Marc Bergevin must be laughing his head off watching Pierre Dorion today
Yesterday, the Montreal Canadiens announced the signing of their center of the future in Nick Suzuki for eight years, worth $7.875 million annually.
Pierre Dorion emulated his counterpart Marc Bergevin today, as the Ottawa Senators extended their star player Brady Tkachuk for seven years, worth $8.214 million annually. A saga that ends with the Sens.
By comparing the contracts of the two young men, we can say mission accomplished for Marc Bergevin. He managed to keep the services of his long-term concession player, while paying him less than $8 million annually. Usually, a first center of this caliber costs much more.
In Pierre Dorion's case, he paid the moon to keep the services of a greedy player. He obviously couldn't convince Brady Tkachuk to leave some money on the table.
I am not taking anything away from Brady Tkachuk, quite the contrary. His contribution to the Senators is colossal, especially for his prowess as a power forward and his leadership skills, but I much prefer the contribution of a Nick Suzuki.
Suzuki, a talented and very versatile center, will only get better. He has the potential to put up a ton of points in a few years. We are talking about 80 to 90 points per year. We could even see him become a finalist for the Selke Trophy, considering the many comparisons with Patrice Bergeron.
Marc Bergevin used his magic, once again.
