If you constantly let players walk because they are asking for 1 mil more than you want to pay them during FA then you get nothing done and leave holes all over your roster. So yes a lot of it has to do with negotiating. Sure maybe a cheaper guy plays better over the season, but nobody knows if thats gonna happen for sure or not so you need a bit of insurance. Otherwise you can try and sign every player you want for league min but thats not a very good plan than really any GM has ever done, only Hf forum posters think thats a good idea.
Im not giving Benning the benefit of the doubt but there was probably multiple GMs offering Poolman a similar contract. Look at the contracts given out in league this year and basically every year in FA. These players have more leverage than you think. Not to mention we're talking about overpaying by like 1 mil. Honestly its sad to see people go into extreme detail of why its a bad contract when its literaly a 1 mil over payment. Or let me guess, he should've signed for league min? If only we could sign every single player for league min, but them someone would probably complain that a contract is 1 year too long.
Don't call me a Benning bro btw, I don't like Benning as a GM. I just think the over reaction to this contract of all contracts is ridiculous. Theres being a Benning bro, and theres being a complete anti Benning who will go to great detail as to complain about every single move by the man. I am somewhere in between because I like to keep a level head about things.
this is a good sign you dont live in your parents basement
Right so then you're the GM now and FA starts, what are the moves you make? Do you sign every star player to a steal contract because somehow you have the best negotiating tactics, or do you stand pat and let your roster sink with all its holes? Or do you do what Benning and many other GMs have done this FA and sign a player with a slight overpayment to add necessary depth to fill thise holes on your team. I mean you could always make another trade and spend more assets trying to acquire a player who may or may not give you what you need.
If you overpay everybody by 1 mil just to "get things done" then on a 23 men roster you are overpaying by 23 mil. That is just an insane % of the cap to overpay! If you are ever overpaying, that should be to your star players, the difference makers, like EP/Hughes/Horvat, not your Poolman/Beagle/Roussel/Eriksson/Myers/etc.
So you expect Benning to be the only GM in the league who doesn't over pay slightly to fill a needed hole on their roster? Players aren't gonna take a discount every damn time just because YOU think they should. Why don't you try and apply to become the GM of any team and see how well you sign players during FA. I bet you would just get a steal of a contract every time right? Or noo you would just stand pat and leave holes right, can always play the AHL depth! Oh no wait you would sign those aging vets with zero offense to league minimum contracts like you were talking about. Seriously though what would you realistically do that would be better than this?
Thing is though you are not filling your entire team with FAs. With RFAs there is more team leverage so you get better deals. FA is much different, remember that these players aren't robots and negotiate their contracts. Besides you people would complain if he overpayed the star players too be real.
Its unrealistic to think that every player you sign, especially in FA, to be had for 1 mil or less. But I agree Benning rarely makes good moves, just that this one is odd to point out as being one of the bad ones.
Anything less than a hate filled, Benning protester makes you a bro, bro. That's hf canucks.
Like I said, if you could get every player you try to sign to get on board with your idea of just "sign for league min bro 1 year only" Im sure every GM would be doing that but in FA almost every player has the leverage in talks. These are the guys that have to uproot their families or themselves to go to a different city and team. You have to remember the human aspect of all this. And please, enlighten me on who the Canucks should have picked up for league minimum short term? Because when I look at the FA board almost no one pops up. Unless of course you want strictly AHL reclamation projects and hopefully one of them is decent, like throwing darts at a board blindfolded. This whole conversation is over 1 mil anyways wtf are we arguing about lol.
Maybe you should grow up and not insult people directly over arguing whether or not a player is overpaid by 1 mil. But since you're such a smartass, what would you have done as GM? Surely you would be GM of the year and sign awesome players for great contracts right? Or no just leave your team be as is? Not always the best way of doing things my man.
