Given the year he had, Eaves contract was pretty reasonable both in terms of AAV and term. For a veteran player in his 30s, that's a normal contract and in this case he and Getzlaf had good chemistry. Eaves would have gotten something like that (or perhaps more AAV but only 2 years) as a UFA. For a guy you have pegged to play in the top 6 and on maybe on the power play, $3M is a good deal (even if he's on the 4th line the last year). And candidly, at the time, I was pleasantly surprised Murray didn't give more term.
Even if Eaves is fragile, it was no way foreseeable that he'd come down with some sort of weird non-hockey illness/disease that would wipe out his career. No one could have envisioned that. No one criticizes gms who sign players who get later get leukemia or other non-hockey diseases.
This is a very different situation than the Stoner signing (where no one would have paid him that AAV or given him that term) or even the Bieksa extension.
