It’s not yet July 1st, the start of free-agency, and already money is being tossed around. Ryan Malone’s new contract – a seven year, $31.5 million contract that will allow him to make as much money as Zdeno Chara next year and the year after – is the type of inflated deal we’ve come to expect in the post-lockout NHL. Malone, who is 28 and for the first time in his career just scored more than 50 points in a season (last season), must be one happy man today. If you had told him two years ago that he would be making over seven million dollars in a season (cap hit is $4.5 million due to a front loaded contract), or even over four million dollars in a season, I bet he would’ve been incredulous. And what person coming off a 31 point season, moving into their late 20s (a time when forwards rarely start really lighting things up) wouldn’t be incredulous?
People said Philly was overdoing things when they chose to pay Scott Hartnell $4.2 million a year. It could be argued they’re still overdoing things by paying Carter $5 million a year. It’s tough to argue with success though and if Philly wins the big one with these guys then Holmgren won’t look so silly for giving out these potential-based contracts. Time will tell.
Tampa Bay has new ownership, it dropped to the bottom of the league last year and has a great amount of incentive to get better in a hurry (and with Lecavalier, Stamkos, Prospal, St. Louis, Malone and possibly Rolston, I’d say they’re better) . It makes sense that Tampa would like to emulate what Philly did when they bounced back from being the worst team to making it to the Eastern Conference Finals. In this respect I can understand why they would throw a pile of money at whatever players are available in an attempt to get back on their feet. And Ryan Malone is definitely a useful player; I just don’t think he is seven year contract useful. I think most people would agree he has no business making between seven and eight million dollars next season, but common sense seems to fly out the window when teams desperately want to compete.
The most interesting thing about this whole scenario – at least to me – is that players used to want to get to free-agency so a bidding war would start and they would end up being overpaid (see Scott Gomez). Now teams want to avoid bidding wars to ensure that when they offer to drastically overpay for a player, they’re guaranteed to not have someone come over the top with an even more ridiculous bid. One could assume the sane reason to avoid a bidding war would be to avoid overpaying for a player but that’s not the case in the post-lockout NHL. Now one wants to avoid a bidding war just to cut to the chase and dole out the monster contract without all the headache of free-agency.
Nothing that will transpire tomorrow can surprise me, just as the Malone signing didn’t surprise me. There are always crazy contracts that are handed out in the offseason. Some of them look nuts when they first happen but end up being not so terrible, at least dollar-wise, after a little while (McCabe and Chara come to mind). Others are likely to always look a little nuts (Penner, Gomez, DiPietro, Richards, Jason Blake). I’m sure not everyone will agree with all the names I’m putting out there and that’s fine. Chances are most people will agree that at least some of these people are being overpaid to a large degree and the purpose of this blog really isn’t to trash any particular player or club so I’m hoping rather than arguing about what particular players are overpaid, I’ve just got the point across that things get a little crazy these days in the offseason.
What I’m trying to say is the reason I’ve been droning on about this issue isn’t to express disgust or to complain about the situation or even to say this insanity should stop. I just want to use the rest of the article to explain why I don’t want the Bruins to have any part in this insanity, at least not for another year.
Let’s not forget the Bruins have not completed the rebuilding process. A good, over-priced/high-priced UFA is something best obtained to push a team over the top. Take last season’s Detroit Red Wings and Brian Rafalski for example. Detroit needed another top-flight d-man but liked the core of their team and so they paid Rafalski a lot of money to come over. That makes total sense to me. A high priced/over-priced UFA can sometimes also be a good idea for a tremendously struggling club that needs direction. Zdeno Chara would fit this bill, as would half of Philly’s roster. Obviously this strategy does not always work out (see Toronto Maple Leafs) but it is more likely to if a team is allowed to bottom out first and then pick up a UFA in their prime. The Bruins are not in any of these scenarios.
The Bs are a middle of the pack club that could get better next year just by virtue of youth gaining experience. The Bruins also do not have a lot of cap flexibility to load up on UFAs. If Chiarelli really wanted to, he could likely afford one high priced UFA without giving himself too much of a cap headache. Obviously the name everyone is throwing around is Marian Hossa. Hossa is a really good player and I had the good fortune to see him here in Ottawa for years (I guess it was bad fortune too when he played the Bruins). As a Bruins fan in Ottawa, I naturally can’t stand most of the players on the Sens roster but Hossa was never a player who bothered me. He skates well, plays honourably, has great hands, has good hustle, is a good two-way player and is practically a one-man-line (in that he can create opportunities for himself). All of that being said, if Ryan Malone’s payday was gigantic, I shudder to think of what Hossa, a much better player, will be asking for.
That’s why I want Peter Chiarelli to keep a few things in mind as he works the phones tomorrow. Firstly, Jarome Iginla makes seven million dollars a year, Dany Heatley makes $7.5 million, Spezza makes seven million, Kovalchuk makes $7.5 million, Alfredsson makes $4.3 million, Thornton makes $7.2 million, Nash makes $5.4 million, etc, etc. In other words, there is no sane reason to pay upwards of eight million dollars a season for Marian Hossa. Frankly, he is a very good player but he’s not that good. He’s not good enough to tie that much salary up in him and potentially handcuff the team’s payroll for years. Secondly, if the Bruins have several of their prospects pan out in the future, they’ll want to be able to pay them. If three years from now the Bruins can’t get rid of a gigantic, never-ending contract and Milan Lucic (or whoever) needs a raise, something has to give somewhere. Already Dennis Wideman’s contract can’t be agreed upon and may present problems in the Bruins’ cap situation depending on what happens tomorrow.
This team is not done rebuilding and it’s not done implementing a pay scale that makes sense. The Bruins, at this point, need to figure out which of their prospects are going to take control of this team a few years down the road and they need to plan for that eventuality. Once we see how more of these young players pan out in the system – and assuming some of them do pan out well – then it’ll be time to go bonkers on UFA signings. Until then, cap flexibility and patience are extremely important.
If the Bruins do sign someone (or several people) tomorrow I’m not saying it’s an automatic raw deal, though I am saying it could be risky. What I mainly want the Bruins to avoid is giving out one of these gigantic, insanely costly contracts that force a club to commit to a particular player for an unreasonable amount of time and money. It’s just not good business for a club that has taken genuinely good steps in the rebuilding process.
I’ll be watching tomorrow with more anxiety than excitement as I cross my fingers and hope the Bruins do the responsible thing and keep some cap flexibility and concentrate on developing youth. Or at least I hope Chiarelli keeps the Bruins off the list of teams that make inflated deals this year.
That said, I hope everyone has a pleasant UFA/Canada Day tomorrow (I’m not sure which will receive more attention, even here in the nation’s capital).
-Gerz
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