Ivan Barbashev may have signed his two-year, $1.475 AAV million deal, but that hasn't stopped pundits and fans on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean from chiming in.
Barbashev himself, speaking to Alena Grebenkova of Sport Express, said that playing in the NHL and securing himself a regular spot there was his childhood dream. He left Russia at age 17 to play in the QMJHL for the Moncton Wildcats, just to get more exposure in North America. While there were recently offers in the KHL, he simply could not leave the Blues, especially after a season where he solidified himself as a regular and was part of a Cup-winning team.
"I probably could have gotten more [money]," said Barbashev. "We discussed a longer term deal with better AAV. I felt that two years was what I was comfortable with. I'm happy to be back and defend the Cup."
While St. Louis' official Twitter announcement of the contract was met hordes of happy fans congratulating the team on being (almost completely) back together, with many singing praises to Blues' GM Doug Armstrong for making a great deal, Russian websites focused on the negative aspects. Sport Express' writer Aleksey Shevchenko wrote that Barbashev, who had asked for $2.5 million AAV and was countered by the Blues at $1.1 million AAV, got the raw end of the deal and left as much as a million dollars on the table. In a tweet, Shevchenko also critiqued the negotiating skills of Barbashev's agent Dan Milstein.
Either way, Barbashev is back in the fold and has the chance, over the next two years, to show that he is just as good if not better than fourth line mate Oskar Sundqvist, who was signed for four years at $2.7 million AAV.
