Eric Staal's contract and what it means to Marian Gaborik

Check out the numbers and it would appear that Gaborik is going to be worth a minimum of 8 million a year in my opinion. If you think Gabby isn't worth 8 million a year look at the numbers; Gabby is comparable to Staal in stats.

Staal's deal lends context to Gaborik negotiations ...
Eric Staal became the fourth member of the $8 million club today when the Carolina center signed a seven-year contract extension worth $57.75 million for a yearly average of $8.25 million.

This is of particular interest to Wild fans because the team is trying to sign Marian Gaborik to an extension before he becomes an unrestricted free agent next July, and the track records of Gaborik and Staal are similar.

Gaborik is set to make $7.5 million this season, and it’s believed the Wild have offered him a deal that averages roughly $1 million more.

Other players making that much are Pittsburgh’s Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin ($8.7 million a season) and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin ($9.5 million). Two of the players have won the Hart Trophy, and Malkin finished second in balloting last season.

Wild assistant general manager Tom Lynn met with Gaborik’s agent, Ron Salcer, face to face for the first time in Los Angeles this week but no deal has been reached. Lynn declined to comment on the meeting Thursday, and Salcer could not be reached for comment.

But back to Staal, 23, who led the Hurricanes with 100 points when Carolina won the 2006 Stanley Cup. Here is a look at the numbers of Staal and Gaborik, 26, over the past four seasons:

Player GP*-G-A Pts.
Staal 327-124-159 = 283
Gaborik 255-128-108 = 246

*328 possible