Bullfrog said:
Vanek's good, really good, but he's not THAT good. Kovalchuk would have made $11M this year; Ovechkin makes $9 or 10M. I couldn't imagine shelling out that much for Vanek, even at a lower cap hit of around $7.1M (his current AAV.)
Vanek's in a similar ballpark to Kessel - maybe a little less due to the age difference. He'll get, and deserve, a contract that comes with a cap at around $8M per ($8M+ on the open market, a little less if he stays with the Islanders - somewhere in the $7.5M-$8M range).