On Friday the Blue Jackets announced that they have extended defencemen Dalton Prout for two years at 1.575M AAV.
Dalton Prout's two-year extension with #CBJ carries a $1.575M AAV ($1.25M in 2016-17, $1.9M in 2017-18).
— Rob Mixer (@RobMixer) March 25, 2016
Prout has actually been a solid contributor this season. He along with Fedor Tyutin, have been a formidable shutdown pair. Prout is second among the defencemen in Corsi % and in scoring chances against. There’s no doubt he's having a good season, but still this contract is a curious one and makes me question the front offices’ decision and where this team is headed in the future.
The first question I ask is why now? Prout would have been an RFA at the end of the season so the Jackets still controlled his rights. There was no threat of him walking and I highly he doubt he would have got an offer sheet. I can understand getting Boone Jenner and Ryan Murray’s deals done early. They are both high end young players, each had the potential to be offer sheeted.
The other question and this is the one that gets me, is why two years, and how is that going to impact the future of the team? The Jackets defence core has not been good this season. They have been better with the addition of Seth Jones but still, this isn't that good of a group. Yet every member (outside of Jones who still needs a new contract) is locked in for at least two more years. While Prout has had a good season, he's a 6th-7th defencemen at most; you don’t need to lock those guys up.
What this deal has done has killed the flexibly of the team going forward. Unless the Jackets are able to trade Tyutin this off-season they are committed to six defencemen for next year. This seems like a short sighted decision when you have guys like a Michael Paliotta, a Dillion Heatherington and a Zach Werenski who look close to NHL ready. Let’s say the Jackets sign Werenski this summer, he comes into camp and blows the doors off. Where are you going to play him? It doesn’t seem likely for this team to sit a big money player like Tyutin, and it would look really bad if fresh off of a new two year deal Prout can’t get into the lineup. This all but ensures Werenski is going to start in Lake Erie.
The other thing this does is it completely blocks the Jacket’s from making improvements this summer. Pursuing a free agent seems unlikely as there is no spot for them. This also looks like it closes the book on the team making a trade for a defenceman. A team like Anaheim has a lot of good young D. There has been talk they might have to trade one of Sami Vatanen or Hampus Lindholm as both are RFA’s. The Jackets could step in and make another Brandon Saad type trade, take advantage of a team in a budget crunch. It’s the same situation as above, unless they move Tyutin, this is the d-core they want and have committed to.
I get that injuries happen and you will need more than six defencemen over the course of a season. But by giving Prout two years, it shows they are committed to him as more than just a depth option. Unless the team is able to trade Fedor Tyutin this off-season they are unlikely to make any further additions to the defence core. Further, they have also created a situation where they have blocked their top prospect. You never want to just hand a teenager a spot in the NHL but even if he shows he's ready, barring injury there is just no room for him at the NHL level. That is not a smart decision for a team that has had one of the worst defensive units in the NHL this season.
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