Priorities.
We’ve all got ‘em.
Some of them we have to take care of sooner rather than later and some of them we can push to the backburner for a bit and get to when things finally slow down.
That’s life.
It’s no different for NHL executives such as Flyers general manager Ron Hextall.
He took care of his most pressing priority on Thursday when he inked restricted free agent defenseman Michael Del Zotto to a two-year, $7.75 million deal before a scheduled July 21 arbitration hearing.
With that deal signed, sealed and delivered, Hextall will have an almost three-month sliver before the regular season begins to take care of something that is starting to cast a looming shadow in the distance.
NHL
That something is a long-term contract extension for star top-line winger Jake Voracek, who could become an unrestricted free agent after this upcoming season.
Voracek, who will turn 26 in August, is entering the last year of a four-year, $17 million deal that carries a $4.25 million salary cap hit that he signed following the 2011-12 season.
He’s coming off a breakout year in which he posted 22 goals and 59 assists, finished fourth in the entire league with 81 points behind Dallas’ Jamie Benn (87), the New York Islanders’ John Tavares (86) and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (84) after leading the race for a good portion of the season and earned the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the Flyers’ most valuable player.
The seven-year veteran was also named an All-Star for the first time in his career and netted a hat trick in the All-Star Game, which was played in the home arena of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team that drafted him seventh overall in 2007 before shipping him to the Flyers with first and third-round picks that turned into Sean Couturier and Nick Cousins, respectively, in exchange for Jeff Carter in 2011.
He accomplished all he did last season on a $4.5 million salary, the same amount he will make this upcoming season.
When it comes to the stats and information above and how they relate to Voracek’s next contract, here’s a translation that can be easily interpreted in any language: $$$$$.
And it’ll be quite the hefty raise, at that.
But just how hefty of a raise?
That’s a good question and one that Hextall and Petr Svboda, Voracek’s agent, will have to hammer out the details of. Dialogue is reportedly already underway between the parties, but there are a lot of factors that go into this sort of thing and it’s the type of thing that can drag out for a while.
But, it’s the middle of the summer and hockey is still a while away, so for argument’s sake, let’s look at two comparable players, specifically a teammate and young star in St. Louis who just signed an extension, and their deals.
Let’s start with Voracek’s centerman, Claude Giroux.
Giroux, then 25, signed an eight-year extension during the summer of 2013, the summer before he was eligible to hit unrestricted free agency. He received a raise from an average annual value (AAV) of $3.75 million on his previous three-year bridge deal to an AAV of $8.275 on his current deal, which kicked in at the start of last season.
And it was a much-deserved raise.
In each of the last four complete 82-game seasons, the captain and face of the franchise has scored 25 or more goals, recorded 51 or more assists and totaled 73 or more points. His 376 points over the last five seasons (including the lockout year) are most in the NHL in that span. He’s also a three-time All-Star and was a finalist for the Hart Trophy in 2013-14.
Those are some pretty elite numbers consistently put up over a sustained period of time.
While Voracek’s production has risen each year in Philadelphia (factor in his 46-point 48-game season as if it were an 82-game season) with the peak coming last season, the guess here is Voracek doesn’t match or eclipse the $8.275 AAV of Giroux’s current deal. Giroux has just put up those steady elite numbers over a longer period of time.
There was a big-money extension signed recently by another breakout star, Vladamir Tarasenko of the St. Louis Blues
Following a sophomore campaign in 2013-14 that included 21 goals and 22 assists, the Russian winger made himself a household name with 37 goals, many of the spectacular kind, and 36 assists last season.
The problem for the Blues was that Tarasenko, 23, played last season on the last year of his entry-level deal he signed after he was drafted with the 16th pick in the 2010 draft.
Much like the situation the Flyers are currently in with Voracek, the translation for Tarasenko was: $$$$$.
With the fear of an offer sheet coming because of the facts that Tarasenko was a restricted free agent and that the salary cap didn’t go up a whole lot to give them more space to sign Tarasenko, the Blues struck quickly and inked their young star to an eight-year, $60 million deal that comes with a $7.5 million AAV.
The Flyers won’t have to worry about offer sheets on Voracek because, at almost 26, he’s beyond his restricted free agent years.
Despite just a single year of superstar-like numbers, Tarasenko got the big money.
Though Voracek has more seasons under his belt and his production, as mentioned above, has steadily risen since joining the Flyers, the deal Tarasenko got from the Blues could be the barometer or starting point for Voracek’s next contract.
Though a club could be more inclined to pay a pure, sniping goal-scorer such as Tarasenko more money than it would to a natural playmaker such as Voracek, the fit alongside Giroux here in Philadelphia and the production make Voracek worth that kind of money.
Look at the damage the two have wrought on opponents since they were put together during the 2012-13 season. Voracek has 189 points in the last three seasons and Giroux has 207 in that same span.
With those two together as the two main cogs on the power play with Voracek at the point and Giroux on the half wall, the man advantage has finished third, eighth and third in the last three seasons. It finished sixth in 2011-12.
One is tough enough to deal with. Together, they’re lethal.
But enough of that, how about a guess for a contract?
The guess here is that it falls somewhere around six or seven years and in the $7.5-8 million AAV range. Probably closer to $8 million, if we’re being picky.
If you’re looking for more comparable contracts, the guys over at Broad Street Hockey have a really good breakdown here (also some great in-depth stats on just how good Voracek has been the last few seasons).
But an extension for Voracek in Philadelphia will get done. There’s no reason for it not to. When, how long and how much are the only questions.