2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

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ViPeRx007
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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by ViPeRx007 »

ecbm wrote:Any "NHL regular" who's still unsigned wants too much money.

I'm in talk-to-me-when-you-sign-Schwarz mode at this point.
Yea. Sign Schwartz before he bolts for Uzbekistan or something...
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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by WaukeeBlues »

Anyone else just completely baffled by the PK Subban re-signing?

Walk into arbitration, Subban asking for one year at $8.5 million, Canadiens asking for one year at $5.25.

They leave arbitration and agree to terms on an EIGHT year, $9 million per contract?! HUH!?

That arbitration hearing had to have been BAD. To the point that the Canadiens were afraid they alienated the guy. That's the only way it makes sense that you pay a guy MORE than his already high asking price and for eight years. Totally baffled.
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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by STLADOGG »

WaukeeBlues wrote:Anyone else just completely baffled by the PK Subban re-signing?

Walk into arbitration, Subban asking for one year at $8.5 million, Canadiens asking for one year at $5.25.

They leave arbitration and agree to terms on an EIGHT year, $9 million per contract?! HUH!?

That arbitration hearing had to have been BAD. To the point that the Canadiens were afraid they alienated the guy. That's the only way it makes sense that you pay a guy MORE than his already high asking price and for eight years. Totally baffled.
Pathetic, he signed his death warrant in Montreal. They are going to boo his ass when he starts to suck.
He will be bought out in 4 years.
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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by ecbm »

ViPeRx007 wrote:
ecbm wrote:Any "NHL regular" who's still unsigned wants too much money.

I'm in talk-to-me-when-you-sign-Schwarz mode at this point.
Yea. Sign Schwartz before he bolts for Uzbekistan or something...
OK, got me, fair enough BUT those other guys aren't RFAs, which changes the situation. But still, I was wrong-Schwarz isn't a veteran but he is a regular.

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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by ViPeRx007 »

ecbm wrote:
ViPeRx007 wrote:
ecbm wrote:Any "NHL regular" who's still unsigned wants too much money.

I'm in talk-to-me-when-you-sign-Schwarz mode at this point.
Yea. Sign Schwartz before he bolts for Uzbekistan or something...
OK, got me, fair enough BUT those other guys aren't RFAs, which changes the situation. But still, I was wrong-Schwarz isn't a veteran but he is a regular.
I was actually agreeing with you. Not that I think Schwartz is going to pull a Sobotka, but I don't like letting these types of things stay unresolved for too long.

Nobody should ever get one of those ridiculous 10-year contracts, but, if we were dumb enough to write one up, I would be ok with it if it went to Schwartz. There aren't many guys I'd say that about on the current team. Him and Tarasenko are probably the only ones.
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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by WaukeeBlues »

STLADOGG wrote:
WaukeeBlues wrote:Anyone else just completely baffled by the PK Subban re-signing?

Walk into arbitration, Subban asking for one year at $8.5 million, Canadiens asking for one year at $5.25.

They leave arbitration and agree to terms on an EIGHT year, $9 million per contract?! HUH!?

That arbitration hearing had to have been BAD. To the point that the Canadiens were afraid they alienated the guy. That's the only way it makes sense that you pay a guy MORE than his already high asking price and for eight years. Totally baffled.
Pathetic, he signed his death warrant in Montreal. They are going to boo his ass when he starts to suck.
He will be bought out in 4 years.
Or the moment he has any injury problems whatsoever or the moment he says or does ANYthing even remotely against the team or organization he's going to get blasted. You don't get paid $9 million a year as a defensman to be anything but an annual Norris trophy winner/candidate in today's NHL.

Horrible, horrible signing by both parties. Awful.
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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by glen a richter »

I'd gladly give Schwartz and Tarasenko 10 year contracts. No one else, that's for sure. Those two are the ticket to a Cup or bust. Especially given our defensive corp is already signed up for the long term. Retaining the two top offensive talents is our best chance at winning a couple of Cups before the inevitable "blow it up and start over".

As for Subban, he was -4 this past season. 'nuff said.
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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by ecbm »

Armstrong's focus on term is a good approach (see, I can say good things about him). I don't love the idea of giving Toews/Kane/Subban style contracts because the players will be 35 by the time they end-past their prime for everyone but goaltenders. On the other hand, I've read some convincing pieces arguing that this is the way of the future and it makes sense. I do think the trend will be tweaked and you'll start to see these given to younger players, as you see in baseball now. Isn't it smarter to give 8-10 years to Toews at 20 and then offer the 5 year deal at 28-30 if it looks worth it as? Sure, you can whiff like with the Cardinals and Allen Craig but then again, the Angels are probably going to look at having Trout through his age 28 season at $23.3M per as a huge bargain. It's good for the players too-who should get more money as the league does-who get the potential to test free agency in their prime to offset possibly getting a below-market rate for their early prime.

So get Tarasenko & Schwarz in for 8 years at, say, 7.5 per. That rate may represent overpayment now but it will be an absolute steal in their age 26-30 years unless they turns into a pumpkins.

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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by ComradeT »

I don't think it's smart to lock anyone for 10 years for an obscene amount of money. Look at Rams and Bradford, and the overall move away from huge contracts for rookies (probably not the same thing as what you're talking about but pretty darn close).

There are always risks of injury, player not working out to his potential, not fitting the system, etc., and large contracts are hard to move. There are simply no good economic reasons to commit a huge amount of money to few select players. Plus, I doubt small or medium-market teams will be able to afford this.
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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by WaukeeBlues »

I don't care about the length of the contracts at all. It's meeting of the minds: if a player and an organization want to sign a 15 year deal and the organization wants to ignore the history lessons of Rick DiPietro, Alexei Yashin and Ilya Kovalchuk, then be my guess.

The problem wasn't the length, the problem was in the salary differential that allowed teams to circumvent the cap. The NHL should've just limited the possible % salary differential in a contract (highest paid year vs lowest paid year cannot be more than 20% apart, for example. In that example if the maximum salary for any year of the contract is $10 million, the lowest salary amount for any year cannot be below $8 million.) and that would've solved the salary cap problem.

As it stands, you can still sign a guy to 8 years, severely water down the last 2-3 years and get a bargain salary cap hit. Player still gets paid more up front and earlier so agrees to the deal. Nothing solved.

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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by not_a_wings_fan »

The variance is limited in the new deal... iirc it's something like 35% max and no year can be less than half of the highest year. I'd have to look it up though.
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Re: 2014 Free Agent Frenzy Thread

Post by ecbm »

ComradeT wrote:Plus, I doubt small or medium-market teams will be able to afford this.
How it will actually work out is still to be determined but what the small market teams really can't afford is to try and sign their homegrown players who become stars and hit FA at the cusp of their primes. That's why I say sign up Vova long-term now at a number like $7M because if he realizes all of his upside he's going to be looking for Kane money in a few years-and the Rangers or Leafs or Pens will give it to him.
not_a_wings_fan wrote:The variance is limited in the new deal... iirc it's something like 35% max and no year can be less than half of the highest year. I'd have to look it up though.
I have trouble keeping up with the relative timing-if this is true I assume Weber's deal was under the old CBA? His last years are $1M per while the first several are $14M for an AAV of just under $8M. If that's a limited variance then the limits are meaningless.

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