[Signing] Butler signs in St. Louis, 1 year 2 way $650k NHL/$400k AHL

[Huntingwhale]

Butler will always have my respect for the snarl he gave to Torts during the brawl last season. For that, I wish him nothing but the best.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Will the NHLPA give their blessing to the contract?

Butler was the Flames alternative rep on the NHLPA Executive board.....


I thought that when Iginlia was talking about signing a home town discount contract to be a Flame for life the NHLPA was pressuring him to go for the market rate so as not to be used as a comparable for other elite contracts.

Does this contract have any impact on the rest of the 4/5/6/7 D-men?

Is Russell worth 4 times as much as Butler?

Does it establish non essential UFAs ( Stempniak, Sarich, Galiardi, Westgarth, O'Brien) will have to sign for?

He's agreed to it so its not like the NHLPA has anything to do with it at this point. They can huff and puff but the guy has agreed to the contract. Its not like they have veto power.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

He's agreed to it so its not like the NHLPA has anything to do with it at this point. They can huff and puff but the guy has agreed to the contract. Its not like they have veto power.

Not sure why the NHLPA would care what individual players make anymore. The players as a whole are guaranteed to make a certain amount year after year.

[Resolute 14]

Yup. In fact, players taking less leads to reduced escrow payments, which benefits everyone.

[sun]

Originally Posted by playmaker

Man, top pairing dmen and 1st line centres are really cheap these days:

Chris Butler $650,000
Blake Comeau $700,000
David Moss $800,000

hahaha this is so sad, it's funny.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Well that's the whole thing as we don't know how much he could have made on the market as he obviously never considered anything other than going to St. Louis. It sounds to me that he could have very well received offers in the range of what he was making with the Flames or higher but hell or high water was determined he would only go to one place and money be damned.

Why is that obvious? Have we watched the same Butler? The guy was a bad defenseman on a bad team that got playing time in part because of injuries. He's a 7th defenseman at best, based on his current level of play at least, on any playoff bound team. What more can he expect? Maybe one team offered him a full one-way league minimum, but he didn't leave millions on the table here.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

Why is that obvious? Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

It's obvious because it's been stated that he wanted to play at home and that he accepted a contract type that is usually reserved for career AHLers. I realize that he didn't turn down offers of $4 million a season from teams but but I have a very hard time believing that this was the best offer on the tabled. The guy isn't a Flame anymore so can some of you bandwagon haters please focus your efforts on the next whipping boy already? The played out opinion of how bad he was isn't required in this discussion.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It's obvious because it's been stated that he wanted to play at home and that he accepted a contract type that is usually reserved for career AHLers. I realize that he didn't turn down offers of $4 million a season from teams but but I have a very hard time believing that this was the best offer on the tabled. The guy isn't a Flame anymore so can some of you bandwagon haters please focus your efforts on the next whipping boy already? The played out opinion of how bad he was isn't required in this discussion.

I agree for the most part.

Adam Pardy, a reasonable comparable, is getting paid $50K/yr more to play on a significantly worse team.

I know that if I'm the St. Louis Blues I'd be thinking long and hard about Butler. Going into playoffs depth is key and having a very cheap Butler around if a situation arises where you need a Dman to step in is significantly better than calling up someone who would be over their head and wind up playing shorthanded.

Its a gamble.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It's obvious because it's been stated that he wanted to play at home and that he accepted a contract type that is usually reserved for career AHLers. I realize that he didn't turn down offers of $4 million a season from teams but but I have a very hard time believing that this was the best offer on the tabled. The guy isn't a Flame anymore so can some of you bandwagon haters please focus your efforts on the next whipping boy already? The played out opinion of how bad he was isn't required in this discussion.

Wanting to play at home and exclusively signing with St. Louis are two different things. You're stating he narrowed his list down to 1 team which is far from "obvious" and I would say flat out wrong:

In his own words: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hocke...11c451cb9.html

Butler said signing a two-way contract was made easier because it was the Blues.

"It is tough, just the uncertainty of things," he said. "But if there was a place that I'd be willing to do it, it was obviously St. Louis. This may not be the way I had free agency panning out. You look around the league and see some of the deals being thrown around, it would be nice to have one of those. But at the end of the day, I couldn't be more excited to be a member of the organization."

Things were not going well for Butler in free agency, he's admitted as much. He got an opportunity with his hometown team and took it, which is great for him if it works out. But that doesn't mean there was significant offers on the table, he's pretty much came right out and said there wasn't.

I have no ill-will against Butler as a person, if he finds his groove in St. Louis I wont be upset but the fact is he was not a hot commodity this free agency period based on his previous couple years of play.

Back up your proof that he was only willing to sign in St. Louis with some facts please. Otherwise I'll take Chris' own words that he was hoping to get paid more as fact but didn't have the opportunity. (And sure maybe one team had like a 700,000 offer on the table or something, but I'd be willing to bet a significant amount there wasn't a million dollar plus contract on the table if it was possible to find that out...)

[jesters91]

For anybody interested

Pat Steinberg
‏@Fan960Steinberg
Former #Flames blueliner Chris Butler will join us at 3:25 this afternoon after signing a 1 year deal with St. Louis yesterday.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by jesters91

For anybody interested

I hope someone can share details as I'd be unable to listen.

But I can't believe he didn't get a better offer than the one he signed. I wonder if he rejected a couple offers early trying to get a deal with STL and then they stopped coming in.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Locke

I agree for the most part.

Adam Pardy, a reasonable comparable, is getting paid $50K/yr more to play on a significantly worse team.

I know that if I'm the St. Louis Blues I'd be thinking long and hard about Butler. Going into playoffs depth is key and having a very cheap Butler around if a situation arises where you need a Dman to step in is significantly better than calling up someone who would be over their head and wind up playing shorthanded.

Its a gamble.

Butler played 1,661:48 minutes for the Flames last season. 2nd highest on the team behind Brodie. Butler was the poster boy for the 2012-13 Flames.


Pardy played 865:15 for the Jets...... clearly a secondary player for the Jets.


If Pardy is a reasonable comparison to Butler it mean that the Jets are twice as good a team as the Flames.

[jesters91]

I didn't listen to the interview but from Steinberg's Twitter

Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 3m
Couple tidbits from Chris Butler. Says departure from the #Flames was totally amicable. Says biggest regret was missing playoffs in 11/12.

edit: some more

Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 3m
Butler says it was down to three teams before choosing the Blues. #Flames

[Phanuthier]

Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 3m
Couple tidbits from Chris Butler. Says departure from the #Flames was totally amicable. Says biggest regret was missing playoffs in 11/12.

my english sux.... so there was no interest from the Flames? I find that hard to believe......

[united]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Can you elaborate on why he's so set on playing in St. Louis? I get that it's home but it's the prime earnings period of his career and were things really that bad in Buffalo and Calgary that he had to go home in the middle of his career to a team that really doesn't have room? This is a great move by the Blues as there's no risk at all on their side as if he makes the lineup they have a veteran player in his prime for pretty well league minimum salary.

His significant other lives there and was strongly against leaving - so much so she remained in St. Louis during his tenure with the Flames, and they really missed each other. I believe her career may be one which might not have allowed her to work in another country due to licensing or certification, but she shouldn't really be the target of this all. As is widely known, St. Louis is his home and he really likes the city and spends his offseasons there anyway.

Some players either don't care or don't realize their window for NHL earnings is very very small. He's a fairly smart guy, from what I know, so I imagine he's aware of what he may be giving up, money wise. As I mentioned at the end of the season, the only way he would have stayed in Calgary is if they gave him an offer that blew him out of the water. What amount that would be, who knows, but I imagine it would be a colossal overpayment. There was no beef between him and the Flames or anything, he simply wanted to return home to his family and his significant other, even if it required a discount. Thus him and his agent approached the Blues, which took all their leverage away. Whether they were the only team interested in him - which I doubt - only the parties involved know. My own speculation is he could have made more money somewhere else, but maybe it wasn't worth it to him. Had him and the Blues not been able to work something out, he would've approached Nashville and Chicago next.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by united

His significant other lives there and was strongly against leaving - so much so she remained in St. Louis during his tenure with the Flames, and they really missed each other. I believe her career may be one which might not have allowed her to work in another country due to licensing or certification, but she shouldn't really be the target of this all. As is widely known, St. Louis is his home and he really likes the city and spends his offseasons there anyway.

Some players either don't care or don't realize their window for NHL earnings is very very small. He's a fairly smart guy, from what I know, so I imagine he's aware of what he may be giving up, money wise. As I mentioned at the end of the season, the only way he would have stayed in Calgary is if they gave him an offer that blew him out of the water. What amount that would be, who knows, but I imagine it would be a colossal overpayment. There was no beef between him and the Flames or anything, he simply wanted to return home to his family and his significant other, even if it required a discount. Thus him and his agent approached the Blues, which took all their leverage away. Whether they were the only team interested in him - which I doubt - only the parties involved know. My own speculation is he could have made more money somewhere else, but maybe it wasn't worth it to him. Had him and the Blues not been able to work something out, he would've approached Nashville and Chicago next.

Great post..... I may not be the biggest fan of Butler as a player, but he seems like a smart stand up guy. I can see why he is a popular guy on the team. Best of luck to him..... I hope he makes the Blues roster

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

If Pardy is a reasonable comparison to Butler it mean that the Jets are twice as good a team as the Flames.

No, no it doesn't. And it boggles the mind to consider what perversions of logic you had to perform to come to such a conclusion.

[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It's obvious because it's been stated that he wanted to play at home and that he accepted a contract type that is usually reserved for career AHLers. I realize that he didn't turn down offers of $4 million a season from teams but but I have a very hard time believing that this was the best offer on the tabled. The guy isn't a Flame anymore so can some of you bandwagon haters please focus your efforts on the next whipping boy already? The played out opinion of how bad he was isn't required in this discussion.

Even after not being signed by the Flames you're still a huge Butler apologist to the point of ignoring what Butler himself is saying. "This may not be the way I had free agency panning out. You look around the league and see some of the deals being thrown around, it would be nice to have one of those."

"Bandwagon haters" and "whipping boy" accusations that you constantly have thrown around for years for those that think Butler isn't a good player. Well lookie here, he a signed a two way deal for 600K. There was no market for him. He obviously isn't near as good as you've been telling us. The rest of the NHL has spoken.

If you think he held out to get a two-way league minimum contract from St. Louis you're crazy. There was no interest in this player. Another quote from Butler: "I have no intention of playing in the American League, even though it's a two-way deal. I feel like I'm still an NHL player." Sure seems like he wanted a deal somewhere, but other teams including St. Louis aren't so sure he is NHL caliber. Hence the two-way minimum contract he signed.

Addition by subtraction for the Flames as far as I'm concerned.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

Even after not being signed by the Flames you're still a huge Butler apologist to the point of ignoring what Butler himself is saying. "This may not be the way I had free agency panning out. You look around the league and see some of the deals being thrown around, it would be nice to have one of those."

"Bandwagon haters" and "whipping boy" accusations that you constantly have thrown around for years for those that think Butler isn't a good player. Well lookie here, he a signed a two way deal for 600K. There was no market for him. He obviously isn't near as good as you've been telling us. The rest of the NHL has spoken.

If you think he held out to get a two-way league minimum contract from St. Louis you're crazy. There was no interest in this player. Another quote from Butler: "I have no intention of playing in the American League, even though it's a two-way deal. I feel like I'm still an NHL player." Sure seems like he wanted a deal somewhere, but other teams including St. Louis aren't so sure he is NHL caliber. Hence the two-way minimum contract he signed.

Addition by subtraction for the Flames as far as I'm concerned.

I understand the want of keeping it classy and simply wishing Butler well but this is a thread about discussing his contract. There's been serious discussion in this thread about whether the NHLPA will approve his contract and suggestions (that it was obvious, no less) he could get over 1.7M if he wanted it. It's absurd.

Butler has come out and said he considered other alternatives, said that free agency didn't go his way and he would have liked to have a higher payday (who wouldn't?). It's obvious he was not getting a 2 million dollar contract and the NHLPA will have 0 issue with this contract because it's around his market price. He put weight on playing in St. Louis that definitely contributed to his decision, but every contract ever signed has put weight on things other than the pure contract value. The simple fact is Butler was what the "bandwagon haters" thought he was, a fringe NHL player. Now it's just obvious the GMs of the league felt the same way. And there's no insult in calling him a fringe NHL player, it's still more than most will accomplish

[Flashpoint]

It wasn't that he sucked.

It was that we traded Reggie for a guy who sucked that badly for so many years, and it was so god damn obvious game in and game out how terrible he was.

That said, best of luck to him. Seemed like a decent guy as far as lousy defensemen go. At least he wasn't a dickbag like Zalapski.