New York Islanders Andrew Ladd vs Jason Chimera Value

The two biggest additions to the 2016-2017 New York Islanders were Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera. Who was the better signing?

Last year when the New York Islanders added Jason Chimera and Andrew Ladd I was content with both signings. Andrew Ladd was brought in to replace Kyle Okposo and add veteran leadership as someone who has playoff experience and deep cup runs under his belt.

While Jason Chimera was brought in as a replacement to fan favorite Matt Martin. Losing those two guys were hard but it seemed like the Islanders brought in at least a comparable player with Ladd and an upgrade with Chimera.

With that let’s compare the two:

The Contracts

Andrew Ladd: seven-years $38.5 million AAV $5.5 million

Jason Chimera: two-years $4.5 million AAV $2.25 million

Related Story: 2016-2017 Player Grade: Jason Chimera

The Numbers

Andrew Ladd: 23 goals eight assists 31 points

Jason Chimera: 20 goals 13 assists 33 points

Analysis

Both of these guys got off to an extremely slow start. Andrew Ladd took 12 games to find the back of the net while Jason Chimera seemed to be stuck on one goal for an eternity. Although the two turned it on in the second half and played a major role in the Isles resurgence.

We will start with Ladd. The fact that he was able to get to 23 goals after his slow start was rather impressive, although he, unfortunately, left more to be desired.

31 points isn’t even close to the production needed out of him. When he was brought in he was expected to play next to John Tavares. He rarely did and was constantly shuffled through the lines. If you look at his contract you would expect a somewhere along the lines of a 50 point season out of him.

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The baffling stat is the assists. 23 goals seems about on track but he dropped off significantly in the assist column. Each year from 2008-2016 he had over 20 assists a year. In addition to the lack of assists, Ladd also took far too many penalties.

Ladd spent 45 minutes in the box this year. Ultimately he hasn’t quite lived up to his deal as of yet but don’t give up on it just yet.

As for Chimera he was more than your little heart could’ve desired. Chimmer was a cheaper option than Matt Martin and he blew Matty out of the water this year. Even with his slow start he had a very productive year.

20 goals for $2.25 million? Sign me up every time. That’s smart right there. Think about it Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, Andrew Ladd, Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck and Ryan Strome all made more money than Chimera in 2016-2017 and put up less points.

The Verdict

It’s an easy answer. Right now Jason Chimera is the better value. He had more points and cost $3.25 million less than Ladd. Although the ceiling with Andrew Ladd is much higher. 20 goals and 35-40 points is Chimera’s ceiling.

Next: Eyes on Isles Islanders Awards

Ladd should be able to put up 25+ goals and close to 50 points pretty easily. I’m not ready to call this Ladd contract a bust but I am going to have to see more out of Andy in 2017-2018.