Antoine Vermette: Should The Coyotes Offer a Five Year Extension?

Antoine Vermette is a more complicated player than we expected

If Coyotes fans made all the team’s decisions, then center Antoine Vermette would have been gone a month and a half ago.

General Manager Don Maloney hasn’t pulled the trigger just yet, though — and even though it may seem like Vermette has one foot out the door as a pending unrestricted free agent, new reports say that it’s possible the Coyotes points leader this season might just end up staying in the desert.

In Monday’s edition of the Hockey News’ rumor roundup, they cited an ESPN Insider article by Craig Custance saying that Vermette may not quite be as available as many fans would like to believe.

“Vermette’s name has been out there,” said the GM. “It’s out there, but he’s not available today. – Craig Custance

Vermette is obviously an ideal trade deadline target. He one of the league’s most consistent two way centers up for sale this summer — he’s a proven scorer (he is on pace to either duplicate or surpass his 2013-2014 point totals, which put him at 45 points in 82 games) who can also provide a team a sense of stability in the faceoff circle and on the backcheck. He ranks 17th in the league in faceoff percentage among all centers at 55.4 percent, and while some centers are considered more elite two-way talent — for example, Patrice Bergeron — very few players with his kind of acquisition power and current cap hit are going to be around on the market.

Earlier this season, we took a look at where Vermette could land — and when it comes to trading him before the deadline, teams that need a cheap loan might be looking to dump salary for him (or a fairly high draft pick, should they possess one).

The Hockey News goes on to cite another report out of Ottawa that talks on a contract extension have ceased for the time being, but when it comes to trading or extending — which option is better? A deadline trade for a pick and a decent prospect versus sticking with the veteran for the long term, or eating some salary for a cap-crunched team versus hurting more with a higher cap hit for him later.

There are some reports, cited in the aforementioned Hockey News piece, that say Vermette could be looking at asking for a five year deal around the $5.5 million AAV range — a significant raise from his $3.7 million cap hit this season.

Nov 11, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Coyotes center Antoine Vermette (50) against the Dallas Stars at Gila River Arena. The Stars defeated the Coyotes 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

I would personally love to see Antoine Vermette back in a Coyotes sweater next season — even though the $5.5 Million isn’t the fairest price, the Coyotes are weak at the center position. His return would be a huge boost, though, should the team want to do it. Without Vermette, you could speculate that the Coyotes might look similar to this at center next season —

Martin Hanzal
Sam Gagner
Joe Vitale
Tyler Gaudet

Brendan Perlini is waiting in the wings — but based off of the Coyotes’ handling of Max Domi, we can’t assume the 2014 first round pick is a lock for next season’s roster. We could also add Henrik Samuelsson to this list, but it’s likely that both Max Domi and Samuelsson could end up flanking Hanzal on the wing.

Vermette would be a nice player to have for another two seasons, as the Coyotes wait for their young core of centers to develop (Perlini, Christian Dvorak – who is playing with the London Knights in the OHL this season, and Ryan MacInnis — who is with the Kitchener Rangers, also of the OHL).

He would also continue to provide a nice veteran presence for a team that is seemingly getting younger; with the likes of Connor Murphy and Brandon Gormley now permanently inserted into the lineup, Tobias Rieder vying for a top six position, and Max Domi on his way to the pros, the team will need some guidance beyond the transition-age players we see in Boedker, Gagner, and Ekman-Larsson.

But for five seasons? That’s a stretch.

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He is most likely already in the final seasons of his career, with his best years having been spent in Columbus — where he averaged 0.63 Points/G, a tenth of a point higher than his time in AZ (0.53/G). Of course, as players get older their numbers will likely decline — so that’s expected — and over a five year contract, one has to wonder if the short term reward is worth the long term risk. In Vermette’s case, that answer is likely a no — especially on a team where it’s obvious a long-term, sustainable plan is the ultimate goal.

For the short term, Antoine Vermette is a low risk idea — and likely for less than his asking price. We can expect him to be a very serviceable second line center on the team even with an expected decline over the next two seasons. At the very least, you would have a guy who is still able to provide 12-15 goals and a strong faceoff presence, but in the long term, Vermette could be kind of the odd man out in a long-term plan. Perlini will most likely be in the lineup and producing by the end of that two year period, Martin Hanzal (if he re-signs after the 16/17 season) will be 32 (and in a very similar situation to Vermette) and there will be chances to grab other younger centers in either free agency or trades — not to mention the draft.

With all that said, here are the priorities I see when it comes to Vermette’s situation:

1) Trade him early if the return is good (a pick and a forward with some scoring upside would be terrific even if its a little steep)

2) Re-sign him to a short term deal (2 years)

3) Trade him at the deadline or the draft, rather than letting him walk for a long-term deal during Free Agency

The trade deadline is March 2nd, so we can expect an answer to the Vermette question sometime before then.

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