Red Wings: Is Justin Abdelkader’s contract a good thing or a bad thing?

Is Justin Abdelkader‘s contract a good thing or a bad thing? Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader signed a contract extension last night for seven years at $4.25 million and Red Wings nation is up in arms for the most part about it.

Winging it in Motown’s Kyle, wrote an article stating that the length of the contract is the problem that he can live with the upwards of $4 million per year that Abby is going to get in this contract extension. ESPN’s Pierre Lebrun wrote that the deal is front loaded to include $20 million for the first four years.

Detroit Sports 105.1’s Matt Dery is against the deal as he tweeted out “too many years for a guy who’s 28 and not scoring” which seems to be the bone of contention between the fans and media people in town. I asked a few people on my Twitter how they feel about the contract and hockeyredwhite said in part “three to four years at most”. So to most fans it’s really not about the money its more about the length of his contract, which he will be 35 years old when it expires.

Pistons Powered writer Duncan Smith replied to my tweet asking people’s opinion on Abby’s new contract with “like the dollars per year hate the years. Make it four or five then we’re talking”.

My personal opinion on this is it really does smell like the Johan Franzen extension. The Wings signed Johan Franzen for 11 years back in 2009 and he’s fallen off the last three years and he still has four years left on his contract. Justin Abdelkader, like Johan Franzen, had a career season last season. The question becomes, was last year just a great season or is he just now entering his prime?

Abdelkader had a hat trick on opening night but has only scored once since then. Was he in a slump do to the stress of his contract negotiations? Justin Abdelkader’s 23 goals last season was by far the most he has scored in his career. He is in his prime years now but what is Abdelkader’s ceiling?

I agree with most people; the money is not the issue but the years are. The Red Wings have had a bad habit recently of giving out bad contracts like Johan Franzen and Stephen Weiss. This contract very possibly will have Red Wings nation up in arms just like those contracts. Hopefully Abdelkader is more productive than them.

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