Alexander Radulov (or Radu-love) quickly became a fan favourite last year as he was quite consistent in displaying effort and heart over the course of the grind that is the hockey season. His effort was questioned very little, and after it was in the post-season, he responded in a big way. While his 53-point effort might have some stat nerds confused as to why he would be seeking 49M over 7 years, fans of the game understand that his energy was often contagious on the team, and that his worth was by far superior to the stat sheet. Consider the energy that he sent across the ice to the other winger on his line, Captain FlatLine. Now, I am by no means diminishing Pacioretty’s skill as I was not one to consider trading him November. Still, the captain seemingly lacks in energy sometimes making Radulov a perfect line companion.

Despite of all the good qualities displayed by Radulov last season, there comes a point where the team simply can’t pay him what he wants. At his age, his history of behaviour, his rumoured current divorce situation, the team’s salary cap issues, and the fact that they need a center more than a winger, how much is too much for Radulov and his 53 points?

First point of importance here is that I firmly believe that term is far more dangerous than money in this case. For that reason, I will cap the money portion of this contract to meet his demands at 7M per season. Cap be damned, he is a dangerous player offensively, one that rarely gets in trouble defensively, give him what he wants. Unfortunately for him, this is only good for a 2-year contract. After this 2-year period, every additional season takes a million annually and sends it packing. This would mean that a 3-year contract would be at 18M, 4 years at 20M, and so on.

As electrifying a player as he is, not many teams will be willing to hand him much more money than what I’ve set forth here. The few that will be willing to cough it up will not be teams able to win-now. Consider that with the addition of Drouin, the Habs wingers already include Drouin, Galchenyuk, Lehkonen and Gallagher. Radulov is money that could be spent on a pivot here; he is a luxury, not a need. Time for him to show that he is willing to accept a market-value contract to win now. I, along with many other Habs fans, will hate to see him go, but this is not the time to be destroying the cap situation over a player who has shown one year of solid play.

Thanks for reading,

Kevin Leveille

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