Who would you rather have: Derek Roy or Milan Lucic?

Fanhouse

I know that neither the Sabres nor the Bruins would talk a Derek Roy for Milan Lucic trade.

But, this blog post got me thinking.

The writer wondered if the Bruins overpaid by signing Milan Lucic to a 3 year $12 million contract extension.

The Sabres were able to lock center Derek Roy up for a longer term when they inked him to a 6 year $24 million deal in the summer of 2007. But, the cap hit is exactly the same, so it makes for a fun discussion.

And when it comes to comparing players, are there any two different forwards to compare than Roy & Lucic?

Roy is the offensive minded undersized center and Lucic is the prototypical power forward that will hit, fight, and chip in offensively.

So, are those two different skill sets equal when it comes to value to a hockey club in a salary cap world?

Personally, this is a very tough question. It's almost one of the old head versus heart tug of wars where my head wants to say that the offense that Derek Roy brings to the table is more valuable and my heart says that Milan Lucic is everything I want to watch and root for in a hockey player.

At the end of the day, I think that both guys are good values at $4 million per, but that Derek Roy is more likely to be the player that is underpaid at that price point.