So afraid of having to pay Cozens $8M/yr in ... 3 years, that he panicked and signed him for $7M/7. If Cozens had continued to put up ~65 points all the way up to a year into UFA on bridge deals (probably around $4M) ... I doubt the cap-inflation adjusted number would have been that much more than $7M for that UFA contract. Meanwhile, they could have been stacking the lineup with GOOD-to-REALLY-GOOD vets to handle all the big minutes, allowing Cozens to continue to enjoy beneficial minutes, etc etc etc , ad nauseum ... Dahlin and Tage are the only two big contracts handed out that make sense.
If they had done it the "normal" way with vets leading the way, they probably make the playoffs a few times and then guess what ... UFA want to stay. If most of your team is on fair to slightly less than fair (for the team) deals, then figuring out how to pay a newly minted star is the best effing problem in the world to have! Trade a couple vets for picks or prospects, Restock the ROC! Or, you big-time newly minted star wants out ... great - get a king's ransom in return and carry on.
Something tells me Byram, JJP, and Quinn are not super excited about staying right now ...