Well, we're not talking about Hayes when he was with Chicago. We are talking about Hayes now.
Bickell is paid as a second line player. Hayes is paid as a fourth liner. One is performing at a top six level, the other at a fourth line level. See the issue?
I see the issue.
But, again, not a similar comparison. Hayes signed a one-year deal worth $925k before this season and is still a restricted free agent after this year is over. That seems like a bridge deal between his ELC deal and what could be a multi-year deal for him next summer.
Bickell was much farther along in his career and signed a 4-year, $16-million dollar just before he would've hit unrestricted free agency. He got paid that way to keep him off the UFA market, where it was possible he could've got even more. Some of the UFA deals that have been handed out lately are just absurd.
I'm not saying that Bickell has been worth every penny, because he hasn't. At least not in the regular season. But I still maintain it's unfair to do a side-by-side comparison of stats and salaries for Bickell and Jimmy Hayes because it was two completely different scenarios and, now the, two players are in much different situations within their team.
You can say he's paid like a second-line player all you want, are you going to take someone out of the Hawks current Top 6 just to put Bickell up where his contract indicates he should play? Because I'm not.
