If this were true every player would play in high school/college/pros in the same area and for the same city. I wholeheartedly agree that there ARE some players out there like that, but you're making a broad assumption that Stastny is one of those guys without knowing the guy personally.
I have family here, I love Colorado, and every single one of my friends is here. But if I got a job making 25% more in Vancouver, I'd take it. Vancouver's the one city I would move to if I had the chance.
Sure, that might be great if you're an accountant or an architect or something. But the parameters you've set (Money+City) are simply NOT the only 2 factors that he'd be looking at though:
* is the new team going to be in a position to win a cup within the length of his contract?
* is he going to fit into that team as a top-6 forward?
* is he going to play with good wingers or is he going to re-join David Jones and T.J. Galiardi in Calgary, for example?!
* what kind of coach is he going to be playing for? Another 'dump & chase' simpleton like he had to deal with, for FOUR years prior to this one???
It's not as cut & dry as you're making it out to be, at least not in my opinion.
This guy gets it. Good post.
I've said it before but it bears repeating -- if the Avs weren't prepared to go as high as $7M, they had no business keeping Stastny beyond the trade deadline, and people should be very concerned about the new regime's asset management. (You could make an argument for not moving him and taking that risk if the team was contending for a Cup run, but it's clear we weren't.)
I'm not saying he will or should get that much. But realistically, that's what a player of his calibre can get on the open market. And trying to refute this point by saying, "well hopefully he signs before he gets an offer from another team" is a bogus counterpoint. Impending UFAs will always have more leverage simply because they are that close to free agency. Their price goes up just because they have the opportunity to listen to other offers if they don't like what they hear. Like Tiger says, it has to be handled more delicately.
I think Stastny stays in Denver, FWIW, because I think Sakic/Roy are prepared to pay for him, else they would've moved him at the deadline. My guess is that he signs for $6.8M, and yes, I'd consider that a hometown discount.
7 x 7, limited NMC/NTC, just sign the Man.
Guys, it's not going to be that high. I understand that he's set to become a UFA but let's just look at this rationally:
2013 Free Agent Signings
Filpulla - $5M per year (disappointing shortened season but had put up 66pts the year prior)
Weiss - $4.9M per year (injury-plagued shortened season but had put up 57pts the year prior)
Ribeiro - $5.5M per year (had just come off putting up over a PPG 49pts in 48gp with the caps in the shortened season)
Those are all UFA deals last summer, within the new CBA. I've maintained for a long while that his true comparable is Joe Pavelski who is making $6M/year. It might go to $6.25M or $6.5M but that's as high as I can possibly imagine the Avs paying. When you consider these deals:
Kopitar - $6.8M
Thornton - $6.75M
Datsyuk - $6.70M
Marleau - $6.66M
Kane - $6.5M
Toews - $6.5M
I just don't see too many other teams jumping on board offering him
that much more than the Avs.
I'll agree with Tigervixxen, if Stastny '
really wants to test out the waters on July 1st', he's as good as gone in my opinion.
I think if that were to happen, the Avs would move on from him in that situation.