He’s only been in the NHL abroad for a while and his season high was 58 points. However, German hockey player Tim Stutzel has signed a terrible eight-year contract worth $66.8 million with Ottawa.
Anyone who watched the Ottawa matches or the German national team must have noticed. Stützle can be as meandering as Nathan MacKinnon or Connor McDavid, and like them he does it all at breakneck speed.
“Tim can be a superstar. Just look at the way he plays. He’s competitive, fast, smart and full of energy. He has a great sense of the game and has learned to score points and play the middle,” said Pierre Dorion, general manager at Ottawa Senators who was full of praise.
However, Stützle is not a superstar yet. In 79 games last regular season, he collected 58 points (22+36) and ranked 93rd in productivity. With twenty-seven negative points in assessing his time on the ice, he did not refute hints that he was far from the top in defense.
On the other hand, he is only 20 years old. He finished third in the draft two years ago, but so far is doing a better job than pick Alexis Lavrinier at the time. It overshadows No. 2 at Quinton Byfield more importantly.
In two or three years, Stützle could easily collect a point per game, or even attack the 100 point mark. But it is not necessary either.
Senators took a risk when they signed an eight-year contract with an annual salary of $8.35 million with the German striker. If Stützle fulfills his potential, the club will rub their hands on a highly lucrative contract. But if he sticks to current performance, manager Dorion will reap heavy criticism.
While risking Ottawa, Stützle chose to play it safe. Although he could soon become a ten million dollar player, this is how he insures himself in case he gets seriously injured or stops doing well.
In addition, even with a weight of 8.35 million, it exceeds many well-known faces, including all Czechs. The highest earner is Jakub Voráček, who occupies 8.25 million under the salary cap. However, for the foreseeable future, he is likely to be replaced by David Pastrňák on the imaginary throne, who has begun negotiating a new contract.
Stützle himself will improve greatly. He is currently under a junior contract that will expire next year. He will earn a minimum of $925,000 and a maximum of $3.425 million if he reaches all performance bonuses.
Then fantastic money will begin to enter his account – approximately 67 million over eight years (about 1.6 billion kroner in transfer). Although he would lose more than half of it due to the high taxes in Ottawa, he would still be able to provide for the rest of his life.
“It’s hard to even comprehend,” he told TSN shortly after the signing. “If someone had told me before that I was going to make that kind of money, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Stützle also answered what he would buy first with the bundled package. “I think first of all I want to make sure my parents don’t have to work anymore,” he began. “My dad is working hard now and has problems with his knee and other things. He can’t do that much anymore. So that’s my priority. Parents don’t have to worry about anything anymore.”
And the German striker repeated: “I am very grateful to my family. They have supported me all my life. I would not have been able to do anything without them.”
From the team’s perspective, he could have a bright future in Ottawa too. Although the Senators did not advance to the playoffs five times in a row, they were no longer among the losers last season.
They proved that they wanted to move forward by the fact that, in addition to Stützle, they had other young supports tied for many years – captain Brady Tkachuk, quarterback Josh Norris or defender Thomas Chabot. In addition, some time ago they brought in promising shooter Alex DeBrincat or veteran star Claude Giroud. Among them, Stützle can shine.
