Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - offseason part II
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Cheddabombs
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- Mar 13, 2012
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Devils731
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- Jun 23, 2008
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It’s arbitration and you play hardball, etc… but the Devils offer feels pretty insulting.
FinnishDevil
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Friendly reminder that what ever the team offers on arbitration is supposed to be super lowball, even insulting offer and doesnt mean its actually whats been offered previously.
Csonked Out
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Yes but jespers is also a high number than which most is us we’re willing to go above on
Zajacs Bowl Cut
Lets Go Baby
Christ I thought we were going to see like, the Devils are offering $6 and Bratt wants $8. At least at that point, its like okay, I can understand both sides
but this is absurd to me
but this is absurd to me
SempreMilan
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Devils731
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Well…it’s supposed to be a number to get the arbiter to agree more towards your side of the spectrum rather than the player.
Otherwise Bratt’s side should have asked for $7.5 or $8 million.
I think an arbiter may look at that and feel the Devils are being totally unreasonable and feel comfortable moving well away from their offer.
The Devils benefited from this phenomenon when they were awarded Stevens. Stevens was likely an overpay but the arbiter was so annoyed by how many times St Louis increased their offer that he agreed with the Devils offer rather than St Louis’ more reasonable final offer.
Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
Yeah, I'm fairly certain those numbers aren't indicative of the actual contract negotiations.
Keep in mind that term is likely a significant factor in those discussions as well. If Bratt and his agent want something short term, they probably don't care that much about the cap hit for one year if he's banking on something big and reaching UFA. Whereas the team likely wants to lock him up for several more years.
Here's hoping this actually gets ironed out before arbitration but I don't have high hopes.
Keep in mind that term is likely a significant factor in those discussions as well. If Bratt and his agent want something short term, they probably don't care that much about the cap hit for one year if he's banking on something big and reaching UFA. Whereas the team likely wants to lock him up for several more years.
Here's hoping this actually gets ironed out before arbitration but I don't have high hopes.
Can somebody remind me for arbitration, do they choose one number or the other or can they split the difference (or choose something in between)?
Hopefully this is part of the negotiation process and they can hammer out a deal prior to the hearing.
Hopefully this is part of the negotiation process and they can hammer out a deal prior to the hearing.
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Shakir ONeal
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Called it. Had a feeling we were lowballing him. This team upsets me sometimes. Just pay him. He is worth it.
Zajacs Bowl Cut
Lets Go Baby
the arbiter can award any amount between the 2 values as well, IIRC.
We're still talking about an RFA year for a player that had a breakout season last year, though prior to that put up between 30-35 points his first four seasons in the league.
Those numbers you mentioned would have been surprisingly high.
Cheddabombs
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Yeah I get this is how arbitration works, and the team is supposed to lowball, and maybe because it's just a 1 or 2 year deal both sides are lower than what we'd expect. But man, I can't imagine for a long term team Fitz has been offering something like 6 or 7M if this is what the arbitration numbers look like.
MauDevils
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McDuffz88
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No one should be freaking out over this. I guarantee you the long time offer Fitz made to Bratt is much higher then this. The fact is going into arbitration you now have to lowball it because you're only getting him for a year or 2 & this will increase the value of the contract. It also puts pressure on Bratt to take the big deal that Fitz originally offered & shows Fitz isn't going to waver. Anyone who thinks Bratt is going to resign with us after the arbitration hearing are living in fantasy land & this proves it. This says to me Fitz is saying put up or shut up & that he's tired of dealing with these exhausting negotiations. If Bratt makes it to arbitration consider him gone. It's obvious Fitz wants him on the cheapest contract possible so he can trade him for the most value possible (that's what I would do as a GM).
ninetyeight
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It's arbitration, for a 1 year contract. The whole point is to get a longterm extention before it goes there. It's not like Bratt accepts 6,5m on 8 year term.
Billdo
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While I want him signed, if he's asking 6.5 but won't sign long term, then screw him. He had a career high of 35 points previously. I'd imagine the team tried giving him a long term deal at much higher than 4.5 and once he said no they went this route.
I'm not reading too much into this arbitration number by the Devils.
I would easily think they'd go between $6-$7MM on a long-term deal, especially as that is eating up UFA years.
Part of this process is that you don't want to go through with arbitration. I think teams often lowball players and vice versa. Hopefully this all just puts more pressure on them to hammer out a deal before the hearing.
Maybe if I start hearing rumors from insiders about the Devils lowballing Bratt I'd start to worry, but for now we really have no clue what's going on behind the scenes.
Billdo
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It's part of how this works. If Bratt would sign a long term deal at 6.5 I'm sure they would've signed it already. Once he declined what I'd hope was a realistic long term deal the team does this. It's normal.
Unknown Caller
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- Apr 30, 2009
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Correct. Everyone is flipping out over the Devils number, but you have to remember that their submission is the low end for a 1 year deal. This isn’t what they’re offering on a long term contract.
NJDevs26
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It also makes it much more likely he wins the hearing when you go completely off the reservation
Csonked Out
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Isn’t there a rule where he can’t be trade if the contract is an accepted arbitration number?
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