

Your post archive search does however speak for itself, I am sorry if I don’t want to jump on the Mark Stone for Hart train. I just don’t agree.

My point is just that, I don’t get why you need to attack me for it?

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

"Yeah, I realistically see them saving themselves from a $5.75M or so contract a couple years down the road if they played it conservatively and went two years today. Which I think is pretty weak savings considering you're taking on a lot more risk and it's 3 RFA years. I'd be very happy to pay him $5.75M in exchange for getting two more years to make sure we really understand who Brady Skjei is as an NHL defenseman."

^ Still how I feel about the contract now.

Rangers hand out bridge contracts: "We need to be more like Nashville. They are in this position because they sign their players long-term at a lower cap hit. It's risky, but sometimes you have to take a risk"

Rangers give Skjei a long-term deal: "Why did we sign Skjei long-term? This is a bad contract!"

 

[Blue Blooded]

Rangers hand out bridge contracts: "We need to be more like Nashville. They are in this position because they sign their players long-term at a lower cap hit. It's risky, but sometimes you have to take a risk"

Rangers give Skjei a long-term deal: "Why did we sign Skjei long-term? This is a bad contract!"

It was a bad contract at the time because he got paid very near the ceiling of what defencemen that don't get PP time ever get paid. If we had bridged him and he kept up his very good 2017-18 level of play for the next two years we could probably still sign him to a $5.25M AAV contract at that point. He was never going to repeat his rookie season point total as that was a consequence of getting an abnormal amount of secondary assists and getting PP time by default despite being a poor PPQB.

I don't remember how many seasons he had left until UFA when he came off his ELC, but if we had gotten him to sign a contract that included one UFA year at a pricetag below $4M AAV, then you could consider that a Nashville-tier deal at the time.

Going long-term on Skjei was not nearly as bad an idea as going long-term on Pionk this summer would be though. The guys to gamble on longer-term this summer are Buchnevich and DeAngelo.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

It was a bad contract at the time because he got paid very near the ceiling of what defencemen that don't get PP time ever get paid. If we had bridged him and he kept up his very good 2017-18 level of play for the next two years we could probably still sign him to a $5.25M AAV contract at that point. He was never going to repeat his rookie season point total as that was a consequence of getting an abnormal amount of secondary assists and getting PP time by default despite being a poor PPQB.

I don't remember how many seasons he had left until UFA when he came off his ELC, but if we had gotten him to sign a contract that included one UFA year at a pricetag below $4M AAV, then you could consider that a Nashville-tier deal at the time.

Going long-term on Skjei was not nearly as bad an idea as going long-term on Pionk this summer would be though. The guys to gamble on longer-term this summer are Buchnevich and DeAngelo.

Skjei signing long-term at 6.6% very similar to Orlov, Theodore. I think those are good comparables for Skjei and probably why he got what was given to him.

Skjei: 3 RFA, 3 UFA
Orlov: 2 RFA, 4 UFA
Theodore: 5 RFA, 2 UFA
Hanifin: 4 RFA, 2 UFA
Gostisbehere: 5 RFA, 1 UFA

It's difficult to find exact comparisons due to age difference and RFA/UFA splits but I think 5.25m AAV is good value for a player like Brady Skjei. The Rangers took a risk. The alternative would be a 3.5m AAV for 2 more seasons, and then giving him a 7m AAV in 2020 long-term with only 1 RFA year to buy out, a higher salary cap etc. Now we have Skjei for 5.25m until 2024.