What Was the Worst Signing Today?

[old-fart]

Last season MacT was all abuzz about the great signing he made of Gagner and how it would be seen as a great contract in a year or so, and that's why he gave him a NTC on top of it.

It took about a year before we learned the value of Gagner with that contract was another bad contract dump, or a 6th round pick if you eat a 1/3 of the contract and throw in another player.

In effect, the Gagner contract is horrid.

The poo contract will also be horrid.

Not the worst of the day though - that goes to Washington and Orpik. wow.

[TKB]

Orpik with the worst contract of the day by a country mile, Engelland with a horrendous contract as well considering he should be damn near league minimum.

[chubeyr1]

O"Brien wouldn't be in the minors if he played the role he was brought here for. Wanted a big tough defenseman to protect the kids. Engelland is the opposite of O'Brien. He will do his job.

Just remember though we still have cap room to sign Crosby and Ovechkin lol.

[edslunch]

Was listening to the Fan in Toronto yesterday and Orpik and Engelland were the poster boys for crazy contracts.

On the positive side they were very positive about the way the Flames are turning it around vs the Leafs

[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by 19Yzerman19

Is arguing with people against the rules? I.e. it's a bad thing if I argue with people? This is frowned on? Because it seemst to me that arguing on internet message boards is like... 80% of internet message board traffic.

I realize the irony of arguing with you about this.

I suspect the main reason I argue with people on here is that I have strong opinions on hockey matters and am not a Flames fan.

You are really getting annoying.

It's not enough that you tried to thinly disguise being a Canucks fan by choosing Yzerman as your handle and using a pic of him holding up the Stanley Cup but your true colors as a Canucks fan are really shining through of late.

I'm sure you have been banned in the past and made this new acct. It also seems like it probably won't be long till you have another meltdown (probably like the one that had you banned the first and second time) and are off this board till you come back with another user name like 19SAKIC19 to start this crap all over again.

We have seen your kind come and go many times before.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by edslunch

On the positive side they were very positive about the way the Flames are turning it around vs the Leafs

I would hate to be an Ontario hockey fan.

The Leafs are in the limbo position, where they can finish 8th to 12th in the eastern conference. Players don't want to play there and they have many ridiculous contracts. They are lead by Phaneuf and Kessel! They will be mediocre for the next 5 years.

Senators fans have to watch there team lose out on Alfredsson and Spezza because they are too cheap to spend to the cap. The Senators are one of the worst teams in the league and didn't even manage to get a high draft pick last season.

[19Yzerman19]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

You are really getting annoying.

This entire post is an overly abrasive personal attack. I'm told people get timed out for that... I mean I'm assuming there isn't a double standard here.

It's not enough that you tried to thinly disguise being a Canucks fan by choosing Yzerman as your handle and using a pic of him holding up the Stanley Cup

I grew up cheering for the Wings in Vancouver and Yzerman is my favourite player. For similar reasons, any respect I have for Joe Sakic is grudging. That said, I still grew up in Vancouver, went to games all the time with my Canuck fan friends, and consequently support the Canucks as well. Not that I give much of a crap about your conspiracy theories.

[old-fart]

As said, the Orpik contract is clearly the worst by far and I would suggest the Poo contract in Edmonton is next.

The DE contract is a bad contract for sure, but it doesn't really hurt the Flames at all. It is relatively short term and less than $3M. These types of deals do not wreck your salary structure, nor hamstring your team - especially when your team has the lowest team salary in the entire league. If that is what we had to pay to get the player we wanted for the term we wanted, and there were other bidders, I'm ok with it.

Compare it to Niki Niki in Edmonton - they had no current competition for the player (they traded a 5th rounder to ensure they wouldn't) and yet still paid a "healthy scratch from CBJ in favor of Nick Fricken' Schultz" a long term big money contract. Anyone care to compare the third pairing salary for Smid/DE to Edmonton's third pairing of Niki Niki and Ferrence? Both will likely be equally bad, but while Oiler duo might be a bit more mobile, the Flames duo is infinitely tougher and by all accounts better in the room with the youngsters.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by old-fart

As said, the Orpik contract is clearly the worst by far and I would suggest the Poo contract in Edmonton is next.

The DE contract is a bad contract for sure, but it doesn't really hurt the Flames at all. It is relatively short term and less than $3M. These types of deals do not wreck your salary structure, nor hamstring your team - especially when your team has the lowest team salary in the entire league. If that is what we had to pay to get the player we wanted for the term we wanted, and there were other bidders, I'm ok with it.

Compare it to Niki Niki in Edmonton - they had no current competition for the player (they traded a 5th rounder to ensure they wouldn't) and yet still paid a "healthy scratch from CBJ in favor of Nick Fricken' Schultz" a long term big money contract. Anyone care to compare the third pairing salary for Smid/DE to Edmonton's third pairing of Niki Niki and Ferrence? Both will likely be equally bad, but while Oiler duo might be a bit more mobile, the Flames duo is infinitely tougher and by all accounts better in the room with the youngsters.

This. The Flames overpaid but it won't harm them in any way in the future. It just isn't big enough or long enough to be relevant in any meaningfully detrimental way.

Therefore it is no where near one of the worst contracts.

[Weitz]

I know some people may not like this source, but I have read a lot of stories scouring the internet that relate to this. Might be the prevailing opinion out there.

"Not ranked this week: The Deryk Engelland contract.

All that talk about the worst contract of the day? Don't worry about it. Calgary, predictably, has it sewn up.

A team that was already slated to pay Brian McGrattan and Brandon Bollig a combined $2 million next season is now also going to pay Deryk Engelland $2.9 million — a raise of about 500 percent — on top of that. Right after they bought out Shane O'Brien, who in all honesty isn't much worse than Engelland, and would have been $900,000 cheaper against the cap, and would have been gone next summer.

This is very clearly a sign that Brian Burke's influence on the team's decision-making has not changed despite the fact that he is no longer GM.

Either that, or Brad Treliving has no idea at all what he's doing, and in either case, that's bad news for the Flames' chances going forward. On a day in which Brooks Orpik got five years and $5.25 million per, the fact that there was even a close second here — for a team still in search of “toughness” despite having too much of it already — tells you everything about what a disaster this franchise is. Good lord.

Treliving said in the wake of the signing that Engelland has been “undervalued” for a while, so one assumes he thought he'd make up for that by overvaluing him to a ludicrous extent.

Poor Sam Bennett. Poor Sean Monahan. Poor Johnny Gaudreau. Poor Flames fans."

Source, towards the bottom: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...154852827.html

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

This. The Flames overpaid but it won't harm them in any way in the future. It just isn't big enough or long enough to be relevant in any meaningfully detrimental way.

Therefore it is no where near one of the worst contracts.

Flames can afford the worst contract, but it's still the worst contract

[GGG]

Thats the same drivil that people have been posting in this thread about the signing. It completely ignores situations. It assumes every team should have just gone out and signed Brad Richards for 2 million dollars.

Calgary's asset is cap space. You can't save it. It doesn't role over, you use it or it disappears. So why do people hate calgary using its assets.

It completely ignores what makes a bad contract. A bad contract stops you from doing something else with your team. A bad contract has a high opportunity cost.

This contract has zero opportunity cost so at worst its a neutral deal. It has no future negative possibilities therefore it can't be the worst contract of the day. The GM himself admits that he overpayed to bring down the term. This was intentional use of our biggest asset cap space.

Other teams signed long term deals to win now sacrificing future cap space. If they win now then those contracts are successful. We did the oppisite sacrificed current cap space to win in the future.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Flames can afford the worst contract, but it's still the worst contract

No its not - because the situation a team is in defines how much a contract can hurt a team.
If this organization was in a position where this contract put them up against the cap - then yes - it would be the worst.
However, I would argue that in order to reach the floor, provide opportunities for their kids, and still have contract space - they were going to have to overpay someone.
So you overpay a guy that you think brings the appropriate cultural fit, fills a need in your lineup, and you make damn sure you don't commit to term because for where this organization is TERM matters now more than PER YEAR cap hit.

To assess what is the worst contract without looking at the context of the team situation is far too simplistic.

[nik-]

I think it's the worst overpay in terms of dollars for the player as a percentage increase. But it's not the worst contract.

[#-3]

Engelland has the opportunity to have a high opportunity cost in the Final year of the deal.

By that time it is likely the Flames will have given, Monahan, Gaudreau, Brodie, and Gio all raises, maybe even Backlund. So I think if it was 2 for $6M it wouldn't be a big deal. But there is some risk, Still nothing like the Orpik contract, huge over payment in $ & term.

[wingmaker]

Not to mention Niskanen. Yikes. 7 years? For one good season? And people think the Engelland contract is bad?

[CETokyo]

Detroit giving Quincy 2 yrs at $4.5 seems questionable

[Poe969]

The contracts the oilers and nucks gave out were far worse than the flames because the players now have to play for the oilers or nucks... The DE signing really isn't that bad at all, they said hey signed him for more than just his play on the ice, he's a good player and a good person. They may have over paid him but if they really wanted to, they could send him down and not think twice about it. People are talking about a 2 year deal of 2.9 mil per year being the worst??? It's not that much money(relative to what players make) and it's not that long in term.

[maxpower29]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Engelland signing. Dozens are worse then that you have not mentioned. With the Flames so far from the cap its basically not even a cap team for the next few years. No high end UFA will want to sign here yet, and no young player is in the position to sign long term for high dollar.
So right now, 2.9 mil is just money out of the owners pocket, which is always a good thing.
Hes a useful player all around

[maxpower29]

Originally Posted by Fire

I would hate to be an Ontario hockey fan.

The Leafs are in the limbo position, where they can finish 8th to 12th in the eastern conference. Players don't want to play there and they have many ridiculous contracts. They are lead by Phaneuf and Kessel! They will be mediocre for the next 5 years.

Senators fans have to watch there team lose out on Alfredsson and Spezza because they are too cheap to spend to the cap. The Senators are one of the worst teams in the league and didn't even manage to get a high draft pick last season.

its fun to see other teams fans talk like they have a clue about the leafs lol. Nevermind the fact they have built excellent depth in prospect over the last 4-5 years who are starting to be ready for NHL use. Marlies are always a competitive team, but ya lets ignore that