Did Edmonton Oilers checking aces Janmark and Brown just take 65% discount on new contracts? Yes

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Did Edmonton Oilers checking aces Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown essentially reject a 65 per cent raise on their new contracts? Yes. Certainly looks like it.

How so? I don’t know how negotiations went down between Brown, Janmark, their agents and any team. But unrestricted free agents similar to Janmark and Brown signed new contracts that averaged two years at $2.02 million each season. Brown and Janmark signed on average for two years at $1.225 million.

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At least six similar players to Janmark and Brown were signed by other NHL teams in the July free agency. These are all top fourth line players last season, all getting fourth line ice-time of less than 11 even strength minutes per game, and all of them having some added quality to their game that boosts their value somewhat. For most of them that is either a physical edge and/or special teams ability on the penalty kill.

The six are: Buffalo’s Sam Lafferty, who had the best even strength scoring rate of the group and can be a physical player; Pittsburgh’s Blake Lizotte, a fast and aggressive centre who kills penalties; Washington’s Brandon Duhaime, also a fast and aggressive penalty killer; Garnet Hathaway, another in that same fast/aggressive/PK category; Utah’s Kevin Stenlund, a big physical centre without much scoring punch; and Calgary’s Ryan Lomborg, a smaller, super aggressive winger, with little scoring. Stenlund and Lomborg have that Stanley Cup shine on them having been on Florida’s fourth line.

On average these six played 9.8 minutes even strength this past regular season, with Janmark at 10 minutes per game, Brown 10.5. The six scored 0.98 points per 60, similar to Brown, 0.96 per 60, and Janmark, 1.02 per 60. The six landed far more hits on average than Janmark or Brown, but Janmark and Brown excelled far more on special teams.

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Brown and Janmark also have something of a shine right now, as they excelled in the Stanley Cup Final, putting in an all-universe PK performance while working their way up to the third line with Adam Henrique. Both became massive fan favourites in Edmonton for their performances.

Again, the six similar players averaged two years at $2.02 million on their new deals. Brown decided to come back to Edmonton on a one year deal that pays him $1 million, while Janmark took a three-year deal at $1.45 million per. That’s a combined 65 per cent left on the table on what they could have made if they’d taken the average raise for similar players.

This isn’t to suggest that Brown and Janmark were the only Edmonton Oilers to take Stanley Cup Discounts to stay in Edmonton and pursue the Cup with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Adam Henrique most certainly did and I’d bet Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner could have signed for more elsewhere  as well.

At the Cult of Hockey

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