Too cheap? Come on, Alfredsson made 69 million over his career. Would 1 or 2 million have made a difference? Absolutely not. I'm not pissed off because he left, I'm mostly pissed off because he retired as a Senator and even did the warmup with them. If he wanted to retire with the Sens that much, he should've dropped the extra million and stayed with them.
You need to get the fact's straight instead of believing what you want to believe. I don't believe for a second you have respect for Alfredsson since you ignore all facts of the story.
When he signed the previous contract, he threw in the last year at a million the bring his cap hit down so the ORG could have cap room. It was clearly understood that he did plan to play the final year. Owner/management understood this as well.
When it was decided that he wanted to keep playing (the summer before his final year), he wanted an extension at that time. There was no response from the Senator's side when his side tried to open talks. Melnick/Murray basically plugged their ears and went NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH. Alfie for 1 million was a big bargain.
Like the good soldier he always was, he played the final year for a million (way underpaid) and when it came time to negotiate a deal, Sens offered 4.5. He wanted 2 years 6 million to make up for the previous underpaid season that he was originally planned not too play (again, both management and owner knew that's why he threw in that last year previous contract, to HELP THEM with cap budget).
The Alfredsson camp put 2 and 2 together and realized the Sens did not hold up there part of the unwritten agreement that he was to be compensated for the underpaid year.
After Alfredsson made it clear he would move to a different team, Melnick then open his blank cheque, but by then it was too late.
Sen's could and would have easily paid him the 5.5 he got from Detroit, but Melnick's new found cheapness got the better of him/us. A lot of butt kissing had to happen for him to retire here. Melnick knew they were in the wrong on this one.
At first I was mad at him, but not anymore once the facts got out. I don't blame Alfredsson one bit.