Evaluating the Ridly Greig Extension

Big news in the world of the Ottawa Senators: Ridly Greig has been extended! His new contract, which will start next season, is a four year contract, worth $3.25 per season. Let’s dive into the details on the Ridly Greig extension!

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Contract Details

There’s nothing fancy about this deal. It offers no trade protection, and there’s no bonus money involved. It’s four years, with Greig being paid $3.25 million every year of the deal. He’ll be 26 when the contract ends in 2029. He’ll still be a restricted free agent at that time. As of now, his new contract takes up 3.69% of the cap.

Assessing the Extension

Steve Staios is taking a slight gamble here. Greig’s career statline is the following: 129 games, 21 goals, 47 points. This season, he’s scored 6 goals and 12 points in 37 games. Those numbers don’t jump off the page at you. At times this season, he’s been too quiet both offensively and as a pest. It’s not as if he hasn’t been given good opportunities, either. Greig has played his fair share with some of Ottawa’s best forwards this season, including both Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle. The Senators are hoping that his flashes will materialize into him becoming a consistent middle six forward.

To be clear, I’m not betting on Ridly Greig to flame out.  He has shown himself to be an annoying player to play against while also committing to the defensive side of the ice. Greig plays 1:19 per game on the penalty kill, and he only gets 44% of his starts in the offensive zone. He also plays 1:38 on the power play, and he shows up physically with 63 hits. He can also play both centre and the wing.

Bottom Line

This contract seems like a little too much, both in the length and the cap hit. It seems like Staios gave Greig as big of a contract that Greig could’ve hoped for, given what he’s accomplished thus far in his career. A Cole Sillinger type of contract (two years, $2.25 million per year) would’ve made more sense. I think highly of players like Greig- that pesky type of physical, two-way player is what every team seeks come playoff time. Greig still has to refine his game, though. He’s not as strong as he needs to be, and he hasn’t produced consistent offensive numbers.

If the rest of the contract sees Greig play like he has this season, it would be a disappointing deal. Given that it’s for less than 4% of the cap, though, it’s unlikely that this becomes a disaster of a contract. In an ideal world, Greig gets stronger, which would help him both physically and offensively, allowing him to win more of those hard nosed battles that he so willingly enters into.