Flames re-sign TJ Brodie: Five years, $4.65 million per

Nicholas Larson.

That’s the name of the Flames‘ fourth round pick from the 2008 draft.

The team acquired another fourth rounder, though, when Brad Stuart didn’t re-sign in Calgary following the 2007-08 season. Turns out that was the best thing Stuart ever did for the Flames, because that additional fourth round pick the Bruins owed was used to select one of the best young defencemen in the entire league.

And now he’s staying for a while longer yet: the Flames have officially re-signed TJ Brodie to a five-year contract, with an annual average value of $4.65 million per. Somehow, he will still make less than Dennis Wideman for another two years.

Brodie's contract was one of the biggest issues for the Flames headed into the season, and they've done a great job of handling it: quick, to the point, and for a great price. The deal eats up two of Brodie's UFA years as well. He'll be 29 by the time he's due for another contract. In all likelihood, he'll be in his prime, and especially if the NHL keeps growing, due for another big raise.

That's then, though, and this is now. And now: the Flames are retaining Brodie at a fantastic price.

Brodie is one of the Flames’ best players. He may be the most exciting young player the Flames have during their rebuild, and yeah, I’m counting guys like Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau in that group. He’s one of the biggest reasons this Flames rebuild may just turn out okay after all. Without meaning to kick them while they’re down (okay no I’m definitely meaning to do that at least a little), part of the Oilers‘ struggles come from the fact that they don’t have a TJ Brodie.

Since becoming an NHL regular early into the 2011-12 season, Brodie has put up excellent possession statistics. The worst year he ever had was in 2012-13, when his CF was at 49.8%, the only time he's ever been below 50%. His FF that year was 50%. And he had all positive relative statistics, too.

Speaking of relative statistics: out of all defencemen who have played at least 150 games from 2011-today, Brodie ranks 11th in both corsi (6.70%) and fenwick (6.39%) rel. Names ahead of him are Erik Karlsson, PK Subban, Brian Campbell, Keith Yandle, Dustin Byfuglien, Mark Streit, Christian Ehrhoff, Matt Niskanen, Kevin Shattenkirk, Dan Boyle, and Kimmo Timonen: not a bad group to belong to, and Brodie’s been pretty much among their ranks since he started his career.

We even have someone to directly compare both him and his new contract to:

Jake Muzzin and TJ Brodie rank 1st and 3rd respectively for “avg dCorsi Impact” over the last 7 seasons -entering their 3rd and 4th yrs now.

— Stephen Burtch (@SteveBurtch) July 30, 2014

The L.A. Kings re-signed Jake Muzzin to a five-year, $4 million AAV deal just five days ago. Kings fans were pretty pumped about it, and considering how well Muzzin has performed in the 1.5 seasons since becoming a regular, it’s easy to see why. Muzzin’s stats are excellent, and he, like Brodie, plays on one of the best defence pairings in the league.

So, does Brodie deserve the extra $650k per? Yeah, and not just because the Flames are swimming in cap space. The differences between him and Muzzin:

Yeah, Brodie’s really starting to add to his offensive game as well. He set career highs in goals and points last season, with four and 31 each. And he’s almost certainly going to pass that this season, since after seven games he has two goals, seven points, and is tied for the Flames’ scoring lead alongside Mason Raymond.

Brodie probably isn't going to score 82 points this season (although wouldn't that be freaking awesome if he did?!), but he's finally on the Flames' first powerplay unit, and has his coach encouraging him to shoot more. He's currently third on the Flames in shots on net, and first out of all Flames defencemen in this young season.

In short: he is very, very good, and to have him for another five years is amazing, but at $4.65 million per?

Great signing. May TJ Brodie be with us always.

by Ari Yanover