Quote:
Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald
Save your condescending drivel. Your position is, "Oh my god, what do you do when someone has you by the balls??? You let them squeeze even harder and just enjoy it!" No, you punch them in the nose so they let go and have something else to think about. The proper response is you assume some control and show you're willing to move the player and get whatever you can, because you're getting played to the point where you're going to have nothing to show for this unless you capitulate on every demand, and even then there is no guarantee. So you force the issue and be prepared to move the hell on.
Again, Treliving LOST when he couldn't get the contract across the goal line before the NTC kicked in. As soon as that happened the hockey team was screwed. At that point you're hoping the player has a crap year so you can get him under contract on a good deal, because the alternative is paying through the nose and giving other teams the potential to poach your player. Treliving ####ed up. Full stop. Again, a hard deadline that was ignored by Treliving got the team into this mess. This should have been dealt with a year earlier and not allowed to get to the 11th hour. When you're in negotiations you maintain control so you get a beneficial deal. If you lose control you have to manufacture a control point so you have some leverage. Treliving gave up the leverage and Gross never let up.
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I see your point, but disagree. It takes two sides to make a deal, what incentive would Johnny have to sign a long-term deal after the Canadian bubble season he had? It wouldn't surprise me that last summer was a case of Johnny sitting on a fair offer that he knew he could beat with a productive 21-22 season. Everyone was excited about the team, why shouldn't he have been excited about the possibility of a personal bounce-back and what that would mean for earnings?
Secondly, Treliving gave up leverage in this negotiation 6 years ago when he offered a contract that would lead Johnny up to UFA status, Gross didn't take that from him. He knew how to count then and realized the position a GM (he's probably wasting zero headspace at that time on who holds that title in 2022) would be in at this point. Johnny outperformed that contract by a mile and Gross did exactly what he should have done for his client. Johnny, however, I think slighted the organization and it's fans for taking so long.