Well everyone’s got Frolik signed now, at $7 million for 3 years. That’s a hit of 2.33, for those who aren’t into division in the summer. And why should you be? This should be a time of healing.
Anyway, that number could be considered a tad high I guess, but 23-year olds with two 20-goal seasons to their name, not to mention a pretty ballsy playoff performance to his name are rare commodities. I am glad Fro will be back, because I think he does a lot of things pretty well. I don’t think he’ll be as snake-bitten around the net as he was last year, he’s defensively clued-in, and the kid’s got stones on him when it comes to taking hits to make plays, and then coming back for more. And while we were all salivating at the thought of Bolland and Frolik getting a year together, we only have a few games of that to study. However, Bolland has always done his best work with a one-on-one type player on his wing, such as Havlat or Versteeg. Frolik might not quite be that type, but he isn’t totally different either. By the time he’s 26 when this deal ends, 2.3 might look a steal.
The Sami Lepisto signing is all kinds of intriguing. I won’t pretend I watched a ton of Coyotes hockey the past two years (and I know he ended the season with Columbus), but I watched enough to see a pretty solid player. But I doubt the Hawks were in the market for another solid guy when Montador and O’Donnell were supposed to have that covered. And then I stumbled upon Lepisto’s AHL stats when he was Caps property, where he had two seasons of over 45 points (including one in just 55 games). Phoenix only tended to let Keith Yandle off the leash, and we know Columbus barely lets their d-men cross the red line. Does Stan think that there’s a whole other aspect to Lepisto’s game that hasn’t been unearthed in The Show? If that’s the case, Chris Campoli is a goner. Sean O’Donnell and Lepisto would not have been brought here to be #8 d-men, and Lepisto’s too good to be considered Rockford depth. This one is going to need a lot of watching, but consider me totally locked in.