- Jun 22, 2010
- 2,771
- 3,858
GMs can and do botch contract negotiations though. Look at Treliving, Matthew Tkachuk wanted a long-term deal and he bridged him, then lost him. He had an opportunity to sign Gaudreau to an extension a year before he went to UFA and didn’t.Dorion didn't negotiate Stutzle and Sanderson down from 9-10M+ deals through the force of his personality and charm. The cap hits were clearly based largely on what comparable players signed for.
Nor did he sweet talk those guys into extending early. He presented the option of an 8 year extension to them prior to the conclusion of their ELCs, and they opted to take the 65-70M guaranteed over betting on themselves and potentially getting more, which was extremely fortunate for us, particularly in Stutzle's case.
Any GM could and would have signed them to those deals. It's not because of the competence of Pierre Dorion that we have those two guys (and others) locked up long-term at attractive cap hits, so it's weird to praise him as if he's the reason it happened. It's just the reality of RFA contracts.
I don’t think Dorion needs praise heaped upon him for that, but it’s not like he couldn’t have opted not to go long-term either. He got them locked up, it was good work by him, however “easy” it might have been.