the devil you know

wright · Veteran Member

the devil you know

barry33 · Guru

wright wrote:

It's interesting to see the debate about whether the Habs over paid for Koviu or not. Obviously this debate is not unique to the Canadiens. The Leafs just resigned Kaberle to a 5 year 20 million dollar contract, and there has been criticism over that move. As Damien Cox wrote, the Leafs have won nothing with Kaberle, and although he is good offensively he leaves something to be desired in his own end. Florida is trying hard to resign Jokinen and Luongo, and other teams are pressing to resign players they perceive to be a part of their nucleus. It seems gm's are prepared to pay what they have to to retain their key performers even if they have reservations about over paying. I am not sure if it is a lack of creativity on the part of gm's or the fear that if they don't lock up their players they will be on the outside looking in come free agency. Perhaps they anticipate little movement come free agent time. No question Gainey faces challenges off loading some bloated salaries from no performers and may not be able to do it, which may inhibit the teams ability to sign a quality free agent. Gainey may have felt painted into a corner with regards to resigning Koviu at a high price but it may have been infleunced by how he anticipated a potential lack of supply in the up coming free agent market as all teams try to resign their key guys.

As I stated in another post, when it comes to signing free agents and keeping current players happy, it all comes down to points. Those of us that respect Koivu for "what he brings to the table other than points" need only watch upcoming talks with these two players:

Captain and Center - Olli Jokinen- Florida- 25 Goals, 34 Assists for 59 Point. UFA after this season and just turned down 4 million a year

Mark Savard -Center-Atlanta- 24 Goals, 48 Assists For 72 Points- Will be UFA after this season. Now earning 2.28 million. Think after seeing Sak's contract he may want a raise? Think Atlanta can sign him?

Koivu- 14-25-39 points Just signed for $4.75 Million.

We all appreciate how much Koivu means to Montreal and yes certainly, that i sworth some cash. But I can tell you that player agents and UFA's could care less. Guys like Savard and Ollie will only point to the bottom line "Geesh..Koivu got 4.75 million and my point total is almost double his". The floodgates have been opened. Let the madness begin.

AB Habman · Guru

barry33 wrote:

wright wrote: It's interesting to see the debate about whether the Habs over paid for Koviu or not. Obviously this debate is not unique to the Canadiens. The Leafs just resigned Kaberle to a 5 year 20 million dollar contract, and there has been criticism over that move. As Damien Cox wrote, the Leafs have won nothing with Kaberle, and although he is good offensively he leaves something to be desired in his own end. Florida is trying hard to resign Jokinen and Luongo, and other teams are pressing to resign players they perceive to be a part of their nucleus. It seems gm's are prepared to pay what they have to to retain their key performers even if they have reservations about over paying. I am not sure if it is a lack of creativity on the part of gm's or the fear that if they don't lock up their players they will be on the outside looking in come free agency. Perhaps they anticipate little movement come free agent time. No question Gainey faces challenges off loading some bloated salaries from no performers and may not be able to do it, which may inhibit the teams ability to sign a quality free agent. Gainey may have felt painted into a corner with regards to resigning Koviu at a high price but it may have been infleunced by how he anticipated a potential lack of supply in the up coming free agent market as all teams try to resign their key guys. As I stated in another post, when it comes to signing free agents and keeping current players happy, it all comes down to points. Those of us that respect Koivu for "what he brings to the table other than points" need only watch upcoming talks with these two players: Captain and Center - Olli Jokinen- Florida- 25 Goals, 34 Assists for 59 Point. UFA after this season and just turned down 4 million a year Mark Savard -Center-Atlanta- 24 Goals, 48 Assists For 72 Points- Will be UFA after this season. Now earning 2.28 million. Think after seeing Sak's contract he may want a raise? Think Atlanta can sign him? Koivu- 14-25-39 points Just signed for $4.75 Million. We all appreciate how much Koivu means to Montreal and yes certainly, that i sworth some cash. But I can tell you that player agents and UFA's could care less. Guys like Savard and Ollie will only point to the bottom line "Geesh..Koivu got 4.75 million and my point total is almost double his". The floodgates have been opened. Let the madness begin.

Who would of ever thought it would be a Canadian team responsible for re-spiraling the saleries out of control after the Rangers unloaded and are going for the Cup! That's irony!

Jonny G · Senior Member

It seems that the cap will create upper and lower classes (for lack of better terms) of players. The highest paid will continue to make the same big bucks. The downwards salary pressure may impact the 10 - 12 roster guys per team who make less than the league average.

-- Edited by Jonny G at 17:48, 2006-02-13

habs93 · Veteran Member

Remember who Savard's winger is Kovolchuk (sp) (and playing with Hossa from time to time PP time) give him/them the puck and watch him/them go so Savard getting points is a little bit easier for him now than it had been in the past .....he knows it and so does his agent and GM and Atlanta has Hossa & Kovolchuk (maybe more) a head of him in the pay scale so it is not a gimme that he will get what Koivu got and if Savard wants to stay in Atlanta it will be interesting............For Oillie it could work out very good for him - money wise thanks to Mike Keenan as his career was stalling until Iron Mike got a hold of him.........

barry33 · Guru

habs93 wrote:

Remember who Savard's winger is Kovolchuk (sp) (and playing with Hossa from time to time PP time) give him/them the puck and watch him/them go so Savard getting points is a little bit easier for him now than it had been in the past .....he knows it and so does his agent and GM and Atlanta has Hossa & Kovolchuk (maybe more) a head of him in the pay scale so it is not a gimme that he will get what Koivu got and if Savard wants to stay in Atlanta it will be interesting............For Oillie it could work out very good for him - money wise thanks to Mike Keenan as his career was stalling until Iron Mike got a hold of him.........

You are totally missing my point here. It is IRRELEVANT who Savard is playing with. When it comes down to "sign time", to quote Dave Andrechyk, they do not as how, just how many. Do you really think his agent will say "well ya I don't think my client is worth 5 million because half his points are because of playing with Kovalchuk? No. If that was the case, you could make the same argument about Koivu. His points are over inflated because he played most of the year with Kovalev. Just ask Rob Brown what it did to his contracts when he played on a line with Lemieux. There is not one GM in the league who will put much weight in the fact that Mark Savard plays on a line with a good player.