Calgary Flames: Is Jiri Hudler Worth $16 Million over 4 Years?

With almost all of the attention on Zach Parise, Ryan Suter and Martin Brodeur, many people forgot that Jiri Hudler was another name looking for a new contract. Hudler quietly had 25 goals and 50 points last season, and has steadily improved each year with the Detroit Red Wings.

Calgary didn't have a ton of cap room to go after many big-name players and I think it was a smart decision that they went after a player who should be able to improve their offense. Calgary had 202 goals for last season, which is an average of just 2.46 goals per game, and finished them at 13th place in the Western Conference.

So the question has to be asked: Is Jiri Hudler worth a four-year, $16 million contract?

The Flames were only five points out of making the playoffs last year, and they have some solid scorers put in place in Jerome Iginla and Alex Tanguay, but playing with either of them will never be the same to playing with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

The other point that has to be made is that when Hudler was with the Red Wings, teams would never have to make their game plan around him, because there were so many other weapons that they had to focus on. This will no longer be the case.

A contract this large means that the Flames have faith that Hudler can be a repeat 50-point getter in the NHL, and he will be on their top line most of the time. Opponents will be game-planning to shut him down and he will no longer be able to slide under the radar.

The good news for Flames fans is that Hudler has only missed 16 regular season games in his last five seasons with Detroit, only has one full season with a negative plus-minus rating, and has averaged 48 points a season for the last three years.

Only time will tell whether or not the contract to Hudler is worth it, but if he can continue to improve and find a way to improve the offense in Calgary, then expect to see the Flames in the post-season next year.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1245209-calgary-flames-is-jiri-hudler-worth-16-million-over-4-years

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