Stephenson’s Kraken Contract: Coming To Term With Term

Our setting: the office of renowned fictional sports psychologist Dr. Hockey, with three real-life writers.

Welcome, everyone to our Seattle Kraken group therapeutic session, “The five stages of grief over the Chandler Stephenson free agent contract.” My name is Dr. Hockey.

Let’s go around the room so you can introduce yourselves, and what’s troubling you about Stephenson’s deal.

“I’m Jacob.” (Punturi, of Sports Illustrated, who wrote a story headlined “Losers of Free Agency.”) “Stephenson and (fellow free agent signing Brandon) Montour are both 30 years old and will be on the books through their age-37 seasons. For two players that are not suited for the top pairing or top line, these are two contracts that could seriously come back to bite the Kraken.”

“I’m Travis.” (Yost, of TSN) “When you are signing players to big deals, you want to be reasonably confident they are driving the bus. When I look at a three-year sample of Stephenson, I see anything but: a contract I think is set to disappoint with immediacy.”

“I’m Dom.” (Luszczyszyn, of The Athletic.) “Stephenson has a lot to prove to show this isn’t a Day 1 disaster. As of right now, Stephenson is an average middle-six center – one who gives a lot of his offense back the other way. There are a lot of red flags in his game that came to the surface last season.”

Disaster, eh? Clearly, the three of you are still in the anger stage. Hey, a lot of Kraken fans are right there also. Like you, they began in denial. “There is no way Kraken GM Ron Francis would sign an aging center who’s not a goal-scoring machine and coming off a subpar season to a seven year, $44 million deal.” But on the first day of free agency, he did.

So let me tell you how to come to term with term. Once I shepherd fans past anger, they begin bargaining. You know, “Maybe we can buy him out after a couple of years. Maybe his two Stanley Cups will count for something. Maybe the salary cap will rise so much, this overpay won’t hurt. Maybe I’ll get struck by lightning and forget to be a Kraken fan.”

Admittedly, it isn’t long before they sink into depression. “The Kraken have messed up their salary structure for years to come. How will they ever pay all the young stud prospects about to graduate from junior hockey and AHL Coachella Valley? Not to mention Stephenson will be clogging a roster spot. Which players from the roster will we then be forced to lose in free agency? Which future free agents won’t we be able to sign, because this contract albatross will be around our neck for seven years?”

Finally, though, I’ve helped many reach acceptance, and I’ll explain how you can get there, too.

First, understand the difference between what something is worth, and what it costs to acquire it. Let’s say you’re in a furniture store and see the couch you’ve been missing. It’s more than you want to spend, but it’ll class up your home, it’s the last one in stock, and if you don’t grab it, someone else will. So you swallow hard and go for it. Free agency is a bidding war. Francis got Stephenson on the phone the moment NHL rules allowed, because other teams were interested in signing him.

Will that couch still be a good fit seven years from now? Will it keep you from buying a better couch next year? Who knows. Who cares? This one improves your living room today. As Francis explained on July 1, without agreeing to seven years, without agreeing to signing bonuses – things he’d never before offered as a GM – neither Stephenson nor defenseman Montour would be wearing Kraken colors this season.

Something else. A lot of hand-wringing over how Stephenson’s metrics declined without Vegas Golden Knights teammate Mark Stone on his wing. Well, duh. Stone is one of the best all-around players in the league. Speaking of metrics, the Kraken have one of the NHL’s top analytics departments. If they said Chandler was, or would soon be, past his best-by date, Francis would have looked elsewhere.

Just then, there’s a knock on the door. A Kraken fan enters.

“Is this the ‘Why hasn’t Matty Beniers signed his contract extension?’ group? Or is that down the hall?”