WHY WHITNEY'S A BARGAIN


and why it only gets better.

I've already made this argument in considerable detail, but all the free agent signings of the last two days, coupled with the Pavlovian talk-show drooling of the anti-Ryan-Whitney-ites who wanted to trade the Pens' brilliant young defenseman to clear enough cap room for Marian Hossa (wouldn't have mattered) and/or Brooks Orpik (didn't matter anyway), compels me to make it again. This time, in simple, they-don't-lie, you-can't-possibly-dispute-'em numbers.

Here are the career stats, ages, and annual salary numbers for yesterday's big trio of free agent offensive-minded-defenseman signings:

BRIAN CAMPBELL: .47 pts per game / +2 / 29 years old / $7.1 million

WADE REDDEN .49 pts per game / +159 / 31 years old / $6.5 Million

MICHAL ROZSIVAL: .36 pts per game / +48 / 29 years old / $5 Million

Say what you will about those salary figures -- sure, they're inflated, and of course, they're absurd -- but the market is the market, and those numbers represent the going rate for a top-four-level NHL offensive defenseman.

Now take a look at Ryan Whitney's career stats, age, and annual salary number:

RYAN WHITNEY: .61 pts per game / Even / 25 years old / $4 Million

Even setting aside all of the intangibles, or at least unquantifiables -- smart play, great positional defense, amazing tape-to-tape breakout passes -- I've detailed before, and even after an admittedly subpar year, Whitney is, according to the market established by NHL GMs yesterday, already a major bargain. When you consider that he's four (or 6) years younger than these other guys, that he will continue to grow and improve, and that, despite the grunts and chortles of fans for whom defense equates only to crunching checks, his on-ice contributions to the Penguins will become far more significant with each passing year, his salary figure will soon be akin to highway robbery. By the time the deal expires in 2013, the Pens will be getting about $12 million worth of production -- and quite possibly a Norris Trophy candidacy -- from a guy making $4 million a year.

And even then, I suspect, the knuckle-draggers will be screaming for him to hit someone.

Posted: Wed - July 2, 2008 at 06:56 PM          

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