Around the League 45: The Stanley Cup is in God's Waiting Room

[cptjeff]

1) The $64M was Neely's comment and the Agent publicly stated it was the first time they've heard that. I didn't follow it closely to know how that sugared out.

It came out that the offer had been $7.8m/yr. Not technically 8, but close enough that the agent (Lew Gross) was being more than a little dishonest with the outrage. And the Bruins probably fully expected him to respond to that offer with "can we just make it 8", which they would have then accepted. You may not trust management, but IMO it's pretty clear Neely was being more honest than Gross in this one.

The "resetting the goalie market" was another comment from Neely about what Swayman's ask had been. Remember, Gross is the guy behind the Nylander holdout and massive contract. He's extremely aggressive in his asks and extremely aggressive in his tactics. And I think he would have been happy to do that again, this reads to me like Swayman telling Gross to take what's on the table now in order to not miss the season.

As for fans siding with management, the interests of fans are aligned with management. better value contracts means more better players, which means better teams. It's a salary cap world where the quality of a roster *is* a zero sum game. And one player getting more means other players get less. And the overall pool of player money is fixed- if you want to root for the little guy, remember that the bigger contracts for stars get, the less is available for the role players who get paid a lot less and whose careers are a lot shorter.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

It came out that the offer had been $7.8m/yr. Not technically 8, but close enough that the agent (Lew Gross) was being more than a little dishonest with the outrage. And the Bruins probably fully expected him to respond to that offer with "can we just make it 8", which they would have then accepted. You may not trust management, but IMO it's pretty clear Neely was being more honest than Gross in this one.

Thanks. So he ended up getting $400K per year more over 8 years so a total of $3.2M more? That's not insignificant and a pretty good bump vs the $7.8.

The "resetting the goalie market" was another comment from Neely about what Swayman's ask had been. Remember, Gross is the guy behind the Nylander holdout and massive contract. He's extremely aggressive in his asks and extremely aggressive in his tactics. And I think he would have been happy to do that again, this reads to me like Swayman telling Gross to take what's on the table now in order to not miss the season.

And Gross was right with Nylander. He was getting squeezed by the Leafs because they needed money for Tavares, Marner and Matthews. Nylander played on a discount and was better than two of those guys. I don't blame him.

As for fans siding with management, the interests of fans are aligned with management. better value contracts means more better players, which means better teams. It's a salary cap world where the quality of a roster *is* a zero sum game. And one player getting more means other players get less.

Oh, I understand WHY fans align with management. We are "team first, player 2nd" when it comes to our priorities so I'm not knocking it, I'm just stating that it skews our views toward these negitiations.

Player asks for a great deal: "He's GREEDY!"
GM signs a guy for a below market value: "Way to go! Great job"

And the overall pool of player money is fixed- if you want to root for the little guy, remember that the bigger contracts for stars get, the less is available for the role players who get paid a lot less and whose careers are a lot shorter.

It's not about rooting for the little guy. The little guy isn't driving revenue in the NHL, the stars are. Under no circumstances would I tell a star to take less so the little guy can make more.

 

[CandyCanes]

Toronto loading up on former Canes

 

[cptjeff]

Toronto loading up on former Canes

Really glad Lorentz got an NHL job. He's good enough to be useful and he's just a guy who's good to have around.

Was kinda hoping Patches would find his way to Columbus, but obviously he'd rather be with a contender.

 

[bleedgreen]

I still remember being completely convinced the canes were going to draft Monahan

I was pretty certain myself! He would’ve been a good Cane and he had a ton of qualities our previous two gm’s gravitated to.

 

[AD Skinner]

Apparently Boone Jenner is out indefinitely now too. Maybe they really will end up selling early

 

[Blueline Bomber]

I was pretty certain myself! He would’ve been a good Cane and he had a ton of qualities our previous two gm’s gravitated to.

IIRC, the talk at the time was that the Canes couldn't go wrong with either Lindholm or Monahan. Lindholm was more offensively gifted, while Monahan was seen as the better two–way player.

And yeah, given our franchise history, taking the two-way center seemed like the obvious choice.

 

[MinJaBen]

Apparently Boone Jenner is out indefinitely now too. Maybe they really will end up selling early

They will have some problems selling as they are pretty close to the floor. Won’t be just futures going back. Maybe that could be a good thing…

 

[chaz4hockey]

Really glad Lorentz got an NHL job. He's good enough to be useful and he's just a guy who's good to have around.

Was kinda hoping Patches would find his way to Columbus, but obviously he'd rather be with a contender.

Re: Lorentz--Agree, I'd add guys I know from the Everglades say he was a great teammate and superb person too.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Guentzel learning Tampa is not an ideal place to live when experiencing a Hurricane.

I hope everyone stays safe though as this one is particularly nasty, currently at 160mph. Geez at the strengthening in just 24 hours.

 

[WreckingCrew]

IIRC, the talk at the time was that the Canes couldn't go wrong with either Lindholm or Monahan. Lindholm was more offensively gifted, while Monahan was seen as the better two–way player.

And yeah, given our franchise history, taking the two-way center seemed like the obvious choice.

IIRC Lindy was also the "safer" pick with a higher floor and seen as being more NHL-ready at the time? Or is this just hindsight 20/20 Mandela effect I'm experiencing 11 years later?

 

[HisIceness]

As I remember it, JR and company really wanted Seth Jones. After Jones went 4th, JR worked the phones best he could. Having no offers of interest, he said to Francis, "we're taking your guy".

I also seem to recall that while it was best-case, Lindholm was getting comparables to Peter Forsberg