For the past few years Blake Coleman has been one of the NHL’s biggest bargains against the salary cap.
An outstanding second-line winger that can score, defend, play a physical game, and help carry a line that made under $2 million per season. All of those traits, combined with being a key cog on a back-to-back Stanley Cup winner in Tampa Bay, made him one of the sought after free agents on the market this offseason. And it got him a significant raise with the Calgary Flames.
On Wednesday Coleman signed a six-year, $29.4 million contract to join the Flames.
[Related: Every free agent signing by all 32 NHL teams]
In terms of playing style Coleman would seem to be an absolutely perfect fit for the way Darryl Sutter is going to want his team to play. In the short-term it is a great addition. But as is the case with any free agent signing the real determining factor in whether or not it is going to work comes down to the term and the price. Coleman will turn 30 years old early this season and plays the type of physically demanding style that will probably not be kind to him or his production in the second half of that contract.
For the past two years he, Yanni Gourde, and Barclay Goodrow were a vital cog for the Tampa Bay Lightning in their back-to-back Stanley Cup runs. Now all of them are gone.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.
