What is the impact of Byfuglien's contract extension in your cap league?

Earlier this week, the Winnipeg Jets opened the bank doors and re-signed 30-year-old Dustin Byfuglien to a new five-year, $38 million dollar extension. This extension comes with an annual cap hit of $7.6 million for the Jets.

It wasn’t so long ago in a previous Capped  that I was discussing potential unrestricted free agents and their possible cost; the rumours at that time had Byfuglien wanting an eight-year extension in the range of $55 million (an annual cap hit of $6.875M). It would appear that he gave up a few years on the extension for more annual dollars. This new contract will make Byfuglien the third highest paid defenseman in the NHL starting next season, pending contracts from other such free agents like Keith Yandle and Dan Hamhuis, respectively. 

At six-foot-five and close to 260 pounds, Byfuglien is a unique specimen in the NHL, offering a solid blend of size, skill and speed. He is a physical force for the Jets night-in and night-out who is also relied on to produce offensively. He would have been one of, if not the highest, sought-after free agent had he made it there this summer so locking him up had to be a priority for Jets GM, Kevin Cheveldayoff. You simply cannot find too many defensemen out there who will bring what Byfuglien brings to any team. 

As mentioned, this new deal will make Byfuglien the third highest paid defensemen for annual cap hit in the NHL. Let’s take a look at all the top five paid defensemen (next season) and see where Byfuglien lines up compared to others making the big bucks. The stats listed are the current ones to date for this NHL season.

Looking at this list, Byfuglien seems to be right on par, production wise, for the money.  He’s the highest goal scorer from this list, shoots the most from this list and easily hits the most from this list. To be fair, when all defensemen are considered, no matter the salary, Byfuglien is tied for the second highest goals scored in the league to date. His 15 goals trail only Burns, who currently has 18 goals on the season. He also only trails Burns for total shots on goal for a defenseman so far this season as well. As far as the hits go, he is the sixth highest hitting defenseman in the league to date. Needless to say, Byfuglien is not overpaid when we start comparing him to the other highly compensated players on this list.

From a fantasy standpoint, let’s use Fantasy Hockey Geek to see how these same five skaters fair in my mult-cat, salary cap league; the UHL. Just as a reminder, the UHL is a 24-team, H2H, salary cap dynasty league that is populated by many of the smartest fantasy minds on Dobber Hockey. The league uses the following stat categories; G, A, plus/minus, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, Hits, Blocks and FOW. Each team rosters a total of 23 skaters and we use the same salary cap number that the NHL uses.

Well the result here really shouldn’t surprise anyone who plays in a multi-cat league; Byfuglien is worth the big bucks to your fantasy roster. He is normally a top ten asset in most multi-cat leagues and although he may not be quite the bargain he has been coming off his last deal, he is still worthy of a roster spot. The only thing keeping Byfuglien out of the top ten in the UHL is the fact he doesn’t win faceoffs; that affects his rank in this league. Even Burns, the highest ranked defenseman in our league at number eight, has one faceoff win this season. 

In the end, this is a very good deal for the Winnipeg Jets, it’s very good deal for Dustin Byfuglien and it’s a pretty good deal for his fantasy owners. We all love to have productive fantasy assets signed long-term to a more reasonable contract but I do believe this is a fair deal for all.

—-

As always, thanks for taking the time to read and comments are always welcome and read.  You can also follow me on Twitter @chrispudsey where I share my own thoughts and retweet more hockey information than you would normally find on your own.