written by Kristina, AllHabs.net
MONTREAL, QC. – While Paul Holmgren and the Philadelphia Flyers were stealing the free agent show with the signings of Jaromir Jagr and Maxime Talbot, Pierre Gauthier managed to make a splash of his own inking the left winger Erik Cole to a four year, $18 million deal.
At six-foot-two 205 pounds, Cole fits the prototypical description of a big, gritty power forward the Canadiens have been seeking for so many years. With Max Pacioretty fitting the bill of the Canadiens only power forward, Cole brings a size and presence the Canadiens have sorely lacked in their top six for far too long. But as I stood on Parliament Hill in our nation’s capital amidst the 400,000 plus crowd eying a look of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge reading the news of the signing on my iPhone, I could not help but react with the words, “too long, too much, too old”.
At 32 years of age and a career threatening neck injury later, the $4,500,000 being paid to Erik Cole for the next four years is far too much for a player who has hit the 30 goal mark only once in the last 10 years. Cole’s career high regular season point total was 61 in 2006-2007 playing in 71 games notching 29 goals and adding 32 helpers at the age of 28. The closest he has gotten since that mark was this past season where he played in all 82 games for the first time in his career scoring 26 goals and 26 assists for a total of 52 points.
Sure, it would be unfair to ignore the fact that nine of his 26 goals were game-winners, tying him for fourth in the league and that 14 of his 26 goals came in the third period or overtime. Add that to the fact that 23 of his goals were even strength tallies, something the Canadiens have seriously been lacking over the last number of years, and it appears that Gauthier picked up a valuable scoring asset.
But the price paid to acquire the former Stanley Cup winner who was earning $3 million last last year is too steep when you consider the fact that Ville Leino, who is one inch shorter, 15 pounds lighter and five years younger will be making the same $4.5 million over the next six years. Leino will be turning 33 in the final year of his six year deal with the Sabres, one year older than Cole at the start of his four year deal with the Canadiens.
Although Leino only scored a career-high 53 points (19 G, 34 A) in 81 games with the Flyers this season, Leino has proven himself as a playoff performer over the last two years with 26 points (10 G, 16 A) in 30 games. Two games shy of hoisting Lord Stanley, Leino set the Flyers franchise record for goals and points by a rookie in a single playoff season in 2009-2010 and has demonstrated the ability to elevate his game when it counts the most. In contrast, Cole’s playoff performance is abysmal scoring only 14 points (6 G, 8 A) in 43 games in a Carolina Hurricanes uniform.
It is clearly unfair to judge either of these deals before the puck even drops to the 2011-2012 NHL season and it is without a doubt that the Montreal Canadiens are a better team at the start of July 2011 than they were on June 30, 2011. But it is also undeniable that the potential upside on a player like Leino who is five years younger is far better than a player like Cole at 32 years of age.
As NHL teams continue to get younger and the youth movement slowly continues to take over in the league, one hopes that Erik Cole can fall on the right side of the law of diminishing returns and find his fountain of youth for the Canadiens for the next four years.
As they say, time will tell.