Stan Bowman Stands Up to Criticism After Key Player Signs Massive Contract

"He's just an awesome guy, first of all. Like outside of the hockey, he's a guy that you believe in, you want him as part of your team. So I really like the character of Freddie, but that alone is not the reason to sign a guy to a long-term deal.

"But I think a couple of things about him. Number one, he's a very unique player with the skillset that he has. He's a big guy, he's a physical player, he's not afraid. He's got that intimidation factor where he'll go to the other team's bench and challenge anybody, like stop messing around with our group. That's something that I find, you either have that or you don't. It's really hard to bluff your way through that. And he's just naturally that way No one has to tell him you need to go tell the other team to settle it down here. That's just who he is. So I think, and he's also got the versatility of playing center and wing."

Bowman continued: "And he's scored, you know, he scored what, 18 goals twice in a row at a fairly young, younger age. So I think he's got the game in him. And I think when you add all that up, it comes down to he's a very unique player. It's not like if we passed on Frederic, we'll just go get so-and-so, who's maybe a little different, but the same type of player. Not a lot of guys like that out there. They just aren't anymore."

"So I knew we were gonna have a couple smaller guys that I wanted someone with some physicality and some size. And so when you add that all up, I think, you know, he's someone that is gonna be an important player and we're gonna be happy to have him with our group for years to come."

- Stan Bowman