Danny Dekeyser Contract Comparables

On July 26, 2016 the Detroit Red Wings signed restricted Free Agent defenseman Danny Dekeyser to a 6 year $30M contract. On the surface it is a lot of money to give to a defenseman with limited offensive upside, but Ken Holland ultimately had no choice. At age 26 Dekeyser was perilously close to unrestricted free agency and was likely comfortable hitting the UFA market to find his long term home run if the Wings wouldn't pay.

The defense is easily the greatest weakness of a Red Wings team that’s been fighting it out the last few seasons to squeeze into playoffs to preserve their impressive post-season streak. Dekeyser has been a very valuable contributor on a team that lacks a true work horse to play against the opponent’s best players, thrusting him into a top pairing role early in his young career. He played the most minutes of any Wings player in the playoffs.

Ken Holland was in a difficult situation with a player close to UFA status. Looking at the age 26 contract comparables below, Dekeyser is getting Seabrook/Byfuglien money (in the $5M AAV range), and more money than recently comparable deals by Vlasic and Muzzin (in the $4M AAV range). He’s not better than any of those guys, which does make his contract look like an over-payment. It is too much money, but he’s too much better than anyone in Grand Rapids to lose him.

For better or worse, he has become their number 1 defenseman. That's not very promising is you are a Wings fan looking into the future. Nobody in the system is anywhere near good enough to be a legit top defenseman. It would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall during the negotiations, because Dekeyser's agent hit a grand slam home run.

Name	YEAR1	TERM	MONEY
Brent Seabrook	2012	5	$29,000,000
Dustin Byfuglien	2012	5	$26,000,000
Keith Ballard	2010	6	$25,200,000
Marc-Edouard Vlasic	2014	5	$21,250,000
Nick Schultz	2009	6	$21,000,000
Jake Muzzin	2016	5	$20,000,000
Mike Green	2013	3	$18,249,999
Dan Girardi	2011	4	$13,300,000
Paul Martin	2008	3	$11,499,999
Jakub Kindl	2014	4	$9,600,000
Carl Gunnarsson	2014	3	$9,450,000
Christian Ehrhoff	2009	3	$9,300,000