Lifetime Deals: Every skilled free agent is apparently a franchise player

Howson on the Rick Nash signing:

"He allowed us some flexibility," Howson said. "He's aware that by signing this contract that other players will be able to get paid as well."

I wonder what his original contract demands were. At 7.8 million per year, there aren't many players making more than Rick Nash: only Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, Staal, and he's tied with Brad Richards. Would you say he is he worth more than:

• Zdeno Chara
• Niklas Lidstrom
• Jarome Iginla
• Roberto Luongo
• Thomas Vanek
• Joe Thornton
• Pavel Datsyuk
  

I realize that the market prices for free agents fluctuates, and plus, who wouldn't take a discount to play in Detroit? But with the cap going down in the upcoming years and the price for free agents continuously increasing, we could be seeing the last off season where player free agents can sign outlandish long term contracts with large cap hits. When the cap goes down, I think we won't be seeing any more Marian Hossa or Danny Briere type of lifetime deals. It's just not plausible to treat every free agent player like a franchise player. It's fair to say that Rick Nash is as close as it gets to a franchise player in a Ryan Smyth type of way, but not in a Iginla, Zetterberg, and Luongo type of way. Simply put, Rick Nash is a great poward forward, but we haven't seen him dominate the league or lead his team deep into the playoffs, or make the players around him better. So far, he's been a good World Championships player.

But Danny Briere? Brian Campbell? Come on. These aren't franchise players. It's because the market is full of these crappy contracts that Rick Nash is "worth" 7.8 million per year. GM's can't keep signing these guys to ridiculous contracts because not all these guys are franchise players (whether the Thomas Vanek situation applies is up for debate, because at his cap hit, I bet the Sabres are thanking the Oilers now).

I just wonder how many of these lifetime deals included NMCs and NTCs?