Was Dan Girardi Overpayed?

Dan Girardi was signed earlier this summer to a four year deal with a cap hit of $3.325M a year.  The contract has an overall value of $13.3M.  He will be payed $3.1M the first year and $3.4M a year over the next three.

Most Rangers fans hated Girardi after he did not go in and defend Marion Gaborik while he was fighting Daniel Carcillo. They never wanted to see him wear the Rangers sweater again.  It seems those feelings have gone away and most Rangers fans were happy to see Girardi re-up with the Rangers.  Not many were really sure about this deal right away as a market value was not really set on Girardi and thus no one was sure if this was a fair deal or not.  Well a signing this week may dictate whether or not Glen Sather over payed for the Rangers blueliner.

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Dan has been a very strong and consistent defender for the Rangers over the past three seasons.  He made his debut late in the 2006-07 season in which he would go on to only play 34 games.  But since then he has played in all 82 games over the last three seasons.  There is something to be said about that.  He has also added some decent offensive numbers tallying exactly 18 assists in each season.  He went from 10 goals to 4 and back up to 6 this season. Girardi is still young at 26 and he plays pretty good with Marc Staal but on a very good team, I think Girardi is a 2nd pair defensemen. 

The player that a lot of people are comparing Girardi to is Erik Johnson of the St.Louis Blues.  Well actually most people are comparing the contracts and saying that Johnson is the better player.  Johnson was the 1st overall pick by the Blues in the 2006 Draft.  He made his NHL debut 2007-08 playing in 69 games, tallying 5 goals and 33 points but was a -9.  He tore his ACL and MCL during a team golf outing the next offseason and missed all of the 2008-09 season.  In 2009-10 he had 10 goals and 39 points in 79 games and had a +1 rating.  He also made the U.S Olympic team that went on to win the silver medal.  Johnson signed a 2 year deal worth $2.6M a year.

I agree that the Rangers over payed a little for Girardi but basing on the Erik Johnson move is wrong.  This is Johnson's 1st deal coming off of his ELC.  This is Girardi's second.  Girardi signed a 2 year deal worth $1.55M after his ELC deal which is what you would compare the EJ deal to.  In EJ's next deal, barring any setbacks, he will be receiving a deal better then the 4 year $13.3M deal that Girardi signed.  So Yes I do believe Girardi was a little over payed but do not base it off of this EJ deal as they are in 2 totally different situations in there career.