Biggest albatross in the league right now?

[Dustin]

I wonder what the ratio if these albatross contracts are Stanley Cup winners over the last 7 or less years? Seems like teams can sometimes "reward" players for being a part of a long cup run.

 

[KINGS17]

That would be genuinely idiotic.

Ask Montreal Canadiens fans what it's like trying to contend for a cup with no legit 1C. Who exactly are the Blackhawks paying with that 10.5 million that make them a better team? They don't have a Seth Jones to trade for a 1C, nor can they afford to match the reported 12 million offer that Stamkos turned down from Toronto.

Just wait and hope for John Tavares I guess?


Or do they sell off even more and tank for a 1C to replace Toews? Cause lord knows they're not winning a cup without him or a similarly skilled center. And nobody wants to be stuck in that hellish limbo just below the playoff cutoff, too good to tank, not good enough to contend.... which is exactly where letting Toews walk would land them.

Do the Kings and Blackhawks have a legit #1 center today worth $10M+?

Pretty easy to argue they don't.

 

[Street Hawk]

I wonder what the ratio if these albatross contracts are Stanley Cup winners over the last 7 or less years? Seems like teams can sometimes "reward" players for being a part of a long cup run.

Takes a GM with guts to walk away.

I mean, Burns had a Norris calibre season this year. but, next season he begins his $8 million per year deal for the next 8 years, which finishes when he turns 40. Yeah, I don't see him playing at a high level in his late 30's.

Even the Sedin twins. If they didn't sign in November 2013, but waited like they did back in 2008, they would have seen Lu demand out, then Kesler's trade request. Once both are out, what would the point be for retaining a pair of 33 year olds? A good team would move on from them and start over.

That's why I have major props to Armstrong of St. Louis who opted not to retain captain Backes. That would have been a huge story if that was a Canadian team. A 10 year plus player, heart and soul power forward, allowed to walk away.

Blues knew they would take a hit in the first part of his new deal, but they would save on the back end of it.

If you hand out a full NMC and a M-NTC, you're making that player very difficult to move even in the years of decreasing salary, unless they are prepared to go to a Arizona, Carolina, NJ or some place where the cap hit doesn't matter as much as the actual salary.

No other competitive team is going to take on Seabrook's deal for the next 7 years. It's too long.

But, we'll see what happens this off-season when July 1 rolls around and whether GMs are still going to hand out 6-7 year deals for 30 year old players. They get 3 good years, then 3 down years.

 

[KINGS17]

Why doesn't anyone mention Anze Kopitar in these bad contract threads? He's signed for 1 more year at only .5 million less, and he's one year older. Kopitars' season this year was worse than Toews last year. His team has missed the playoffs 2 out of the past three years. So why does Toews get all the salt?

Kopitar's contract is a disaster for the Kings. No doubt about it.

 

[KINGS17]

Takes a GM with guts to walk away.

I mean, Burns had a Norris calibre season this year. but, next season he begins his $8 million per year deal for the next 8 years, which finishes when he turns 40. Yeah, I don't see him playing at a high level in his late 30's.

Even the Sedin twins. If they didn't sign in November 2013, but waited like they did back in 2008, they would have seen Lu demand out, then Kesler's trade request. Once both are out, what would the point be for retaining a pair of 33 year olds? A good team would move on from them and start over.

That's why I have major props to Armstrong of St. Louis who opted not to retain captain Backes. That would have been a huge story if that was a Canadian team. A 10 year plus player, heart and soul power forward, allowed to walk away.

Blues knew they would take a hit in the first part of his new deal, but they would save on the back end of it.

If you hand out a full NMC and a M-NTC, you're making that player very difficult to move even in the years of decreasing salary, unless they are prepared to go to a Arizona, Carolina, NJ or some place where the cap hit doesn't matter as much as the actual salary.

No other competitive team is going to take on Seabrook's deal for the next 7 years. It's too long.

But, we'll see what happens this off-season when July 1 rolls around and whether GMs are still going to hand out 6-7 year deals for 30 year old players. They get 3 good years, then 3 down years.

Most GMs don't have this type of guts, which is why I think the owners will step in during the next CBA negotiation and either do away with guaranteed contracts, or limit the max length of contracts to something like 5 years.

The owners almost always correct the mistakes their own GMs are making in the CBA negotiations.

 

[ijuka]

That would be genuinely idiotic.

Ask Montreal Canadiens fans what it's like trying to contend for a cup with no legit 1C. Who exactly are the Blackhawks paying with that 10.5 million that make them a better team? They don't have a Seth Jones to trade for a 1C, nor can they afford to match the reported 12 million offer that Stamkos turned down from Toronto.

Just wait and hope for John Tavares I guess?


Or do they sell off even more and tank for a 1C to replace Toews? Cause lord knows they're not winning a cup without him or a similarly skilled center. And nobody wants to be stuck in that hellish limbo just below the playoff cutoff, too good to tank, not good enough to contend.... which is exactly where letting Toews walk would land them.

Have they won a cup since granting Toews that deal? Is it realistic chasing a cup after granting Toews that deal?

I don't subscribe to the "elite 1C is a must" school of thought, personally. I think that having players like Saad and Sharp for the cap would be immensely helpful.

And maybe as Blackhawks have failed to have success recently they should have rebuilt instead. Who knows? But I do know that, indeed, if Toews was asking for 10.5mil I'd have let him walk. Chances are, he'd have received less than that as a UFA anyway. Much less.

Kopitar's contract is a disaster for the Kings. No doubt about it.

He's in the same category. I guess Toews does take the highlight due to having the higher value contract, but it's true that Kopitar's is a travesty as well. He's a has been.

 

[JaegerDice]

Have they won a cup since granting Toews that deal? Is it realistic chasing a cup after granting Toews that deal?

I don't subscribe to the "elite 1C is a must" school of thought, personally. I think that having players like Saad and Sharp for the cap would be immensely helpful.

And maybe as Blackhawks have failed to have success recently they should have rebuilt instead. Who knows? But I do know that, indeed, if Toews was asking for 10.5mil I'd have let him walk. Chances are, he'd have received less than that as a UFA anyway. Much less.



He's in the same category. I guess Toews does take the highlight due to having the higher value contract, but it's true that Kopitar's is a travesty as well. He's a has been.

Now this is just delusional. Think what you want of Toews as a player, he's getting AT LEAST 10.5 million coming off his third cup win in 6 seasons and a 21 pts in 23 game playoff run (and thats without looking at advanced stats or defensive or matchups, etc).

Saad is a great player. He's also a 50-odd point winger that hasnt achieved much of anything on a team that shipped out the 1C he signed expecting to play with.

Sharp is going to get a cheap show-me deal next season. Truth be told after a fantastic 2014 regular season on Toews wing, he had lackluster 2014 playoffs, 2015 regular season and 2015 playoffs off his wing. It is deeply wishful thinking to suggest a team with those 2 wingers and no legit 1C to play with is a better team.

Its absolutely realistic to chase cups with that contract if and only if Toews meets the standard of play he was delivering when he signed the contract. A lack of depth didnt kill the Blackhawks this season. Their top paid difference makers didnt show up. Including but not exclusively Toews.

Forget 10.5 million, the Blackhawks dont win that series if Toews and Kane are still making 6.5 million a piece and perform as they did. The Blackhawks bottom 6 were their best players.

 

[Kingspiracy]

Have they won a cup since granting Toews that deal? Is it realistic chasing a cup after granting Toews that deal?

I don't subscribe to the "elite 1C is a must" school of thought, personally. I think that having players like Saad and Sharp for the cap would be immensely helpful.

And maybe as Blackhawks have failed to have success recently they should have rebuilt instead. Who knows? But I do know that, indeed, if Toews was asking for 10.5mil I'd have let him walk. Chances are, he'd have received less than that as a UFA anyway. Much less.



He's in the same category. I guess Toews does take the highlight due to having the higher value contract, but it's true that Kopitar's is a travesty as well. He's a has been.

Too early to get the knives out re Kopitar, one poor season is not always followed by another.

 

[rj]

do the Coyotes count?

 

[goldenbladz1]

10.5mil to Jonathan Toews when he's not even close to being a 10.5mil center.

Anyone throwing Toews out there needs to include Kopitar in the same breath. Parise and Suter are pretty bad as well.

 

[KevinRedkey]

Toews and Kopitar are easily tradeable and do not have "negative value". If either team retained, they would get something good in return which would at the very least offset the retention. Neutral value is the worst case scenario for either of them.

With players like Dustin Brown, you'd need to retain just to give them away for future considerations. This is real negative value. Even with 50% retention, the return would be minimal and would not offset the retention.

So in a world where trades exist, I think Brown has the worst contract.
In a world where you're stuck with the player, then I'll go with Toews because he handicaps his team the most.

 

[Rysto]

I wonder what the ratio if these albatross contracts are Stanley Cup winners over the last 7 or less years? Seems like teams can sometimes "reward" players for being a part of a long cup run.

I don't think that it's as much that GMs want to reward players as much as it is that it's easy to fall in love with players on a championship team and give out contracts based off of a short run of great performance in the playoffs.

 

[Shaman464]

Justin Abdelkader 4.25 million dollars per year for 7 years. 21 points -20 +/- and still bag of pucks stupid on the ice.

 

[LeafFever]

Justin Abdelkader 4.25 million dollars per year for 7 years. 21 points -20 +/- and still bag of pucks stupid on the ice.

I knew that contract was terrible the second it was signed. He got off to a great start last year and they rushed signing him.