Zack Kassian of the Edmonton Oilers is approaching free agency and Jonathan Willis of The Athletic looks at Ken Holland's signing of Justin Abdelkader's contract.
Each player is a unique case, and the fate of one will not necessarily befall the other. Yet what happened in Detroit is a useful cautionary tale. Too often the NHL is a “what have you done for me lately?” kind of league, and long-term perspective functions as ballast: keeping a ship stable and centered even when a sudden change in forces tries to tip it rapidly in one direction or the other.