David Clarkson has roughly the same cap hit as Toronto's high-scoring stars Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul ($5.25 million), but has just eight points in 27 games so far this season. What does Clarkson need to do to turn things around and provide the Leafs value for his seven year deal?
It won't be an easy task for Clarkson and the Leafs, that's for sure. He's 29 and locked down until he's 37 at $5.25 million per season. With the exception of the 2011-12 season, Clarkson has always been a checking line player, never topping 17 goals or 32 points.
Obviously, that isn't going to cut it. Even the league's best checking line player isn't going to have the opportunity to provide a team $5.25 million in value per season. In order to earn this contract, Clarkson will need to continue his evolution into a top-line, two-way, goal-scoring forward similar to his cap hit comparables.
To help determine exactly what that looks like, we'll use hockey analytics. First, we'll find out where the bar is set for Clarkson by identifying his cap-based peers. That is, we'll find out what kind of veteran forward the ...
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Article written by Rob Vollman
What Must David Clarkson Do to Earn Huge Contract with Toronto Maple Leafs?
December 27th, 2013 by Rob Vollman Leave a reply »
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