In this edition of the hotstove we share our thoughts on the massive contract extension (eight-years, $6.875 million per) Brent Seabrook received from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Todd Cordell
I'm not a fan of this deal from Chicago's perspective.
We've already seen the best of Brent Seabrook and often when you pay someone based off past performance more than future performance it doesn't end well. I think that will be the case here as they just signed Seabrook to an eight-year deal that will lock him up from age 31-39.
He's been a solid defenseman for a while but I think playing in Chicago makes him look better than he is. I also think that he wasn't the fleetest of foot to begin with and as he ages that could turn into a big problem.
Chicago now has almost $45 million committed to Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Corey Crawford until at least 2020.
There are some excellent players in that group, obviously, but only two of them are below the age of 30. This deal - and potentially a couple others - could come back to bite them in the ass.
John Jaeckel Like.
This deal keeps the Hawks out of a bidding war next summer that they likely couldn't have won—for a player who is foundational to their success.The Hawks might not win another Cup over the next 9 years, but if they do, it will be in part because they kept one of the league's best defensemen.
The Hawks keep Seabrook at an AAV slightly below his market value. The term is questionable. But the Hawks are likely banking on cap growth over that time period, perhaps making the deal a relative bargain over time, and they know Seabrook's work habits. Overall, a positive for the Hawks.
Ryan Wilson Dislike.
Brent Seabrook is presently a good to very good player for the Blackhawks. The problem is that he is already 30 years old and the contract he just signed is for eight years. There are only ~20 NHL defensemen over the age of 35 playing in the NHL and most of them are not very good anymore.
To pay a premium for a player like Seabrook you would like to see him be responsible for driving success when he is on the ice.
Over the past eight years Seabrook has played 7,436 minutes with Duncan Keith at even-strength (his most common teammate).
Together they have a CF% of 54.8% (great) but when Seabrook is away from Keith that drops to 51.4% (good). Duncan Keith literally sees no change in his ability to drive play away from Seabrook 54.6%. That highlights who is driving the success between the two of them.
Seabrook does a very good job of generating shot attempts for the Blackhawks but his ability to suppress shots is below that of a bottom pairing defenseman. Not ideal when awarding a huge contract.
This is a deal that is paying heavily for past performance and is one that will cause the Blackhawks to make other tough decisions with their roster. It is never easy to move on from a very good player but in a cap structure you have to make tough choices.
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