Andrew Cogliano Contract Extension!

On January 4th, it was announced that the Anaheim Ducks signed forward Andrew Cogliano to a 4 year contract extension, believed to be worth $12 million.

What a fantastic signing this is for the Ducks! And damn, did they every get a steal of a deal!

Let's discuss why.


Cogliano is currently on his third year of a three year contract with a cap hit of $2.39 million a season. This deal itself was quite a steal for the Ducks and they can thank the Oilers for that. The Oilers severely undervalued Cogliano and it showed. Now you look at this new deal, and he received a raise, but not a huge one. Still less than what he could be making, but he clearly wanted to stay in Anaheim.

Cogliano is on pace to have a career high of goals this season. His current high is 18 which he did twice in an Oilers uniform - once in his rookie year and then the following year, 2008-09. Cogliano is currently on pace to register 24 goals this season. He currently is not on pace to beat his career high in assists, but that one is a tough one to predict. Who knows, his assists could suddenly sky rocket. All in all, Cogliano is currently looking like he is going to have his best season he has ever had.

Last year, Cogliano got his first taste of NHL playoff experience, and chances are very good that he will again this year. Hopefully this time for more than one round.

Not even this disaster would make
him miss a game

There's one more statistic that is imperative to mention whenever Cogliano is being discussed and that is the number that is sitting in the games played column beside his name. Cogliano has played in 501 STRAIGHT games. That's absolutely insane! That statistic puts him in the official ironman category. To be more specific, Cogliano is 20th on the list of ironman streaks, and after tonight's game against the Canucks, he will be tied for 19th. Cogliano is also only the fifth player to accomplish this from the beginning of his career. That is amazingly impressive!

That mustache... 

Now, let's not talk about how great his game is with numbers. Cogliano has amazing skating ability. He's crazy fast. His speed is so evident when he takes off on a break away or is clearing the puck out of the zone or really like 90% of the game. That guy can move his feet fast. In 2009, Cogliano won the fastest skater at the Skills Competition portion of the NHL All-Star game as part of the Young Guns. Awesome!

Also, Cogliano has some undeniable skills on this ice. He's a very complete player  now that he's playing in Anaheim and it's difficult to find much to criticize in his game.

And finally, Cogliano is a great guy. I have some great memories of him from when he was an Oiler when he was always astonishingly nice at various Oilers events. There's a reason that he's my favorite player, and it's not the way he plays the game.

I sincerely hope that Anaheim realizes what a steal they got in locking up Cogliano. With the cap projected to go up exponentially over the next ten-ish years, people were anticipating a lot of bridge contracts being demanded so that the players could potentially earn more two years from now. Cogliano didn't do that. So in 4 years, if the Ducks want to extend him, they will realize what a great contract this is for them. The Oilers let Cogliano go three years ago for a measly draft pick because they couldn't settle with him as an RFA. It's unfortunate that he had to leave Edmonton but with the team that the Oilers were developing into, there just wasn't room for him in the system anymore. In retrospect, there is a player or two that were up for contracts at the same time as him that should have gone before he did. That being said, looking at the Oilers now, Cogliano would possibly be a fourth line - simply based on the numbers of the team - and that's certainly not what he deserves.

Cogliano's game improved tremendously when he became a Duck for one simple reason - he got moved to the wing. Since that happened - and Bruce Boudreau got hired as the coach - Cogliano's game has improved ten fold. The player that Cogliano is now is 10 times more effective than the guy that he was in his second year in the league. He definitely had a strong rookie year, but for his next three in Edmonton, it just never was the same. Now, in Anaheim, Cogliano has made his rookie year seem like nothing. It's amazing to see.

Cogliano is demonstrating how the Ducks need to hold on

Hopefully Anaheim realizes what a gem they have and hold on to him. It would be a shame if they let him go as easily as the Oilers did!


Go Cogliano Go!



Here's some more pictures of Cogliano for you guys, from his days in Edmonton....

Holy.... Wow.... Whoa.... 

Who doesn't appreciate mostly naked Ethan Moreau, Sheldon Souray and Andrew Cogliano? 

This is an overzoomed picture that I took almost three years ago now, I'm really not sure why he is chewing on
his hockey stick, but it made for a cute picture!