Around the League Thread | Post Free Agent Frenzy Edition

[F A N]

NYI finalizes almost of their outstanding free agents

Sorokin 3 years 4MM
Beauvillier 3 years 4.1MM
Palmeri 4 years 5MM

And Cizikas is expected to get 6 years ~2.5MM

I was reading about how the Islanders are "exploiting" another loop hole. They basically have all these deals in place but waiting to announce/finalize those deals so teams don't know exactly how much cap they have. I'm not sure if that gives them an advantage though. Handshake deals aren't exactly enforceable? Maybe they were signed but they waited to submit to the league?

Speaking of Palmieri, he was a popular fan pick in the 2009 draft IIRC. Sigh..

 

[timw33]

I was reading about how the Islanders are "exploiting" another loop hole. They basically have all these deals in place but waiting to announce/finalize those deals so teams don't know exactly how much cap they have. I'm not sure if that gives them an advantage though. Handshake deals aren't exactly enforceable? Maybe they were signed but they waited to submit to the league?

Speaking of Palmieri, he was a popular fan pick in the 2009 draft IIRC. Sigh..

Yeah I don't see it as a loophole at all.

All of the risk is borne by the players in this situation as NYI could still change course and not honour the deal, or worse, the player could get into a career-ending ATV accident and lose the entire deal cause they wouldn't be able to pass a physical.

If it's to protect from offersheets to say, Beauvillier, not sure how it helps. If a team sends an OS to Beauvillier for 6MM x 6 years and NYI match it, then one of those guys with handshake deals is going to get ****ed over to make the cap work.

 

[Snatcher Demko]

I mean, every GM candidate being interviewed anywhere will come into the interview with a plan for what they'll do with the team in question.

If I had to guess, I'd say that FA/Linden were obviously leaning one direction and then Benning came in as the guy spewing the sort of compete-now ideas selling himself as the guy to build a winner now that were absolute music to their ears.

I think that FA has always been the impatient, immature "win-now" person, and Benning came along and validated this opinion, stating something like "ya sure it can be done with the **retool**" and it went from there.

Gillis wanted to do a full sell-off rebuild and got fired for that.

I've said it before, the rot always starts at the top.

 

[rypper]

I imagine that Linden, having never held a hockey operations role before, was probably pretty comfortable deferring to Benning and his experience. Plans aside, I recall a quote from Linden about being impressed by Jim's recall of players stats, and goals that they'd scored inthe past etc.
Maybe Jim won over Trevor as a person first and the plan was secondary.

 

[F A N]

I imagine that Linden, having never held a hockey operations role before, was probably pretty comfortable deferring to Benning and his experience. Plans aside, I recall a quote from Linden about being impressed by Jim's recall of players stats, and goals that they'd scored inthe past etc.
Maybe Jim won over Trevor as a person first and the plan was secondary.

Some some reports have said, I think Linden did miss having a mentor to go to like Pat Quinn. He interviewed Gilman for the GM spot and Henning was still there, but it doesn't seem like Linden leaned on them at all. Instead, Linden preferred TC Carling at his side.

Sakic made a ton of mistakes when he first started but at least he had an existing GM there as well as Pierre Lacroix. Shanahan brought in Lou and hired Babcock. Linden should have brought in a senior advisor to help with the GM search and go from there.

 

[rypper]

Some some reports have said, I think Linden did miss having a mentor to go to like Pat Quinn. He interviewed Gilman for the GM spot and Henning was still there, but it doesn't seem like Linden leaned on them at all. Instead, Linden preferred TC Carling at his side.

Sakic made a ton of mistakes when he first started but at least he had an existing GM there as well as Pierre Lacroix. Shanahan brought in Lou and hired Babcock. Linden should have brought in a senior advisor to help with the GM search and go from there.

Imagine how different things could be if Pat hadn't past away and was able to come in and mentor Trevor. Good or bad it would have been different.

 

[vancityluongo]

Yeah I don't see it as a loophole at all.

All of the risk is borne by the players in this situation as NYI could still change course and not honour the deal, or worse, the player could get into a career-ending ATV accident and lose the entire deal cause they wouldn't be able to pass a physical.

If it's to protect from offersheets to say, Beauvillier, not sure how it helps. If a team sends an OS to Beauvillier for 6MM x 6 years and NYI match it, then one of those guys with handshake deals is going to get ****ed over to make the cap work.

too many hockey dudes just love the idea of lou lam being the nhl's tony soprano for whatever reason hahah

the far easier explanation seems to be that he's a bit of an old prick, but he's won and has built a strong team so hockey players raised on a culture of compliance buy into his rules

 

[krutovsdonut]

i think lou just said that all the deals are contingent on everybody getting signed where the isles want them.

simple.

nothing wrong with that. makes solid sense.

 

[canuckking1]

 

[rypper]

There's always a risk giving term to a guy who'll be in his mid 30s when the deal is over, but that's a steal of a price for Parayko, considering what teams would have paid him on the open market.

 

[F A N]

i think lou just said that all the deals are contingent on everybody getting signed where the isles want them.

simple.

nothing wrong with that. makes solid sense.

Surely he couldn't have meant that "all" the deals were contingent. That would just be silly.

It usually sounds good to declare that certain players could have gotten more money but he really wanted to be here etc.

 

[F A N]

A lot of 8 year deals being signed. C'mmon Petey!

I'm curious about Cizikas' 6 year deal. It's like if Washington signed Beagle to a 6 year deal at the same age?

 

[supercanuck]

I imagine that Linden, having never held a hockey operations role before, was probably pretty comfortable deferring to Benning and his experience. Plans aside, I recall a quote from Linden about being impressed by Jim's recall of players stats, and goals that they'd scored inthe past etc.
Maybe Jim won over Trevor as a person first and the plan was secondary.

That's how I saw it as well. When he finally found his footing, he realized something was wrong (i.e. started asking other GMs for ideas at the draft), but did not get a chance to undo his own mistakes.

 

[StreetHawk]

A lot of 8 year deals being signed. C'mmon Petey!

I'm curious about Cizikas' 6 year deal. It's like if Washington signed Beagle to a 6 year deal at the same age?

Makes sense for Parayko to do 8 years. Still a year left so this won’t begin until he is 29. Ends when he is 37. Thus a little lower AAV due to the age factor. No point hitting the market again at 34/35. Surprisingly this deal ends at the same age AP will end his deal with Vegas which the Blues didn’t end up giving him.

Petey, figure they should at least agree on a term by now. Don’t see him doing 8 years.

 

[MS]

Parayko has always been an ugly skater and there were a lot of red flags in his play last year which fell off a cliff big-time. Not so sure that committing 9 years into the future on him will look very smart.

Also it remains bizarre that St. Louis is handing out retirement deals to every player *except* Alex Pietrangelo who was by far their best/most important player.

 

[VanillaCoke]

That's gonna be an ugly contract by the halfway point. Not sure why GMs keep doing that, but for not caring that far down the line as they'll likely be gone by then..

And also yeah as mentioned above, weird choices for who gets big money but not AP the only #1 who's worth it.

 

[timw33]

Parayko has always been an ugly skater and there were a lot of red flags in his play last year which fell off a cliff big-time. Not so sure that committing 9 years into the future on him will look very smart.

Also it remains bizarre that St. Louis is handing out retirement deals to every player *except* Alex Pietrangelo who was by far their best/most important player.

Like, them acquiring Faulk for a 1st and prospect and signing to term for 6.5MM instead of just...extending your best player, totally insane.

 

[canuckking1]

That's gonna be an ugly contract by the halfway point. Not sure why GMs keep doing that, but for not caring that far down the line as they'll likely be gone by then..

And also yeah as mentioned above, weird choices for who gets big money but not AP the only #1 who's worth it.

Seem to be the new trend to keep the AAV down. Canucks will need to make a tough decision on Horvat, I really don't want the club to be paying him until he's 36.

 

[MS]

Like, them acquiring Faulk for a 1st and prospect and signing to term for 6.5MM instead of just...extending your best player, totally insane.

It's absolutely mental. It's quietly one of the most insane things that's happened in the NHL in the last 5 years.

Faulk, Binnington, Schenn, Krug all with huge retirement contracts. Couldn't do it for Pietrangelo.

Seem to be the new trend to keep the AAV down. Canucks will need to make a tough decision on Horvat, I really don't want the club to be paying him until he's 36.

This whole trend of giving guys huge AAVs until age 35+ in a league where players generally fall off a cliff at age 30-32 can be summed up pretty easily :

"I'm probably not going to be the GM in 8 years and if I am I'll try to clean it up when I get there. Need to retain players now to retain job."

If the GM gets 2-3 good years out of that player that pushes back his firing, it's a great move for him. Screw the overall health of the team.

And yeah, Horvat is probably destined to be a boat anchor here in a few years, sadly.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

Parayko has always been an ugly skater and there were a lot of red flags in his play last year which fell off a cliff big-time. Not so sure that committing 9 years into the future on him will look very smart.

Also it remains bizarre that St. Louis is handing out retirement deals to every player *except* Alex Pietrangelo who was by far their best/most important player.

To this day I don't understand the Faulk resigning. I would of completely understood if they got him as a rental to try and win another cup while their window was open. But to sign him to that contract when your best player and captain needs a new contract, and prioritizing a player that at that point had regressed to a Tyler Myers 4/5 that needs 3 minutes of PP time a game to hit 35 points is bass ackwards.

St Louis is starting to look like San Jose with their cap structure. But St Louis giving everyone retirement contracts but everyone but their best player is just weird. It would be like LA giving big retirement deals to everyone but Kopitar.

 

[J Corso]

GM isn't a factory worker or a cook with a fixed job. It's completely wide open how you do that job. You go into an interview with that guy asking "What's your plan, what do you think needs to be done for this team to win the cup?"

This narrative that Jimbo is just a passenger is ridiculous.

 

[Melvin]

St. Louis is doing the LA thing of like We Won A Cup, Terrible Contracts for Everyone! But like the delayed version somehow.

 

[F A N]

Parayko has always been an ugly skater and there were a lot of red flags in his play last year which fell off a cliff big-time. Not so sure that committing 9 years into the future on him will look very smart.

Also it remains bizarre that St. Louis is handing out retirement deals to every player *except* Alex Pietrangelo who was by far their best/most important player.

Paryko was dealing with a bad back that affected his play last season. If he’s healthy he should get back to the level he was playing at before. But you never know know with back injuries especially for such a big guy.

 

[StreetHawk]

Seem to be the new trend to keep the AAV down. Canucks will need to make a tough decision on Horvat, I really don't want the club to be paying him until he's 36.

NOt a new trend. When Perry, Getzlaf hit ufa at 28 they both got 8 years deals at over an $8 mill AAV taking them to 36. Perry got bought out 2 years ago. Seabrook around the same age when he got his deal which still has years on it.

Really 4 options with a key player hitting ufa in their late 20’s.
1) sign them for long term
2) trade them for assets before they go ufa
3) keep them and make a run if the team is good enough like Carolina did with Hamilton.
4) this doesn’t happen but could they do a 4 year deal and pay the big AAV needed. Like if the Blues gave Parayko 4 years at $9.5 or $10 mill per to get him to $38 or $40 mill. Leaves him at age 33 to find a 4 year deal for the remaining $12-$14 mill to make him whole. Only way any player would even consider a less than maximum term that they can get deal. But doesn’t leave the team much room to fill out the roster.

 

[mriswith]

St. Louis was dead the second that Binnington contract was inked. Both for what it was and for what it meant moving forward, and things have continued exactly on that trajectory.