Drew Doughty vs. Shea Weber: Head to Toe Breakdown

Drew Doughty and Shea Weber were two of the biggest names on the restricted free agent market this season, and both of them managed to land major contracts.

Shea Weber through arbitration, and Drew Doughty through holding his breath until the team gave in.

They are two very different players who landed very similar contracts, so it only seems natural that we should compare the two and see which player is more "worth" their weight in salary.

To me, the answer seems pretty simple.

The Cosmetics

Physically, these guys are very different from one another.

Drew Doughty is 6'1" and weighs 219 pounds. He shoots from the right side and will be 22 in December. 

Doughty has played three years in the NHL and was drafted second overall by the Kings back in 2008.

Shea Weber is a much bigger guy at 6'4" and 232 pounds. Weber also shoots from the right and is 26 years old as we speak. Plus, Weber is clearly the better beard-grower of the two.

Weber is coming into his seventh year of NHL play after being drafted in the second round by the Nashville Predators in 2003.

At this point in their careers, the bigger contracts do usually go to the guy who is a bit older and is coming to the point where he is no longer going to qualify for restricted free agency. Teams want to lock their big guys up for a long time after that.

While Weber's contract is currently only for one year, as per the rules of arbitration awards, you can bet the Predators are working to find a way to get him a long-term deal.

Doughty definitely had an interesting contract since he is still so young and has four more seasons before he would qualify for unrestricted status.

Putting aside what Doughty "deserves" as a contract, I was stunned at the number he got since the team really had the biggest advantage in negotiations.

The Numbers

Drew Doughty's numbers have been pretty impressive so far in his young career. There is no doubting that.

Through three years, Doughty has 33 goals and 93 assists for a total of 126 points with a plus/minus ranking of plus-16. Pretty impressive for his first three years, especially with the fact that he scored 59 points in his second season.

His production did fall off a bit this past season with just 40 points.

Shea Weber has proven to be one of the best two-way defenders in the NHL today, having scored 80 goals and 134 assists for a total of 214 points with a plus/minus ranking of plus-23.

One of the most impressive things about Weber is that he has scored 15 goals or more four times and has broken the 40-point mark just as many times.

Both players have cracked 50 points once in their careers.

What is most impressive to me about Weber is that he has done this on a Nashville Predators team that is a defense-first team; he even led the Predators in scoring most of last season, finishing just two points behind the team leaders.

Looking at the numbers, Weber has definitely proven that he is the type of guy who will consistently go out there and put up a good amount of points all while shutting down the opposition's top players as well.

Doughty has had half as much time in the NHL and is clearly a very promising offensive defenseman, but he was outscored by John-Michael Liles last season, and Liles is now making $3 million less a year than Doughty.

Would I say Doughty is a guy I would rather have on my blue line than John-Michale Liles? Sure. But I wouldn't pay him that much more.

Roles with Respective Teams

This is one of the places where these guys do have a lot in common.

Both players see a decent amount of ice time since they each play in pretty much every situation there is. One big difference would be that Doughty plays a more clearly offensive role than Weber does.

Weber obviously chips in offensively, but he works to shut down opponents first and benefits from having an absolute cannon as a shot.

Probably the biggest difference between the two players is their leadership roles on their teams.

Weber is the captain and clear-cut leader of the Nashville Predators both on and off the ice. When people think about the Predators, Shea Weber is the first person that comes to mind right now because he is the face of their franchise.

Doughty is now being paid as if he is the face of the franchise, but Doughty isn't even one of the alternate captains on the team.

Is he one of the better players? Sure he is, but try telling Dustin Brown or Anze Kopitar or now even Mike Richards that he is more of a franchise player than any of these guys.

How They Got Paid

The courtship of both of these players was well advertised throughout the hockey world as everybody wanted to know what was going to happen with these two young stars.

Weber's contract got a lot of attention because it marked the first time that a player actually went to an arbitration hearing when the team filed for arbitration.

In every single other case like that, the team managed to sign the player before their hearings.

Weber presented a case asking for an $8 million contract, and the Predators wanted something around $4 million.

The arbitrator came back with $7.5 million and set up a showdown between Doughty and the Kings.

Most people, myself included, didn't really think this would have much of an effect on Doughty because while he is a good defender, he's no Shea Weber. Well, so much for that theory.

Doughty turned down contract offers from the Kings until just recently when he signed an eight-year, $56 million contract after holding out through all of camp and the majority of the preseason.

It might be a bit unfair for people to say that Doughty took the more selfish route as we really don't know what would have happened if the Predators hadn't gone to arbitration with Weber.

Still, if Doughty always thought that he was worth this much money, why didn't he file for arbitration and go that route? You guarantee that you will play for your same team, and a neutral party decides what is fair.

If you ask me, Doughty didn't go that route because he had to know that there is no way he would have gotten that deal from a neutral party—it just doesn't add up.

If you ask me, Doughty is probably going to be perceived as being greedy and not a team guy because he got fair offers from the Kings and decided that he was above them.

Accolades

Both players have received the honor of playing for Team Canada in the 2010 Winter Olympics where Canada won the gold medal.

That is something that any hockey player would dream of being able to do: win the gold for their country.

Both players have also been nominated for the Norris Trophy as the league's top defender.

I think the difference in that situation is that Weber has more of a chance to be consistently nominated for this award and probably should have won last season—at least in my opinion.

Doughty's ability to win a Norris will largely be determined by how many points he scores, whereas Weber is just a great all-around defender.

In Conclusion

If you couldn't tell, I'm absolutely shocked by the way the Kings gave in to Doughty with this particular contract.

I don't mind the eight years so much as I do the amount of money he's getting per year.

People might say that it isn't fair to compare the two players, but since they were the top defenders in the restricted free agent market and they both now have almost identical cap numbers, it is really hard not to compare the two.

Doughty has a bright future ahead of him with the Kings, but this contract is just crazy.

Weber is a far more complete defenseman that means more and does more for his team than Doughty does.

Weber is not just one of the best offensive blue-liners in the league, he is one of the best all-around defenders in the NHL today.

The simple truth of the matter is that the same cannot be said of Drew Doughty.