Quote:
Originally Posted by AC
Remember Treliving said the ask for Stone was Valimaki + Rasmus + 1st.
Really hard to say. Stone is legit, but also would have taken a salary of $11.5M with Calgary to get the equivalent in post-tax takehome compared to $9.5M with Vegas.
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This just smells like horse#### to me. It just doesn't make any sense. The package from the flames is more than twice as valuable as the package they accepted from the knights? Why would the price be THAT much higher for Calgary? If that WAS the price, then how come the Flames were in on Stone for so long? Maloney basically said they thought they were getting stone when they went to sleep the night before the deadline and then the deal fell apart.
Also the tax claim is BS as well as far as I know. This is Burke carrying water for the organization. I've heard it from too many accountants and business managers that Canada and especially Alberta is as competitive as any other jurisdiction for professional hockey players. Conversely, I've never had someone explain to me why they would pay more taxes in Canada other than pointing at the marginal tax rate which doesn't necessarily apply to the players in the first place. It's all over the place with regards to deferred income in canada, residency, the time of year payments are received etc etc.
Alberta is still just as attractive as any jurisdiction in the NHL to play hockey.
It only took a couple of hours for Stone's contract to come together because he and his management team had been looking towards that moment all year. All the scenarios were prepped and basically everyone involved between Ottawa, Vegas and Calgary knew what he'd be looking for and what his market rate would be.
There just really isn't that kind of price premium to play in Canada/Alberta or you'd see the Canadian teams bottoming out like they did pre-lockout because they couldn't compete.
IMO, they knew they needed to add, and because they didn't they now have to save face about it. Lo' and behold we're probably seeing why right now.
It just doesn't make any sense that Treliving would be in on Stone for Rasmus Valimaki +1st until the 11th hour and then just walk away because Vegas offered a significantly less valuable package.
The only way Ottawa was asking for Valimaki + Rasmus + 1st is if CALGARY was sending back bad money in order to SIGN Stone.