Paul Stastny
New team: Vegas Golden Knights
Acquired: Signed for 3 years, $19.5 million
Clarkson regret-o-meter: 3 David Clarksons
Paul Stastny apparently subscribes to the old saying “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”. After getting traded to Winnipeg, he helped the Jets to a Conference Final run, losing to the Vegas Golden Knights. What does he do with his free agency? He signed with the Vegas Golden Knights.
The deal was praised at the time, where Stastny would become a good number two center for a team that already has solid depth down the middle, and the term isn’t crippling for a guy who’s already 32.
The problem with the immediate payoff is that Stastny hurt his “lower body” and is out for a couple of months, after playing 3 games without scoring a point. So if you’re a Knights fan, it doesn’t look good that he got hurt so quickly and will miss so much time. But knowing that he still will be useful down the road is comforting.
James Neal
New team: Calgary Flames
Acquired: Signed for 5 years, $27.5 million
Clarkson regret-o-meter: 3.5 David Clarksons
Neal has been a great goal scorer over the course of his career. He’s had great stints of time with the Stars, Penguins, Predators, and Golden Knights. At 31, signing a five-year deal was already subject to questioning from Calgary fans, but now that his goal scoring hasn’t really gotten going, this deal is starting to look pretty bad.
He’s scored just three goals and an assist in the first 14 games of the season, and his defensive play isn’t making up for the lack of offense. Throw on the fact that he’s signed on for the next five years, and not cheaply, makes Flames fans cringe a little. We’re not going full hog on the regret this time, though, because Neal is fresh off a 40 point season and can score in bunches when he’s on, but if he doesn’t come on, this deal will look bad quickly.