If Joey came in at 5M, people would really like what he brings to the table. Sadly he comes in at 8M. He performs great in the playoffs but i dont think we are playoff bound.
Well I would have liked him A LOT at $5M last year. Even $8M wasn't too bad. But not so much this one or the couple before that. But the real key difference is that we had no choice before. This time I think the really really big difference is - or COULD BE anyhow - that we
might finally have a choice.
It still requires a little bit of additional information gathering. But I honestly don't see too much value in Johansen as an "insulating" presence or whatever to shield the young players if: A) those young players are as good or better than him, B) we're not contending anyway, C) we can use his money productively elsewhere in the lineup to make us a better team overall.
I'm gaining confidence in A. I can't see B changing much, but I expect Poile et co. to think it might. And C is a big fat mystery box. We'll see how that all progresses by the latter half of June when a decision is required. But at least for the first time things are aligning that make it truly worth continuing to talk about.
Although it still comes down ultimately to Poile's willingness to pay to retain/buy him out, and no matter how much sense either of those options will ever seem to make, I still won't expect Poile to actually do it. So regardless, I will fully expect Joey to be playing out his contract here. Just to be clear on that. But I will start to hold that as a strike against Poile if the conditions arise to make that a clearly foolish decision. Which hasn't happened to date. But which is what I am saying
might finally arise. So this is only ever going to be an exercise in validating criticism of Poile, in case anybody thinks otherwise.