So the Flyers should have traded him? Because there would have been teams lining up to give a 26 year old Voracek a 7 or 8 year deal. There's no way he would have accepted less than that term.
I think this is the biggest thing at play. In order to keep a guy you really want, then yeah, you might have to make a deal. No contract exists in a vacuum like we look at them, but I think it would be worthwhile for GMs to look around the league at a lot of the long-term contracts that have been made and how many buyouts have resulted.
Giving his skating ability there's every reason to think he can be productive into his 30s the way Hossa has been. It was only a few seasons ago that 28 year old Zach Parise got a 14-year contract.
To be clear, this isn't a knock against Voracek. I think there's a chance that he'll be productive into his 30s, but given how players tend to fall off (on average), I'm questioning whether it's worth the risk.
Are you worried about Kessel falling off and being bought out? Because he'll be 34 when his deal expires, just like Voracek.
Well, I don't really care if Kessel falls off since I don't follow the Penguins, but I think Kessel's deal is also a gamble. I think
all of these deals over 5 years are big gambles that in many cases, don't make sense in terms of the potential payoffs. The only real exception is when a team signs someone to a long-term contract, but at an amount far below their expected worth. That rarely happens, though.
