Karlsson Nuggets: Karlsson Worth More than Silver

Soooo... guess there was some news yesterday in Senator-land, eh? Bryan Murray is doing his best to give me material so that I can write these every day in the dead of summer, and for that, I salute him.

I also salute him for locking up the best offensive defenceman in the league to a 7 year, 45.5 million dollar extension, thereby ensuring that as he grows, he grows with us, and ensuring we will not be losing Erik Karlsson any time soon.

Considering the kid literally has no comparables- he finished more than 20 points ahead of any other d-man in the league- the fact that he's still making less than Brian Campbell, Dan Boyle and Jay Bouwmeester (all of whom he is better than) is pretty sweet. Not to mention, in 7 years, with the way things are going, when he is 28-29, will that cap hit be a bargain? I believe so. He is a game changer. Most fans outside of Ottawa don't quite understand to what extent that is true, but they soon will.

What will be interesting is to see how this contract affects negotiations with players like Ryan Suter, Shea Weber and most significantly, Kris Letang when he needs a new deal. The Penguins might already lose a player like Jordan Staal due to contract issues, should be interesting to see how they juggle when their best d-man starts demanding 6-7 million a year.

With Suter, it is a different animal. He is a UFA, which will make his contract more ridiculous than it already deserves to be. He is the only star d-man available in free agency, and he brings a more rounded game to the table. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone give him a 5 year 35 million contract, and that's me being reasonable, and you can bet certain teams WON'T be reasonable.

In the end, I'm a happy guy. Would I have been happier at 6 million per year for Karlsson? Yes. Does the extra 500k a year make that much of a difference? No, not really. He will be the face of the franchise here for years to come, and he is being paid like it.

Besides, he makes the same amount as Dion Phaneuf, and that's pretty hilarious.

Lots of links after the jump!

Karlsson Links

• Here is Ken Warren with a thorough recap on the events of yesterday with plenty of quotes from both sides. [Warren]
• Wayne Scanlan has the right of it, now that Karlsson is the 6th highest paid D-man in the league the expectations will be there to not only continue with his high offensive output, but also to improve defensively and become one of the best all-around d-men in the league. Personally, I think with Karlsson's attitude this is very possible. [Scanlan]
• The best of the best, Mark Parisi truly breaks down the contract with some sweet analysis and with state of the art flow judgement of comparables. [SSS]
• A few fans sound off on how happy they are about Karlsson's new contract. No doubt the kid is the new face of the franchise, and will be for years to come. Fans love that both sides have made a long commitment. [Sun]

Sens Links

• Karlsson is not the only Senator rocking out in Vegas right now. Daniel Alfredsson is enjoying his time there as well, and met Nickelback yesterday. He is really trying hard to have something we fault him for. [SensExtra]
• Ian Mendes shows his funny side with this "guide to the NHL awards" article. Some really good stuff in here. [Mendes]
• As mentioned in various places on the site, the Senators have released their pre-season schedule, with 7 games slated, which is WAY too many. Brightside? Will give prospects more of a chance to play. [Gordon]
• An EXCEPTIONALLY thorough breakdown of our prospects and the free agent market from the guys over at Welcome to Your Karlsson Years. In other good news, they have renewed their domain name with a 7-year $145 contract, which is hilarious. [WTYKY]
• Our very own Darren takes a look at Bryan Murray and asks what his best deal was last season. I'm inclined to say the Ben Bishop deal. [SSS]
• Okay, last story about this I promise. Bryan Murray admitted to kicking tires on Rick Nash (read: doing his JOB) yesterday, and Ken Warren wrote about it. [Warren]
• Somehow, Nichols managed to listen to Pierre Dorian on Calgary radio and transcribed the interview for us over at the 6th Sens. More of the same here from Dorian about the upcoming draft, but still nice to hear from him about some of our established prospects. [6thSens]
• Catching up with the coach, as he talks to the media about what a crazy/awesome year he had and about the fact that now that his foundation is there, he wants to start adding "floors" to what he's building. Based on this past year, that does nothing but excite me. [SensExtra]