Earlier this week Dirk posted a link to an article taking Barry Trotz to task for some comments he made concerning Paul Gaustad. Well according to the folks over at Hockey Prospectus, Ryan could not have been any more correct.

Hockey Prospectus has released their "Howe and Why: Worst Consensus Summer Signings". .

So Hockey Prospectus asked 24 statisticians from across the US and Canada (Dirk was one of those polled) who they felt were the worst free agent signings of the summer. Luckily for GMDP, and Brandon Yip, the list of players was limited to those that signed for more than 1.5 million a year. :) Gaustad's contract was considered to be the 2nd worst signing of the off season at dismal 28.3% approval rating. Here is a little of what they had to say:

Whether in Buffalo or Nashville, "Goose" consistently leads his team in defensive zone starts, but his possession-based statistics plummeted last season, when he started facing top lines instead of depth players. While players who truly can shut down top scorers are worth their weight in gold, Gaustad, who places his teams in a hole of 11.5 shots per 60 minutes, isn't one of them.

Most of you know by now that I am firmly in the "Goose's contract is insane" camp, so I found it both funny, and sad, that he was rated the 2nd worst free agent signing of the off-season. I know some of you will point to this just being another advanced stats site that is not worth paying attention to, but they make a good point. Goose may be a player that we would like to sign, especially considering we gave up a first round pick to get him in the first place, but this contract is just not justified to a player that puts up the numbers that he does. This franchise has never spent above the mid-point of the cap, and this money could have been better spent else where. This is a player that has never scored more than 36 points in a season. He has never scored more than 12 goals in a season. His CORSI is absolutely dismal at -10.23, despite playing 4th line minutes. There was a lot of talk on Thursday of him being a leader and possessing other intangibles. Well, Guess what? Players are paid for their performance, not being great guys, and his stats do not point to a 14 million dollar contract.

I understand he is a great face-off guy, but his contact is well above the league average, and that is a hard pill to swallow. I really wish I could have added a poll to this. I am really interested how many of you think this contract is out of line.