Matt Cooke re-signs - implications for Clarkson?
Matt Cooke re-signs for 3 yrs, $5.4 million. He is a 31-year-old agitator and has scored about 10-15 goals and 15-20 assists in 3 out of the last 4 seasons (the ones in which he played close to 80 games). A pretty consistent 30 points and really stepped up his agitating role for Pittsburgh with 100+ PIMs the last two seasons. Clarkson is just 26, scored 32 pts to go with 164 PIMs in 82 games two years ago and 24 pts with 85 PIMs in 46 games last season. Are these two players comparable at this stage in Clarkson's career? How much money is Clarkson's seemingly-impending scoring breakout worth? Does it also matter that Clarkson is an RFA? Seeing what Matt Cooke got, what do you think Clarkson should / will get?

