The Columbus Blue Jackets ended 2014 with a bang, re-signing one of their core players in Nick Foligno during the day and beating the Minnesota Wild to cap the night.
Foligno, 27, was set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer, and would have been at or near the top of everyone's shopping list.
In order to get Foligno locked up the Jackets had to dish out a pretty lucrative contract, giving Foligno $33 million ($5.5 per) over six years. That is a lot of money, obviously, but I don't think Jarmo Kekalainen and co. were taken to the cleaners on this extension.
Ideally the number would be somewhere around $5M per season, but you have to pay to keep UFA's and Foligno probably wouldn't have struggled too hard to get over $6M per if he tested the open market.
As to what Folgino brings to the team: a bit of everything. He can play in any situation, and is productive in all aspects of the game.
He's one of the better possession players on the team, and is averaging a respectable 1.82 points/60 at 5 vs 5. He's also been the best power play producer in hockey this season averaging 9.41 points/60 during 5 vs 4 play, which is over a point ahead of Anze Kopitar, Claude Giroux and Ryan Johansen, among others.
Is he likely to continue producing at the rate he is (17 goals and 32 points in 34 games)? No. But if he can score 20-25 goals and/or record 50 points a year while playing in all situations, the Blue Jackets will be getting at least fair value out of their investment.
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