Islanders Point Blank: Isles to begin contract extension talks with Kyle Okposo

[seafoam]

Link

Okposo’s agent and Isles general manager Garth Snow have had conversations, but they are in the beginning stages of negotiations. Talks are expected to heat up early next month, with the hope of signing Okposo to an extension before the season starts in October. It is unclear if negotiations will continue during the season if a deal isn’t reached by the time the 2015-16 season begins.

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[enigmatic]

i guess that is good news, but i really would rather let him earn that huge contract this year if he wants ROR money.....dont worry everyone, i think KO is better than ROR, but it was just so ridiculous was BUF gave....just because someone else jumped off the brooklyn bridge, doesnt mean we have to as well

 

[Abe Vukota]

Link

Thank Christ.

Unless you're hot to let a 25 goal scoring 27 year old first liner go. In which case, dammit, I guess?

 

[seafoam]

Thank Christ.

Unless you're hot to let a 25 goal scoring 27 year old first liner go. In which case, dammit, I guess?

I wouldn't be comfortable giving him more than 5.8M-6M per right now.

If locking him up before the season means getting him at that discount, I'm all for it.

 

[IslandersFan17]

Thank Christ.

Unless you're hot to let a 25 goal scoring 27 year old first liner go. In which case, dammit, I guess?

To be fair, you make it sound like he has done that consistently since he turned pro. I love Okie and def want to keep him, but there is concern with if the eye injury will effect his career.

Would be tough to give him a pay day that he doesn't live up to, making it harder to keep the younger guys we have developed as well.

 

[SI90]

I know it's sort of apples to oranges but after seeing Gio sign for a lot less than the rumored 8-9 mil per, I have a little faith Kyle will not be overpaid a ridiculous amount.

Love Okposo and everything he brings but we have to be honest with our selves.

1- Health is always a concern with him
2- He's never been a 30+ goal scorer

You can't pay him 7mil per that he reportedly wants. With his age, a 6-7 year deal is fine.

I wouldn't mind seeing something like. 6 years 5.8 per

 

[2ndGenIslander]

If they do get crazy and overpay I hope it's just for 3 years or so, so we can lock up mdc jhs barzal etc when the time comes

 

[PWJunior]

If they do get crazy and overpay I hope it's just for 3 years or so, so we can lock up mdc jhs barzal etc when the time comes

3 years is not happening. It'll likely be anywhere from 5-7 years.

 

[MatthewBarnabysTears]

Enough with this "crazy overpay" fear. If we lost Okposo, there's not really any way to effectively replace his exact skill-set. You don't just let guys like that walk. And frankly it shocks me that fans don't have more gratitude to a guy who's taken on a leadership role with this team and has taken team-friendly contracts in the past. If Okposo gets "overpaid" by some minimal amount or gets an extra year or two, I'm not going to be upset about it. The cap will go up, and our future owners have deep pockets. An extra million or so for Okposo or an extra year isn't going to be the difference between this team and its long-term goals.

Fans' desire to be coldly analytical about these things confuses me. Personally, I hope Okposo spends his entire career with the Isles.

 

[MatthewBarnabysTears]

Anyway now that I'm done ranting it seems worht pointing out that the story this is based on isn't even sourced at all (like, there's not even an anonymous source -- there's just no allusion to where this info came from) and is from a site that isn't known for breaking news.

 

[Beastrt]

I think they will offer 6.5-6.9 but not more then 7.

I think another big issue here is that he is a rw. The depth cart for rw is not very deep with Okposo, Strome, Grabner Clutterbuck. If he was a lw we could easily replace him with guys like Nelson,Lee, Bailey, or MDC.

 

[Darth Milbury]

That a report in Pointblank, which is a blog (a good blog, but a blog) and it cites as it's "source" a report at the fourthperiod (a blog/nonprofessional site, and one that is only slightly better than Eklund).


Meanwhile, "real sources" like Staple have yet to report active negotiations between the parties or that a contract is even remotely close.


So, color me skeptical.

 

[2ndGenIslander]

Anyway now that I'm done ranting it seems worht pointing out that the story this is based on isn't even sourced at all (like, there's not even an anonymous source -- there's just no allusion to where this info came from) and is from a site that isn't known for breaking news.

I know it's difficult to not think with your heart in this situation, but you also have to be logical about this. Locking up a guy who we all love but has a scary eye situation for 7 years at 7 million or so would be a bad thing for us. If you want to win a cup and be able to have an incredibly talented team for the next 7-10 years and compete every year, you have to take all of that into consideration. Also realize the cap situation in the nhl is scary right now. We also want to be able to sign our prospects in the next 3-5 years without having to unload them b/c of cap issues

 

[IslesRock4]

That a report in Pointblank, which is a blog (a good blog, but a blog) and it cites as it's "source" a report at the fourthperiod (a blog/nonprofessional site, and one that is only slightly better than Eklund).


Meanwhile, "real sources" like Staple have yet to report active negotiations between the parties or that a contract is even remotely close.


So, color me skeptical.

Staple will probably comment on the rumors later today.

It would be pretty relieving if Okposo all of a sudden re-signed before we start the year. Didn't see that coming.

 

[Abe Vukota]

Enough with this "crazy overpay" fear. If we lost Okposo, there's not really any way to effectively replace his exact skill-set. You don't just let guys like that walk. And frankly it shocks me that fans don't have more gratitude to a guy who's taken on a leadership role with this team and has taken team-friendly contracts in the past. If Okposo gets "overpaid" by some minimal amount or gets an extra year or two, I'm not going to be upset about it. The cap will go up, and our future owners have deep pockets. An extra million or so for Okposo or an extra year isn't going to be the difference between this team and its long-term goals.

Fans' desire to be coldly analytical about these things confuses me. Personally, I hope Okposo spends his entire career with the Isles.

I can be as coldly analytical as is necessary, but I agree that we cannot easily replace KO if we can replace him at all. It's also odd to me that so many people clamor for another first line wing (not me, I like our forwards) but are okay letting Okposo walk. How are we replacing him with a better player? Are we going to let 27 year olds walk because we have prospects who can replace them by 2019?

As for overpaying him goes, yeah, we won't love the last years of his deal. But that's the price you pay to be a Stanley Cup contender. A lot of them end up in cap trouble. I'd rather win something before we begin dismantling the team a la the Oklahoma Thunder.

 

[CREW99AW]

I can be as coldly analytical as is necessary, but I agree that we cannot easily replace KO if we can replace him at all. It's also odd to me that so many people clamor for another first line wing (not me, I like our forwards) but are okay letting Okposo walk. How are we replacing him with a better player? Are we going to let 27 year olds walk because we have prospects who can replace them by 2019?

As for overpaying him goes, yeah, we won't love the last years of his deal. But that's the price you pay to be a Stanley Cup contender. A lot of them end up in cap trouble. I'd rather win something before we begin dismantling the team a la the Oklahoma Thunder.

I notice several posts about the 2016 UFA group being very talented. How Snow will simply spend Okposo's $ on one of those ufas.
How many times have fans listed the names of quality players, scheduled to become ufas on the following July 1st only to see those players signed before they reach July 1st.

Most teams tie up their top players, do not let them reach July 1st unsigned.
Gio in Calgary is a good example.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I know it's sort of apples to oranges but after seeing Gio sign for a lot less than the rumored 8-9 mil per, I have a little faith Kyle will not be overpaid a ridiculous amount.

Love Okposo and everything he brings but we have to be honest with our selves.

1- Health is always a concern with him
2- He's never been a 30+ goal scorer

You can't pay him 7mil per that he reportedly wants. With his age, a 6-7 year deal is fine.

I wouldn't mind seeing something like. 6 years 5.8 per

Brandon Sutter got $4.4 million (or thereabouts) per year over 5 years on his contract extension with the Canucks. I can't see Okposo, who is a clearly superior player, signing for under $6 million in comparison. Only way it happens is if Okposo gives the Isles an absolute sweetheart of a hometown discount. Otherwise, I'm guessing $6+ million (probably somewhere in the $6.3 to $7 million range).

 

[boredmale]

I would offer Okposo 8 years and a front loaded deal to lower the caphit(8 years @ 5.5M?)

 

[seafoam]

I would offer Okposo 8 years and a front loaded deal to lower the caphit(8 years @ 5.5M?)

I don't think you can do that anymore.

 

[Quicklime]

I know it's difficult to not think with your heart in this situation, but you also have to be logical about this. Locking up a guy who we all love but has a scary eye situation for 7 years at 7 million or so would be a bad thing for us. If you want to win a cup and be able to have an incredibly talented team for the next 7-10 years and compete every year, you have to take all of that into consideration. Also realize the cap situation in the nhl is scary right now. We also want to be able to sign our prospects in the next 3-5 years without having to unload them b/c of cap issues

Came to say this.

Well, that and it the interest to move him or let him walk is based on which Okposo shows up to camp. If it's the Okie we know and love, "yes, yes, yes!" If it's the "2015 Summer model" that got pushed down the depth chart and got lapped by Strome, Kulemin and for the time he was dressed, Lee, the reluctance to retain him is justified.

 

[boredmale]

I don't think you can do that anymore.

Yes you can, it's just a case the highest paid year can only be double the lowest paid year.


You could offer him a deal say like 8-8-8-4-4-4-4-4 which is 44M over 8 years(or 5.5M caphit)

 

[MatthewBarnabysTears]

Yes you can, it's just a case the highest paid year can only be double the lowest paid year.


You could offer him a deal say like 8-8-8-4-4-4-4-4 which is 44M over 8 years(or 5.5M caphit)

Thing is, since Okposo would be on the books all 8 years, this really makes no difference from a fan's perspective. I'm sure it matters to Wang/Malkin/Ledecky, but I really could not care less how the cap hit is distributed -- all that matters from a fan's perspective is the AAV, except for those marginal instances where a weirdly structured deal makes a player more or less likely to be tradable.

 

[2ndGenIslander]

Came to say this.

Well, that and it the interest to move him or let him walk is based on which Okposo shows up to camp. If it's the Okie we know and love, "yes, yes, yes!" If it's the "2015 Summer model" that got pushed down the depth chart and got lapped by Strome, Kulemin and for the time he was dressed, Lee, the reluctance to retain him is justified.

exactly. Signing him now would be a huuuge mistake. We have no idea what we're dealing with in terms of his injury or how he's going to look this year. If we do end up re-signing him (which I think we should) it should be no earlier than right before the trade deadline

 

[boredmale]

Thing is, since Okposo would be on the books all 8 years, this really makes no difference from a fan's perspective. I'm sure it matters to Wang/Malkin/Ledecky, but I really could not care less how the cap hit is distributed -- all that matters from a fan's perspective is the AAV, except for those marginal instances where a weirdly structured deal makes a player more or less likely to be tradable.

I am guessing for a player front loading a deal makes a difference.

Look at it this way would you rather I give you 10k tax free dollars a year for 3 years or would you prefer 20K tax free dollars the first year, 5K the remaining 2? Both equal 30k at the end of 3 years but I much rather get the bulk of it upfront, infact I might be willing to take 20k-4k-4k over 10k-10k-10k

 

[MatthewBarnabysTears]

I am guessing for a player front loading a deal makes a difference.

Look at it this way would you rather I give you 10k tax free dollars a year for 3 years or would you prefer 20K tax free dollars the first year, 5K the remaining 2? Both equal 30k at the end of 3 years but I much rather get the bulk of it upfront, infact I might be willing to take 20k-4k-4k over 10k-10k-10k

Absolutely I agree totally. My point is just that it makes no difference to the cap accounting and isn't, except in the most extreme cases, something that really matters to anyone but the owners, the player, and his agent.