Confirmed with Link: Lightning extend Andrei Vasilevskiy | 8 years, $9.5M AAV

[HoseEmDown]

And just to clarify: I'm not saying you stick with Domingue over Vasy. I'm not saying you scrape the bottom of the barrel for goalies. I said all of this in some other thread (maybe the general offseason one). This team can win with a solid starting goalie.

If you're asking do I take a 15-20 goalie for 5-6 or a top 3 for 9.5, I'm taking the cheaper option every time. If Tampa comes out on fire in the playoffs and Vasy ****s the bed, you flush your playoffs down the toilet.

Goalies are weird because they're so vital, but because they're so vital, it can really hurt you if you put big money into them. Look at Bob. The dude was absolute trash in the playoffs until he was a God vs us.

They're too hot/cold to put that kind of money into.

And if Vasilevskiy is on fire and the forwards shit the bed you flush the playoffs down the toilet too.

Vasilevskiy was really good against Pittsburgh and Washington while the forwards struggled. Against Columbus Vasilevskiy sucked but the forwards weren't anything special either. So he has been better overall than the forwards the past three playoffs. So why wouldn't you pay that guy more than the forwards who haven't been as good?

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

A lot overreacting in here in regards for what this means for the Point contract. The Point timeline was always going to be late August, this has no impact. The market hasn't been developed at all for any of those RFAs who are coming off their ELC.

 

[Stormbreaker]

It's a fair contract in terms of the market just hope the cap rises more next year.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

You're not wrong. I said in previous threads we'd have to keep Vasy at all costs, because finding a #1 isn't as easy as some would have you believe.

...but the timing is weird. I think what we're concerned about is an apparent lack of negotiation, or attempt to keep the $ low. But maybe that was to keep Vasy from being distracted?

I think working backwards like this might have been the plan all along. If you go to FA looking for a goaltender you're going to be in the same range, but your cap is already f***ed up because you signed everyone else. Now you have an anchor like the Rangers have had for years, and you can mix and match the players as needed. Easy to replace one of your twelve forwards, compared to replacing your single workhorse goaltender.

 

[BeingTheThunder]

Just think of it this way.. this upcoming season is the last year of Vasy's current deal, imagine if he were to win the Vezina again. How much would his contract cost us then? Trust me... this is a good deal.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Chances are Point and the Lightning have a handshake deal in place and they aren't gonna sign it til much later. If a 40 goal player in Point takes a modest extension when a guy like Laine is probably shooting for 8 years $80 million you're gonna break the damn league and infuriate the NHLPA. Vasy's contract now gives us a barometer of what kind of numbers we're talking about with Point.

Every team has cap monkeys who do nothing all day but sit there and look at salary numbers and get paid to do it. If Point's camp was asking for everything in the world you don't do this deal with Vasy this far ahead. Unless we reacted to the Bob deal or are scared of what Holtby is going to ask for then there's a plan. I could be wrong about Point but again.... You don't make a deal THIS big if Point wants a big deal too.

There's always a plan

I think you're on the right track, but i'm guessing it'll be because we'll have more movement with forwards and money going out first, then the deal will get settled. If you sign him now, you're taking the theoretical gun-to-the-head and putting the actual gun to your head, putting you on a timer to move salary out and not get penalized, and putting you in a shitty spot to negotiate with others.

 

[LordZapp]

So what does this mean for Point? No way we can sign him now right?

 

[Stormbreaker]

So what does this mean for Point? No way we can sign him now right?

This contract doesn't kick in until next season.

 

[BeingTheThunder]

So what does this mean for Point? No way we can sign him now right?

This doesn't effect Point at all. This extension doesn't touch our cap until next season.

 

[These Are The Days]

How does the team or Point justify giving Point 9.5+ on his second deal when his Vezina winning teammate just got 9.5 on his third deal?

That's a good question and not one that Point's camp is gonna have fun answering when Stamkos bridged after back to back 90 point seasons and a 50 goal sophomore campaign and did it for $7.5 million AAV

 

[These Are The Days]

I think you're on the right track, but i'm guessing it'll be because we'll have more movement with forwards and money going out first, then the deal will get settled. If you sign him now, you're taking the theoretical gun-to-the-head and putting the actual gun to your head, putting you on a timer to move salary out and not get penalized, and putting you in a ****ty spot to negotiate with others.

It's wishful thinking on my end but I don't know if there's any kind of gun. If Point signs a modest deal and the other RFA's follow true to form we might be okay. We'll see though. I'm just glad we have Vasy locked up for 9 years because I'll be damned if I'm ever gonna remember what it was like not having even a decent goalie

 

[Rschmitz]

Just to give an idea of what we bought...

Vasy was prorated over 82 games to give up 198 goals last year. Domingue was prorated to give up 236. Quick was perhaps the worst statistical #1 goalie last year and he was prorated to give up 265 goals.

Some of you haven't experienced enough pain when it comes to poor goaltending. You haven't seen a goalie swing and miss at a puck or get scored on from the red line or flail about randomly on the ice without a clue. If you have OCD like me, it does something to you.

Johan Holmqvist and is .879 save percentage was our #1 and 06-07, we by some act of God still made the playoffs but despite having some of the best offensive contributions of the decade on the team we couldn't survive that shit.

 

[LightningStrikes]

That’s a lot of money but that’s also one great goaltender.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

It's wishful thinking on my end but I don't know if there's any kind of gun. If Point signs a modest deal and the other RFA's follow true to form we might be okay. We'll see though. I'm just glad we have Vasy locked up for 9 years because I'll be damned if I'm ever gonna remember what it was like not having even a decent goalie

I mean, the gun would be penalties for going over the cap.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Hahah, you guys are insane. We went a decade without a goaltender that wasn't an embarassment (looking at you Denis, Smith, Holmqvist) and now that we have one, signed at market rate, its awful

We are the most spoiled bunch in the whole boards

 

[Todd1a]

This contract will Be great 3 years from now when I think the cap takes a big jump! But next season we probably only get a 2 million dollar jump on the cap. A year after Seattle comes in I expect the cap to jump up 4-5 million higher. Especially because of that 650 million dollar fee Seattle has to pay.

 

[BeingTheThunder]

Bottom line is he is the best goalie in the league and we're having to pay him as the third best goalie in the league. That's a bargain in my book.

 

[Stormbreaker]

 

[Todd1a]

Bottom line is he is the best goalie in the league and we're having to pay him as the third best goalie in the league. That's a bargain in my book.

When bob signed that contract in Florida I knew we were doomed to pay Vasy more money! Bob got 70 million and Vasy got 76 million! Vasy is younger so we made out better!

 

[Stormbreaker]

 

[nabob]

As far as contracts, I don't think anything has or will change since BriseBois worked on all those contracts made during Yzermans tenure as assistant gm. He's the numbers guy and that's really what his background is and what his main duties were here dealing with negotiations, working the cba, analytics, and salary arbitration.

That said, while they've signed a lot of friendly deals over the years, it was really Stamkos and Hedman, the two pillars of the franchise who decided to take the lead on this and talked about the importance of the rest of the team buying into this. So imo the idea is really more player driven.

That’s cool, thanks for the well thought out reply. Shows good leadership and dedication to being a winner on Stamkos and Hedman’s behalf.

 

[Bunch of Jurcos]

Congrats to you guys for keeping one of the best goalies in ZA WARUDO for all of his best years!

 

[Master P]

YAY!, sure its a lot of money right now but I think the cap will be much higher and this contract will look much better the longer it goes. Plus he's still only 25 so its not like this deal is running till he's 37-38.

Its nice to have the goalie position settled for the foreseeable future.

 

[JFleegs]

a little higher than I'd hoped but fair deal, he is a great goalie that we now have for the next 9 years.

Oh and these adds on this site makes it unbearable!

 

[DFC]

I think working backwards like this might have been the plan all along. If you go to FA looking for a goaltender you're going to be in the same range, but your cap is already ****ed up because you signed everyone else. Now you have an anchor like the Rangers have had for years, and you can mix and match the players as needed. Easy to replace one of your twelve forwards, compared to replacing your single workhorse goaltender.

Yeah, it's definitely cost certainty. I guess the league is being forced away from the idea that you shouldnt overspend on goaltending. No other real option now.