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Drury made the right call. A player in his point range, experience, etc is around the $4m range. That means he made almost $16m more than he was really worth.
He's 35 now so his next contract will count against the cap of whoever signs him regardless of whether he retires or is bought out or whatever. Think about that for a second. If Drury took a $4m deal from Buffalo instead of a $7.xx deal with NYR, he'd STILL be 35.
Even if he plays until he's 40, that means someone out there needs to give him at least $3m a year, 5-year contract NOW for him to make the same amount of money that he made with his NYR contract. He's not an elite player like Pronger. ZERO chance he'd get a $15m, 5-year contract at this point in his career.
TL;DR: By taking the NYR deal instead of staying in Buffalo, Drury made an extra $16m that he would have never gotten otherwise regardless of where he played. He made the smart play.
You might think I'm crazy but looking at the structure of his previous contract, I'm almost SURE this is how his agent explained it to him when he was choosing between Buffalo and New York.
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