That is a fair deal relative to where the market is today. Hanifin risks being underpaid near the end of that deal if he develops into a star and Calgary takes a risk that Hanifin ends up not being very good by going 6 years for pretty good money. Both sides with potential to win or lose.
I was going through the Leafs board the other day and they had linked a story in the Athletic that covered DMen and the average point in the opposition's 'top 6 forwards' shift when they came on the ice. The overall point of the story was that Mike Babcock and his assistant the runs that Leafs D make direct efforts to try to put his best Dmen out on average early in the oppositions 'Top 2 lines' shift and his weaker Dmen out later in the opposition's top 2 lines shifts when they are more likely to deal with weaker/tired players. So the Leafs don't completely shelter their weaker D fully against the other teams Top 2 lines when changes are made on the fly, BUT the numbers clearly indicate they make an effort to only put them out there on the fly near the end of the shifts for the top 2 lines (you have to see the charts to fully understand).
Why do we care?
Noah Hanifin was 13th in the NHL last season in terms of "Latest Average Point in Opposition's Top 6 Shift (over the boards on the fly change)" The number is just over 30 seconds into the opposition's top 2 lines shifts. That gives some indication that the Canes were sheltering Hanifin by only putting him over the boards near the end of the opposition's top 2 lines shifts.
And?
Guess who was 13th in the NHL last season in terms of EARLIEST Average Point in Opposition's Top 6 shift (over the boards on the fly change?)" Yeah, the Dman we got back in the trade....Dougie Hamilton at just over 20 seconds. Ron Hainsey was #1 in the league at around 19 seconds.
For those with a subscription, here is the article I'm referring to.
https://theathletic.com/468934/2018...en-while-playing-them-against-top-opposition/
Note the author (Tyler Dellow) does call out Hanifin and Hamilton's position in the analytics in the article (even though its really a story on the Leafs and how they manage their DMen).
Here are Tyler Dellow's quotes directly from the article I have linked above from the Athletic:
"Noah Hanifin’s presence is a bit unnerving, given that Calgary has already made a big talent bet on him and are presumably about to make a big dollar bet."
"Speaking of Calgary and prices paid in talent… Dougie Hamilton had great numbers last year and whatever angle I look at them from, he seems to have bought and paid for them."
We will have to see how things actually look with Hamilton out there, but while he's not physical out there which we still really lack on the blueline, the guy is one of the better Dmen in the league without a doubt. He's just turned 25 this past summer AND he is signed for 2 more seasons after this one. Pretty exciting stuff there. While we dumped Skinner for not a lot and traded 2 former relatively recent #5 overall picks, we added a guy who is a legitimate all star level DMan (not fake all star DMen like we have sent to the game recently) AND hopefully added an elite superstar forward in the draft with an upside exceeding that of even Aho.
Still work to be done but I'm excited to see this new look team back on the ice.