Confirmed with Link: Devils sign Gelinas (1 year, $900k)

[Wingman77]

So pretty much as expected, this was all the agent's doing and it was a 'me v Lou' not a 'let's bang out a contract for Eric' and Gelinas had little involvement in the entire process until this weekend

I can't understand how Gelinas wouldn't want to be even somewhat involved in the negotiations as it seems like he had no idea what was going on - he left it all essentially up to his agent and checked in a couple of times over the summer

 

[Chessarmy]

Great news. A+ offseason by Lou this year.

 

[Wingman77]

Full interview

"I told him [agent] we're going to do this"

 

[NJDevs26]

So pretty much as expected, this was all the agent's doing and it was a 'me v Lou' not a 'let's bang out a contract for Eric' and Gelinas had little involvement in the entire process until this weekend

I can't understand how Gelinas wouldn't want to be even somewhat involved in the negotiations as it seems like he had no idea what was going on - he left it all essentially up to his agent and checked in a couple of times over the summer

If he wasn't paying attention he got a little taste of it after the agent's comments and his instagram getting bombarded shortly thereafter

It's not that unusual for players not to pay attention to the minutae of negotiating though. It wasn't really important for Gelinas to sign six weeks ago as opposed to today anyway.

 

[AfroThunder396]

So pretty much as expected, this was all the agent's doing and it was a 'me v Lou' not a 'let's bang out a contract for Eric' and Gelinas had little involvement in the entire process until this weekend

I can't understand how Gelinas wouldn't want to be even somewhat involved in the negotiations as it seems like he had no idea what was going on - he left it all essentially up to his agent and checked in a couple of times over the summer

I think this is what all agents encourage young players who don't know better to do.

I'm pretty sure Henrique said something similar last year, that he told his agent that he wanted a long term deal and left it to him to hammer out the details while only checking up every so often.

 

[Missionhockey]

Found the bolded part of this quote interesting and somewhat of a hint that this was more Gelinas fueled than agent

Gelinas admitted there was an urgency to get the deal done before the start of camp.

“In my mind, yeah,†he said. “Like I said, I’m a player, I want to play and I was eager to play and I was glad that we made that decision before camp. A couple more days and that would have set me back for a bit, so I didn’t want to miss any of camp.â€

I'm speculating, but I bet that Lupien wanted to force a trade to get a higher contract (although people on here speculated the same thing earlier). However, I'm sure that we can all agree that based on past experience, Lupien is not happy.

 

[Wingman77]

If he wasn't paying attention he got a little taste of it after the agent's comments and his instagram getting bombarded shortly thereafter

It's not that unusual for players not to pay attention to the minutae of negotiating though. It wasn't really important for Gelinas to sign six weeks ago as opposed to today anyway.

Yea I'm not sure why he didn't just want to get it done with as quick as they could and then just move on with the summer and this season, but again his priorities seem to be elsewhere salary/contract wise

I think this is what all agents encourage young players who don't know better to do.

I'm pretty sure Henrique said something similar last year, that he told his agent that he wanted a long term deal and left it to him to hammer out the details.

I believe you and I are of similar age which would put us in the same age bracket as Gelinas and I can without any question say that I would want to be kept as up to date as possible on negotiations and as to what was going on and based on your comments I'd assume you are in the same boat

I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt with the 'oh he's young' excuse', but as somebody similar in age, I can't buy that excuse

This contract or any contract is about his career which happens to also be a large majority of his life

I'm speculating, but I bet that Lupien wanted to force a trade to get a higher contract (although people on here speculated the same thing earlier). However, I'm sure that we can all agree that based on past experience, Lupien is not happy.

As I had mentioned earlier, today's comments made it even more clear that this was Lupien vs Lou and Lupien lost again

 

[manilaNJ]

I believe you and I are of similar age which would put us in the same age bracket as Gelinas and I can without any question say that I would want to be kept as up to date as possible on negotiations and as to what was going on and based on your comments I'd assume you are in the same boat

I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt with the 'oh he's young' excuse', but as somebody similar in age, I can't buy that excuse

This contract or any contract is about his career which happens to also be a large majority of his life

I've only witnessed this from the agent side of things, but guys your age, most of the time, didn't want the headache until they were actually making life changing decisions. A UFA contract? Absolutely, they want all things considered.
Before that? They'll usually leave it in the hands of their agent.
Sure, they might have targeted a certain range and they don't want to be undersold -- but in a player like Eric's case, his fate wasn't in his hands at all. He either signed a contract or didn't play. That's all he had control over.

Add on to that that a lot of the conversations between an agent and a GM don't even make it back to the player. Sometimes just "GM didn't bite on our offer, I'll try again next week" or something to that extent.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I believe you and I are of similar age which would put us in the same age bracket as Gelinas and I can without any question say that I would want to be kept as up to date as possible on negotiations and as to what was going on and based on your comments I'd assume you are in the same boat

I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt with the 'oh he's young' excuse', but as somebody similar in age, I can't buy that excuse

This contract or any contract is about his career which happens to also be a large majority of his life

I agree 100%, but let's not forget that most of the time these guys are not terribly finance savvy individuals. Many are gift-wrapped diplomas and barely finish high school. Just listen to all the ignorant comments the players made during the lockout and you'll see how terribly misinformed many players are when it comes to economics. They defer these things to guys, they think, are trusted professionals.

These agents are very good at attaching themselves to an athlete at a young age and pretending that they are someone with the player's best interests at heart. I'm sure Gelinas trusted Lupien and thought that he was acting in his best interest this whole time, as much as I'm sure Lupien was pissed that Gelinas wanted to get a deal done.

 

[Wingman77]

I've only witnessed this from the agent side of things, but guys your age, most of the time, didn't want the headache until they were actually making life changing decisions. A UFA contract? Absolutely, they want all things considered.
Before that? They'll usually leave it in the hands of their agent.
Sure, they might have targeted a certain range and they don't want to be undersold -- but in a player like Eric's case, his fate wasn't in his hands at all. He either signed a contract or didn't play. That's all he had control over.

Add on to that that a lot of the conversations between an agent and a GM don't even make it back to the player. Sometimes just "GM didn't bite on our offer, I'll try again next week" or something to that extent.

Very good point as well and I wouldn't be surprised if when they had the little communication that they did, that Lupien was either feeding him little or just BS

I agree 100%, but let's not forget that most of the time these guys are not terribly finance savvy individuals. Many are gift-wrapped diplomas and barely finish high school. Just listen to all the ignorant comments the players made during the lockout and you'll see how terribly misinformed many players are when it comes to economics. They defer these things to guys, they think, are trusted professionals.

These agents are very good at attaching themselves to an athlete at a young age and pretending that they are someone with the player's best interests at heart. I'm sure Gelinas trusted Lupien and thought that he was acting in his best interest this whole time, as much as I'm sure Lupien was pissed that Gelinas wanted to get a deal done.

Hear ya there and I suppose we give these guys more credit than they deserve in the common sense dept much of the time

and of course as an agent he was worried about getting the player more $$ (aside from it pleasing the player) because that's more $$ in his own pocket - add the vendetta against Lou and you've got a whacko

 

[NJDevs26]

I agree 100%, but let's not forget that most of the time these guys are not terribly finance savvy individuals. Many are gift-wrapped diplomas and barely finish high school. Just listen to all the ignorant comments the players made during the lockout and you'll see how terribly misinformed many players are when it comes to economics. They defer these things to guys, they think, are trusted professionals.

These agents are very good at attaching themselves to an athlete at a young age and pretending that they are someone with the player's best interests at heart. I'm sure Gelinas trusted Lupien and thought that he was acting in his best interest this whole time, as much as I'm sure Lupien was pissed that Gelinas wanted to get a deal done.

Or how the entire PA got bamboozled by Alan Eagleson way back in the day (among others one of the saddest stories was that Bobby Orr could have had a piece of the Boston Bruins and Eagleson never told him). Players are a little more sophisticated than that these days, but still they don't really want much to do with the 'process'.

 

[The 29th Pick]

You would think Erics father and brother would have given him some sound advice on agents in pro sports

 

[Emperoreddy]

It only takes one contract holdout to undo all the off season signings by Lou and make him into the tyrant again. Cammalleri didn't get his #13?!?!!

Damn that old man and his outdated ways!

Well that AND camp tryouts to old guys people don't like. Damn it Lou why didn't you sign Pitkanen and his broken foot?!?

Anyway it all sounds like this contract was what Lou was offering all along. I wonder what Lupin was trying to push. $1.2?

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

What are the pairings looking like now?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

What are the pairings looking like now?

no one really knows. it all depends on how healthy Salvador is.

what I would do is this:

Greene-Merrill
Larsson-Gelinas
Zidlicky-Salvador
Harrold

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

What are the pairings looking like now?

Greene - Larsson
Merrill - Zid
Sal - Gelinas (oh my god no)

I also think there's a chance Merrill ends up on the top pairing with Greene, then we see Sal-Zid reunited and Gel-Larsson together again. But that kinda looks like two 3rd pairings to me.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Larsson and Gelinas were great when they played together.

 

[Missionhockey]

no one really knows. it all depends on how healthy Salvador is.

what I would do is this:

Greene-Merrill
Larsson-Gelinas
Zidlicky-Salvador
Harrold

You want Gelinas playing top four minutes?

 

[Jaysfanatic*]

You want Gelinas playing top four minutes?

Yes, so as not to make him Andy Delmore.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

You want Gelinas playing top four minutes?

I don't care about how you stack the pairings but that is what I want to start the season

you want Salvador playing top 4 minutes? as I said, Gelinas-Larsson was a pretty good pairing when they were together.

 

[MadDevil]

Gelinas-Larsson deserves another look given how well they played together (even if only briefly) last year. If they don't look as good, I'd probably move Larsson up with Greene, and put Merrill with Gelinas. I would be a little worried about putting two kids together, but Sal is pretty terrible with anybody but Zid. Although that would probably mean more minutes for Sal, given how much ice time Zid gets.

 

[R8Devs]

Gelinas and Salvador should be the bottom pairing because they are the ones who should get the easiest minutes. And then move up Gelinas when he gets better defensively.


Top 4 should be a mix of Greene, Larsson, Merrill, and Zidlicky for when the season starts.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Gelinas and Salvador should be the bottom pairing because they are the ones who should get the easiest minutes. And then move up Gelinas when he gets better defensively.


Top 4 should be a mix of Greene, Larsson, Merrill, and Zidlicky for when the season starts.

Ya barring some new insights at camp this should be the top 4 and Gely should have to earn his way up by kicking Zids out with improved defense and 5 on 5 play.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

I really hope they give Gelinas and Larsson another shot together. Some guys just work well together, and in the brief time those two were together, they did.

 

[Jaysfanatic*]

A Gelinas-Salvador combo would be the absolute worst.