Good deals. It's something we all look for when we spend our money and buy something. We all want to spend the least amount of money and get the best thing possible. In sports this is no different. Instead of our money it's some billionaires money. We want our teams to dish out good deals to players. We want our teams to have good players on smaller contracts, hopefully to field a better team.
The Washington Capitals have a couple of guys who we could look at and say, "That guy has a terrific contract" at least when talking about the team. If you're talking about the player these guys are very much underpaid. But fans mostly won't care about the player. They care about the team.
Every team will have that underpaid guy. Maybe you could or should look at a guy like Sidney Crosby. One of the greatest players of his time, one of the greatest of all time, he's never made more than $8.7 million in a year. How about Leon Draisaitl? A no doubt top five player today, he's making $8.5m a year.
Now the Capitals don't have a guy at that level being underpaid, but they do have a couple of guys who deserve more money for what they bring to their team. I will give you a couple of options, you decide who is more underpaid.
Charlie Lindgren
I think this is probably the one everyone will think of first. After last season how couldn't you?
When teams or fans want to hand out team awards, things can often go in several directions. A group of people will think this guy deserves it, another group will say that guy was more important and on and on. If you think that anyone other than Charlie Lindgren deserved the Capitals MVP last season, I'm sorry, but you're just wrong. Without Lindgren last season the Capitals are not a playoff team, and they might have just simply been a bad team. He saved their season, he was the most valuable Capital.
Lindgren is currently on the third year of his three year deal with the Capitals. A deal that pays him $1.1 million per year. That is a steal for the Capitals.
If you want a couple of comparisons then here are a couple. The guy who just helped his team win the Stanley Cup and played very well on his way there earns $10 million a year. That guy being Sergei Bobrovsky. There's a guy in New York the Capitals know very well, people also think he is very underpaid. We're of course talking aout Igor Shesterkin. He makes $5.6 million a year.
That's a big range of paydays there. But if you're going to be one of the best goalies in the NHL there is the range of what you should be getting paid. The Capitals are giving Charlie Lindgren a fraction of that.
I'm not going to mention stats too much for Lindgren. They aren't super impressive in my opinion. A 2.67 GAA and a .911 save percentage. All of his stats kind of hover around the top ten, that nine or ten range among goalies who played a similar time that he did. When you look at his stats, at least to me, they are kind of average. Good, but nothing in the "oh my god" special category.
But the impact he had on his team last year was absolutely tremendous. Without him the Caps are sunk and sunk early last season. I think you could easily say that Lindgren is the Caps most underpaid player. But he could still use another season to prove that. Unlike someone else. Someone like...
Dylan Strome
I've said multiple times now I don't think there is a better contract on this team than the one Dylan Strome has. Strome is going into the second year of a five year $25 million deal that sees him get only $5 million a year. Getting a top six center at that cap hit is something you would have seen years ago.
If you're a top line center you will likely be getting paid eleven, twelve million a year. At the very least you're in the double digits. A good second line center will be getting in the eight to ten range now.
Right now Strome is the top center on the Capitals. Not only is he not the top paid center, he is the seventh highest paid forward on the Caps. He's ninth on the Capitals total. You're current top center, and in my opinion no doubt top six center is your ninth highest paid player? And that contract is fairly new. You're in year two of a five year deal. That's an awesome deal.
We don't even need to go to other teams to compare contracts, we can stay with the Caps. Pierre-Luc Dubios makes $8.5m a year. Kind of proving my point from earlier. I think he could be a great second line center. He makes what a great second line center should.
Another guy who the Caps just acquired, who is at least listed as a center, Andrew Mangiapane, he makes $5.8m a year.
Last year Strome led the team in scoring with 27 goals and 67 points. The year before that he had 23 goals and 65 points. If you're gtting that kind of production I think his deal is a steal. If you surround Stome with even more talent I think the production could go up. If you're getting nearly a point per game player at $5m a year. Wow!
I think Strome is almost criminally underpaid for what he brings. If you asked me I would say he is easily the most underpaid player on the Capitals. Lindgren has a good case. I'd like him to prove it again next season. Then if he proves it next season he won't be as badly underpaid because he will get a well deserved raise.
I've said it a couple of times here already, I will likely say it until this contract runs up. You don't get a top six center at this cost anymore. I don't think you have to worry about Strome. You'll get around 25 goals and around 65 points a year. On a deeper offensive team I think that could go up. Maybe somewhere in the 75-80 point range.
At $5 million a year I think this is one of the bigger steals in the entire NHL. Good news for the Caps? The salary cap should (hopefully) continue to go up. This deal will last for four more seasons. By time this deal is up they might be paying one of their top two centers half of what they should be.
Steal!