P.K. Subban and the Montreal Canadiens recently agreed to a 2 year $5.75 million contract, and the consensus is that the Habs ‘won’ the deal. Subban was reportedly seeking a 5 or 6 year contract worth an average north of $5 million. It is therefore easy to see how many could view the actual deal as a significant bargain for the Habs.

 

Without getting into the minutia of the last 2 CBA’s and how they have impacted RFA signings, suffice it to say the annual average value (AAV) of these two contracts takes account for the player’s value at several stages of his career: his four individual seasons as an RFA and the block of UFA seasons. So if we’re going to determine whether or not Subban is underpaid, we can’t look at the RFA-UFA extensions. Rather, we have to compare the AAV of Subban’s contract to the AAV of similar contracts signed by similar players… defencemen who signed two year contracts covering the two seasons immediately following the expiration of their entry-level contracts.  Here are the top 5 most expensive contracts of this type by AAV:  

 

Subban’s contract tops the list and he’s the highest paid player on this list by a 10% margin. Furthermore, the backloaded nature of his contract also insures that Subban will receive a qualifying offer of $3.75M for the 2014-2015 season. It appears Subban is receiving more money than any other defenceman in recent history on a 2 year contract following his entry-level contract. So who got the better deal now? Nicely done P.K. …. you can give all the triple low-fives you want, starting with Therrien and Bergevin.