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The 2012 UFA Class is David Jones

June 7, 2012, 3:31 PM ET [32 Comments]
Travis Yost
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Reports coming out of Denver, Colorado have David Jones -- he of the forty-one point average over the past two seasons -- scoring a four-year, $16M deal to stay with the Colorado Avalanche.

From a Colorado perspective, the deal was pretty much expected. Jones isn't a big point guy, but he has pieced together consecutive 20+ goal seasons with the Avalanche, and the team is in dire need of talent on the wings.

And yet, Jones' contract says so much more than a team filling a need with a solid but unspectacular player. See, David Jones is a nice player, but the fact that he may have accepted a lower-end offer to stay in his comfort zone at four million per isn't really encouraging.

So, one more time for emphasis: David Jones is now making $4M per. That's not an indictment of Jones as a player -- rather, the beginning of an absurd storm that's set to hit every NHL city this summer, where name after name will be given top-dollar for marginal output.



David Jones is a goal-scorer, pure and simple. His shot percentages don't indicate that his numbers are fluky-high, either. It's everything else -- from the questionable defensive metrics, to the poor possession numbers, to the lower-end PPG splits -- that really can raise an eyebrow. A nice talent, but probably not a $4M talent.

That's the glory of UFA classes these days. Ultimately, or until there's significant change with the structure of the National Hockey League, the focus of player movement will move to the trade front, where egregious overspending from a dollar perspective will turn to assets swapped for assets -- a much more comfortable risk/reward scenario for all parties involved.

Ottawa -- much like every other team -- is going to be effected in some way by the David Jones deal. Nick Foligno's an RFA that's expected to re-up with the club, and amusingly enough, he's towing the exact same PPG average that David Jones did with Colorado over the past two seasons.

Graeme Nichols at The 6th Sens pointed out that Ottawa does have slightly more leverage thanks to Foligno's RFA leverage, but at this point, how much will it really matter? Foligno's going to cash-in if he stays; expectations will rise in lock-step with his new deal; fans will grow increasingly agitated with his inconsistent play, assuming he follows the current trend of every other season to date.

The larger problem, of course, is that the overpayment for marginal talent across the board is going to make its way right to the center of negotiations between the NHLPA and NHL with respect to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Players will vehemently defend the deals; owners will cry poor and sing the blues.

Hell, even low-end talent -- like, say, Matt Hunwick of the Colorado Avalanche -- are getting paid. Hunwick's probably sub-level replacement, and he's expected to earn $1.6M per on a multi-year deal. Hunwick's an expert when it comes to struggling in soft shifts against soft competition. Perhaps it was his 0.06 career GPG average that sold the Colorado brass.

Don't rip the Avalanche, though -- all they did was do what everyone else is going to have to do one month prior. Overpay.

Rinse, wash, repeat.

Just some quick thoughts on an otherwise busy Thursday. Carry on, folks.

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