[Signing] Chicago signs Toews and Kane to 8 yr contract extensions ($10.5 mil AAV EACH)

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Krug and Smith are ineligible for offer sheets.

Really? why?

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by saintjohnflames

Calgary should try and make a trade for Kris Versteeg than! We are short on the RW side of things and Versteeg would be a great asset. With a ton of prospects that we could let go it would make sense for both sides. Versteeg would relieve them of $2m and would have them just under cap or close to it. Chicago gets cap relief and a prospect to help out their bland pool of prospects and Calgary gets a NHL RW that could play on our top line. Make it happen Treliving!

Yah many have suggested this before, but Versteeg has not been the same player since the lock out, and may never catch up to the game at the NHL level again. It would be a safe risk IMO, and he could possibly really help the PP.

[Beatle17]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

And the Kings?

Where were their key players picked? And the other "key" guys, Carter/Williams/Stoll were all trades. You need to fill the roster with good support players picked later on but to win you need to have the key guys picked high like the Flames are now doing with Monahan/Bennet/2015 pick. Guys like Gadreau/Baertschi/Grandlund are going to be good support players and will be paid as such but the key guys will be paid top money as they develop, hopefully along the lines of Toews and Kane.

[BigTuna]

What selfish signings by both.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Beatle17

Where were their key players picked? And the other "key" guys, Carter/Williams/Stoll were all trades. You need to fill the roster with good support players picked later on but to win you need to have the key guys picked high like the Flames are now doing with Monahan/Bennet/2015 pick. Guys like Gadrea/Baertschi/Grandlund are going to be good support players and will be paid as such but the key guys will be paid top money as they develop, hopefully along the lines of Toews and Kane.

Kopitar was 11th overall.
That's not a playoff team, but it's not a top pick.
Ducks have both Perry and Getzlaf as later first rounders.

I get what you are saying - I'm just saying if you can grab a guy later that becomes that guy, it can make a big the difference.
Like Keith with the Hawks

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

Really? why?

Because they don't have 3 years pro experience.

http://www.csnne.com/boston-bruins/m...es-arbitration

So both Krug and Smith may be in store for a modest, team-friendly contract that won’t break the bank for a Bruins team with little salary cap space. There were rumors over the weekend that Montreal might come after Smith with an offer sheet to stick it to their Original Six rivals, but that simply can’t happen.

“We’ll get them signed. You know, like Torey [Krug] and Reilly [Smith] -- they’re not restricted free agents. They’re called entry-level free agents, so they don’t really have anywhere to go,” said Peter Chiarelli. “They can’t talk to other teams. It may be that they have to play on a one-year deal, and we’ll find money for them at some point.

From the CBA:

(c) Players With Fewer Than Three Years of Professional Experience.
Any Player with fewer than the required years of professional experience set forth
in Section 10.2 shall have no right to Free Agency except as provided in this section. Upon
expiration of such a Player's SPC, the Club to whom the Player was last under SPC shall be
entitled to make that Player a Qualifying Offer under the terms and conditions set forth in
Section 10.2(a)(ii) above. A Club which makes this Qualifying Offer will have the exclusive
right to negotiate with any such Player. In the event no such Qualifying Offer is made, the
Player shall immediately become an Unrestricted Free Agent pursuant to Section 10.2(a)(iv)
above.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by GGG

This is less than Iggy got in the second year after the lockout when the cap was 39 or 42 and he signed is 5 yr 35 mil contract. Now that didn't work out that well for the rest of his contract but in terms of cap percentage he was higher.

Since those first 7 mil contracts early in the cap system the top players as a % of the cap have been taking less and less. The psychological barrier of 10 million and the cap cheater contracts pushed those numbers down.

Now that you can't cheat the cap this will be typical for top players to get 15% of the cap. And this should spread good players around the league a little more than right now.

I thought of this too. That $7 million per year that Iginla got back then was a "bigger" contract relative to the cap.

But that cap immediately after it was implemented seemed artificially low even at the time.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Kopitar was 11th overall.
That's not a playoff team, but it's not a top pick.
Ducks have both Perry and Getzlaf as later first rounders.

I get what you are saying - I'm just saying if you can grab a guy later that becomes that guy, it can make a big the difference.
Like Keith with the Hawks

Quick was a third round pick.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by Chill Cosby

Toews is arguably the best player in the game. Crosby asked him if he was ok not being captain of team Canada for good reason.

I love Kane, but he doesn't dominate all aspects of the game like Toews. Amazing player, but not the same level. Still, not at all meant as a slight on Kane.

I am a huge Toews fan and always prefer the Canadians over Americans, and also dislike Kane's personality.

But you're flat out wrong. The amount of times Kane has scored tying and game winning goals in the playoffs - especially his cup winning OT goal - show his game breaking traits put him up there at equal value with Toews.

This is a case where they're definitely best keeping both of them and at the same price tage. Great deal for Chicago despite the premium.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by BigTuna

What selfish signings by both.

Usually, when you are better than everyone else at what you do, your compensation will reflect this, as it should. There is nothing inherently "selfish about this.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The selfish argument holds no weight whatsoever. He doesn't owe the billionaire owner (who isn't losing money) anything. Beyond that other players and the NHLPA want guys making the most they can because that gives more players more leverage to make even more money. It's actually a little more selfish to take less money because that can hurt a lot of other guys abillity to maximize what they earn.

[Finger Cookin]

Here's a good article/analysis of the extensions from TheScore: http://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/535041

My favorite bullet point:

Originally Posted by TheScore

Nine other players are schedule to make more than $10 million dollars next season (real dollars, not cap hits) thanks to previous contracts, so it’s not like they shattered some $10 million ceiling or something. Those names: Weber, Crosby, Parise, Suter, Lundqvist, Ovechkin, Datsyuk, Giroux, Kessel. "Toews" and "Kane" fit in there nicely.

It also points out how top NHL players were making the same money a decade ago, before the salary cap. The cap has padded salaries of mid tier players. Oduya was mentioned earlier in this thread as an example of that, and you can check the FA signings each July for more examples of guys being more overpaid compared to what top end guys like Toews and Kane bring to a roster.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by GoJetsGo

...This is a case where they're definitely best keeping both of them and at the same price tage. Great deal for Chicago despite the premium.

Chicago needed to keep both, and why wouldn't they? Toews and Kane are about the best pair of players in hockey. This is a better package deal for better players than when the Sedins signed their "sweetheart" contracts with Vancouver in 2009.

[Finger Cookin]

Patrick Sharp tweets about the extensions

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The selfish argument holds no weight whatsoever. He doesn't owe the billionaire owner (who isn't losing money) anything. Beyond that other players and the NHLPA want guys making the most they can because that gives more players more leverage to make even more money. It's actually a little more selfish to take less money because that can hurt a lot of other guys abillity to maximize what they earn.

This isn't true in a cap world. The Billionaire owner is committed to being a cap team so regardless of what a player signs for the owners cost will be the same.

Also the NHLPA shouldn't be encouraging max salaries as again that doesn't affect the amount of money that the players recieve. The Cap world dicatates a 50/50 split regardless of any actual dollar amounts. The PA's in all supports seem to lookout for the top players more so than the middle and boarderline players. The average NHL player is better of with the stars making less.

All that said I don't think it is selfish to be compensated at a rate some one is willing to pay you. I think the NHL will be more competitive if teams all have to pay market rates for players.

[SebC]

^ We've had linkage for nine years, and some people still don't understand it.

[Tacopuck]

Pierre LeBrun ‏@Real_ESPNLeBrun 1h
So $44 M of the $84 M is in signing bonuses...

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by GGG

This isn't true in a cap world. The Billionaire owner is committed to being a cap team so regardless of what a player signs for the owners cost will be the same.

Also the NHLPA shouldn't be encouraging max salaries as again that doesn't affect the amount of money that the players recieve. The Cap world dicatates a 50/50 split regardless of any actual dollar amounts. The PA's in all supports seem to lookout for the top players more so than the middle and boarderline players. The average NHL player is better of with the stars making less.

All that said I don't think it is selfish to be compensated at a rate some one is willing to pay you. I think the NHL will be more competitive if teams all have to pay market rates for players.

In the 2000-01 season - the top salaries were Kariya and Forsberg at 10 million. The 50th player made $3.8 million.

The top salaries last year was Weber at $14 million. The 50th ranked player made $6 million.

Fairly similar gains except Weber has low paying years tacked onto contract to bring down the average that Kariya and Forsberg didn't have.

[Icon]

actually about a million shy (per year) of where I thought this'd be... in 5 years these are going to be absolute steals for the hawks.

[Icon]

Originally Posted by Tacopuck

Pierre LeBrun ‏@Real_ESPNLeBrun 1h
So $44 M of the $84 M is in signing bonuses...

jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus