So far this off-season, teams haven’t been shy of handing out big dollars on re-signings.  Normally that’s not a big deal, but normally, those big contracts are being handed out to unrestricted free agents, not the restricted ones. This year, some restricted free agents have seen some serious money and term thrown their way. Teams are learning now to lock up their young guns and let them develop and grow and try and buy up some of their unrestricted years.

In this weeks Capped, we will take a look at some recently re-signed RFA’s who have some big expectations coming their way along with their new big money contracts.

Sean Couturier – Philadelphia Flyers, six-year extension, $4.33M cap hit

Even though he’s only 22-years-old, Couturier seems like a grizzled veteran in the Flyers organization. The former eighth overall pick made the transition from the QMJHL to the NHL look seamless. 

He’s mainly been deployed in a shutdown role, especially after his masterful job of shutting down Evgeni Malkin as a rookie in the 2012 playoffs but that could soon start to change. At 22-years-old, he hasn’t even scratched the surface of his offensive potential and this new deal, which doesn’t actually start until his current deal expires at the end of next year, could just be a steal once he actually starts to climb.

This new deal could be the next step needed to push Couturier from a primarily defensive role into a scoring role for the club. It will be interesting to see how new head coach, Dave Hakstol, deploys Couturier.

If Couturier can finally reach his offensive potential, this deal will seem like a bargain in a couple years. I am still a believer in his offensive upside. If he can get out of that pigeonhole that he’s been forced into, he may finally be able to show others that he’s a capable two-way center with offensive abilities.

Colin Wilson – Nashville Predators, four years, $3.94M cap hit

The 25-year-old Wilson is coming off a season that saw him reach career high in both goals (20) and points (42) and was also the team leader this past season in +/- (+19).

The former seventh overall pick back 2008 is finally starting to come into his own on a team that improved greatly last season under new head coach Peter Laviolette. In the team’s first round loss in the playoffs to eventual Stanley Cup victors, the Chicago Blackhawks, Wilson literally put the team on his back, scoring five goals in six games.

Firmly entrenched in the team’s top-six, look for Wilson to improve on his offense and push towards 50+ points next year going forward.  A few more breaks on the power play and this should be an obtainable numbers consistently for years to come.

Adam Larsson – New Jersey Devils, six-year extension, $4.12M cap hit

Out of all the offseason contract extensions that have happened, this one, this one right here, is the one that has me scratching my head the most. 

I am usually the first one to tell people about young defensemen and how they tend to take longer to develop, and not give up on them so early in their careers. The former fourth overall pick back in 2011 finally started to show his true value by the middle of last year and it was obviously enough for the New Jersey Devils to lock him up long-term. Larsson was as close to be labelled a bust as it gets. He was in and out of Peter DeBoer’s doghouse so many times it was silly. As usual, his high draft placement normally means high expectations early on but such wasn’t the case with Larsson. It took a pairing with Adam Greene to finally settle him down and allow him to start to show the promise expected of him.

The head-scratching part for me is the term. I get it, you want to lock him up and buy some of those UFA years, but the kid has shown you half of a season of his worth. Why the Devils didn’t simply give him a bridge deal coming off his ELC is the strange part for me. I don’t think he’s shown enough, over a long enough period of time to have earned this much term, but that’s this man’s opinion.

The Devils are paying him like a top-pairing defenseman now, and I hope the pressure of this new deal doesn’t set him back. I really thought that with Lou Lamoriello leaving the organization, the strange contracts would go with him to Toronto; I guess I was wrong.  This deal will eventually look like a bargain, assuming Larsson can stay the course and continue his upswing on his development. If he stumbles and goes back to the Larsson we all saw in his first three professional seasons, it could a big disaster. 

Braden Holtby – Washington Capitals, five years, $6.1M cap hit

The 25-year-old Holtby had a career year last season. In 73 games, he tied for the second-most wins in the league (41), the second-most shutouts (9) and spent more time on the ice than any other goalie.

New head coach Barry Trotz, along with goalie guru Mitch Korn, brought back what most already knew, that Holtby was the long-term answer for the Washington Capitals in net. The year before both showed up, Holtby was on a downward spiral as far as his career went. He struggled to stay in the net and his conditioning was lacking. Korn came in and offered unorthodox training measures, and they worked wonders for Holtby.

Holtby had this to say about his new contract:

"With last year it was trying to prove yourself for a contract," said Holtby, a fourth-round pick by the Capitals in 2008. "This year, you're trying to prove the contract you got. Obviously, it's going to be a new set of challenges. The low points of seasons are going to be a little harder to get through because of the added pressure."

Holtby knows he a lot to live up to with this new deal in his back pocket. I will be the first to admit, I had lost faith and was a doubter in Holtby. I didn’t think he had it in him, but he proved me wrong. I don’t expect him to stop proving people wrong.

Derek Stepan – New York Rangers, six years, $6.5M cap hit

The 25-year-old Stepan was one of two NHL players who ranked tied for fifth or higher with their respective team in the following categories last season:  assists, points, game winning goals, plus/minus, shots on goal, power play goals, power play assists, power play points, short handed goals, short handed assists and short handed points. The other player was Jonathan Toews.

Make no bones about it, Stepan is the clear-cut number one center for the New York Rangers and he’s getting paid like it too. How important is he to the Rangers down the middle? He’s the first Ranger center since Wayne Gretzky, that’s right, Wayne Gretzky (how’s that for some history for you), to score 50+ points in three consecutive years.  This past year, he scored 16 goals and chipped in with 39 assists for 55 total points in 68 games.

Is he worth that much? There seems to be a lot of back and forth about it. I am a firm believer, when you start comparing his career numbers to others who make similar, if not more money, he is right there with others and may even seem like a bargain compared to others paid more. Like others I have listed in this column, he now has to prove that he’s worth this new cap hit he’s about to earn. So far, I don’t foresee any issues with Stepan doing just that. 

The former second round pick in 2008 is finally being recognized as one of the better quality, two-way centers in the league. It’s only right that he gets compensated like one.

Read also:

Free Agent Signees Who May Disappoint

Free Agent Defencemen Winners

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