This post takes a look at contracts of projected third-line centers to put Brandon Sutter's contract into perspective based on the simple statistic of points. The information presented on the included table depicts my guess of the player likely to fill the role for each team, their salary, points, ranking of each, and special teams notables. Please take note that on a personal set of rosters for all teams, I include career estimates of points for each player to have an idea each season of whether or not a player gave his usual performance. Those estimates are included in the table, but the ranking was not so simple in this regard because I just give a general ballpark figure, usually in 5 or 10 point increments. You can see that when ranked by the career ballpark, roughly a dozen players hover at the same ranking, which is too imprecise to judge properly. So, I also included last year's point totals to give a more specific ranking.
My guesses on the players and the ballparks are not meant to be definitive. If you want to construct your own list of players based on TOI or competition-faced to have more specific metrics, feel free to include them in the discussion. You can also construct actual career averages if you wish. I would be happy to see how some of you get more specific about the data or where I should improve.
*The special teams notes included tell whether the player plays first or second powerplay, first or second penalty kill, shorthanded threat, known for hits or penalty minutes, good at faceoffs, blocked shots, and some are noted for being high draft choices(sorry, this draft information is not completed for each player).
TEAM | PLAYER | SAL | LY P | CAR P | SAL RANK | LY P RANK | CAR P RANK | SPECIAL TEAMS |
ANA | Nate Thompson | 1.6 | 16 | 15 | 18 | 26 | 27 | PK2 |
ARI | Martin Hanzal | 3.1 | 40 | 30 | 7 | 4 | 9 | PP2, PIM, FO, 2hits |
BOS | Carl Soderberg | 1.0 | 48 | 40 | 23 | 2 | 2 | PP2 |
BUF | Brian Flynn | 0.6 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 28 | 27 | PK |
CAL | Mikael Backlund | 1.5 | 39 | 20 | 20 | 5 | 22 | PP2, PK2 SH |
CAR | Riley Nash | 0.6 | 24 | 20 | 29 | 19 | 22 | hits |
CHI | Andrew Shaw | 2.0 | 39 | 30 | 15 | 5 | 9 | PP2, hits |
COL | John Mitchell | 1.8 | 32 | 20 | 16 | 12 | 22 | PK2, hits |
CBS | Artem Anisimov | 3.3 | 39 | 35 | 5 | 5 | 8 | PP2, PK2 |
DAL | Cody Eakin | 0.6 | 35 | 30 | 30 | 9 | 9 | PP2, PK2, hits |
DET | Riley Sheahan | 0.9 | 24 | 20 | 25 | 19 | 22 | |
EDM | Boyd Gordon | 3.0 | 21 | 15 | 9 | 24 | 27 | PK, blocks, FO |
FLO | Dave Bolland | 5.5 | 12 | 30 | 1 | 29 | 9 | hits |
LA | Jarret Stoll | 3.3 | 27 | 40 | 6 | 14 | 2 | PK, 2hits, blocks |
MIN | Kyle Brodziak | 2.8 | 24 | 30 | 10 | 19 | 9 | PK, PIM |
MON | Lars Eller | 3.5 | 26 | 25 | 3 | 15 | 21 | PIM, hits |
NSH | Olli Jokinen | 2.5 | 43 | 50 | 13 | 3 | 1 | PP2, hits, 3rd pick |
NJ | Dainius Zubrus | 3.1 | 26 | 40 | 7 | 15 | 2 | PK, FO, hits |
NYI | Frans Nielsen | 2.8 | 58 | 40 | 11 | 1 | 2 | PP, PK SH |
NYR | Matt Lombardi | 1.6 | 8 | 30 | 18 | 30 | 9 | |
OTT | Mika Zibanejad | 0.9 | 33 | 30 | 26 | 11 | 9 | PP2, hits, 6th pick |
PHI | Sean Couturier | 1.8 | 39 | 30 | 17 | 5 | 9 | PK SH, 8th pick |
PIT | Brandon Sutter | 3.3 | 26 | 30 | 4 | 15 | 9 | PK SH, 11th pick |
SJ | Tomas Hertl | 0.9 | 25 | 40 | 24 | 18 | 2 | PP2, hits, 17th pick |
STL | Steve Ott | 2.6 | 23 | 30 | 12 | 22 | 9 | FO |
TB | Brian Boyle | 2.3 | 18 | 15 | 14 | 25 | 27 | PK, FO, hits |
TOR | Petri Kontiola | 1.1 | 31 | 30 | 22 | 13 | 9 | |
VAN | Brad Richardson | 1.2 | 23 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 22 | PK2 SH, FO |
WSH | Brooks Laich | 4.5 | 15 | 40 | 2 | 27 | 2 | PK, hits |
WIN | Mark Scheifele | 0.9 | 34 | 30 | 27 | 10 | 9 | PP2, hits, 7th pick |
The conclusion that stands out to me the most about the rankings is that hardly any players' salary ranks match their performance ranking, and they are usually quite far apart. Perhaps, these gaps suggest that this position is difficult to judge or that other factors are more likely to determine salaries in this position (since the position is often thought to be more defensively-focused).
Does Sutter rank where you expected at 4th (high) in salary and 15th (mid) in points?
Let me know what stands out to your from the data or what you think explains the gap. Thanks for reading!