Confirmed Signing with Link: [TBL] Lightning re-sign Nikita Kucherov (3 years, $4.766M AAV)

[Butchered]

You obviously don't follow sports much if you don't think this is a huge part of contracts.

You clearly don't understand the point. Kucherov knows his value. He knows what he could have got elsewhere. He knows what guys like Forsberg, Tarasenko and Gaudreau got paid. He knows what Stamkos and Hedman signed for. He knows all of this, and STILL signed his deal.

He didn't have to sign. He could have made millions more in Russia. He could have held out and forced the Lightning to move him or pay him his money and move bodies elsewhere.

Kucherov still had plenty of leverage this time around and chose to sign an extremely team friendly deal. That was HIS choice. No one forced him to sign the deal.

People are acting like he was blindsided and now all of a sudden he's going to be sad because he doesn't make what his comparable players make. I have a feeling if that was going to bother him, he...ya know...wouldn't have signed the deal?

 

[CupsOverCash]

Remember when everybody was saying Stamkos would leave after his bridge contract and would break the bank on his next contract? Players like it here and we have a great team here. I think he will be back after his next contract and will take a little less than people thought he would in 3 years from now.

#CupsOverCash!!

 

[WesMcCauley]

Remember when everybody was saying Stamkos would leave after his bridge contract and would break the bank on his next contract? Players like it here and we have a great team here. I think he will be back after his next contract and will take a little less than people thought he would in 3 years from now.

#CupsOverCash!!

#notaxes

Who wouldnt like living in Florida anyway. The team is very hood and they have a solid following etc. Obviously a market that alot of players would like to play for. Im a NYR fan but i would rather live in Florida than NY

 

[Caeldan]

I think both the Hedman and stamkos deals are set to be paid largely in bonuses.

That may tilt it in favour of Florida(I'm not sure if for tax purposes they care about salary vs bonus payouts when it comes to jock tax) , in which case if there's any 'loophole' to be closed it'd be circumventing their annual salary with annual bonuses as it is also used to manipulate buyout values as well as trade timing. But it's not a state tax only issue.

 

[Shady Machine]

I am SO confused about all the comments on this thread.

"He'll be able to leverage a big payday at the end of the deal"

You people don't think TB would have given him 7x7+ if they had the room? TB will more or less pay him whatever he wants next time around if he's still in their plans.

And for people saying it doesn't feel good to make less than your peers, that's true in a normal job where you don't know up front what everyone else makes. Kucherov knows his worth, knows what his peers make and he STILL chose to sign the deal. Get lost with all that nonsensical garbage.

yeah I'm sure Stevie Y will just hand him the keys to the franchise in 3 years. He's going to be paid what they can negotiate in 3 years. I highly doubt he's going to give Kucherov above what he believes is market value just because Kucherov was a super nice guy this time around.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

,

No kidding. It's no different than a team using the argument that its city is a great hockey market with youth leagues and has a mystical historical background. Not to mention Florida has pretty high property taxes/cost of housing/home insurance which quickly cancels out the no state income tax, which I found out when I moved back to the state. Was reminded that the "sunshine tax" is still in place.

Great hockey market and potentially 5-7% of the cap are not the same thing. Just sayin.

You don't think other states/countries have property taxes, high insurance rates and other additional costs where your average NHL team is located? NYC, NJ, Boston, DC, nah....California? Psshh....it's all about even right? Lol...

 

[HowSweeeedeItIs]

First no one wants to play in Tampa, and now it's only because of taxes. This never gets old.

 

[Crede777]

Not a great deal, but not bad. He'll cash in BIG next time, but until then, he's on a steal of a contract. I think that how this deal is viewed will depend heavily on his next deal.

His next contract will have no bearing on how good or bad this contract is.

This contract, he got as much money and years as his leverage would allow. Next contract, he'll also get as much money and years as his leverage will allow. He'll just have a lot more leverage then (provided his production doesn't sharply decrease).

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Maybe, but it's worth the risk to keep this core intact for three years. This was a huge step toward doing that. The cup window is wiiiiide open now.

And TB has plenty of money coming off the books over the next year or two.

I understand your point, and 100% agree with you.

People are making out like NK bent over and is going to get "shorted" on his career earnings? This is what likely will happen:

Discussed
2016-17 $7M
2017-18 $7M
2018-19 $7M
2020-21 $7M
2021-22 $7M
2022-23 $7M
2023-24 $7M
Total $49M

Bridge Projection
2016-17 $4.7
2017-18 $4.7
2018-19 $4.7
2020-21 Arbitration - $7.5M
2021-22 UFA - $8.5M
2022-23 UFA - $8.5M
2023-24 UFA - $8.5M
Total $47M

To have equal earnings - you'd be looking at $8M for the arbitration year and $9M for the UFA years, or balance it out by saying that NK would sign for $6.7M over the next 7 years. Anybody think that's not possible, especially with some additional revenue growth in the late years?

All that said - it's a BRILLIANT move by Yzerman, because he keeps the cap cost down over the next 3 years when the Bolts are legit SC contenders. He'll potentially have to cross the UFA bridge later, but it's hard to worry about 2021 when you've got a chance to win the Cup in 2017-2020.

My point is that NK probably absorbs a little risk by not signing a 7/8 year deal now. That being said, I expect that he'll get paid a similar amount in the aggregate over the next 7 years. Add in there is upside for him if cap increases (CDN$ rebounds), or if he's a key contributor in a Cup win, and it's not like he (and his agent) got bent over by SY IMO.

 

[dechire]

Great hockey market and potentially 5-7% of the cap are not the same thing. Just sayin.

You don't think other states/countries have property taxes, high insurance rates and other additional costs where your average NHL team is located? NYC, NJ, Boston, DC, nah....California? Psshh....it's all about even right? Lol...

You know that nothing is preventing Kucherov from being traded to a market with higher state taxes right ? So how exactly do you propose to fix the supposed "loophole" when at any time a player could be injured or traded thus creating an entirely different tax situation ? The player is getting taxed at a higher rate but now the new team gets to benefit from the lower cap hit. Hmm I don't picture them complaining about that part of it.

 

[AvroArrow]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME !!??!?!?!?! That's robbery, wow.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

How is this even possible? Does Kucherov not have an agent? Third liners make this much money.

 

[Daviddd]

In 3 years Kuch will be making 8m+.. Yzerman will probably just trade him for a kings ransom..

 

[TLEH]

it's easy to get players to buy in when they haven't won anything yet. They still have unfinished business as a team Props to Stevie Y.

 

[RiceCooker]

Great Deal, Congrats Tampa.

 

[CupsOverCash]

How is this even possible? Does Kucherov not have an agent? Third liners make this much money.

Yes he has an agent. Otherwise this would have been done a long time ago.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Great hockey market and potentially 5-7% of the cap are not the same thing. Just sayin.

You don't think other states/countries have property taxes, high insurance rates and other additional costs where your average NHL team is located? NYC, NJ, Boston, DC, nah....California? Psshh....it's all about even right? Lol...

Of course it's not about even - but that is completely outside the aspect of the CBA. Here's a clue for folks - the primary purpose of the cap wasn't to enforce parity, it was to guarantee the HRR split between the owners & players.

Big $'s teams like the Leafs can afford to pay Babcock twice what every other coach made? Is that fair? The Leafs obtained a huge benefit because they could afford to pay Horton's uninsured $30M contract, is that fair?

Every market has positives and negatives. The CBA wasn't meant to perfectly balance all those factors, because if it was, every team would have to spend to the midpoint, and there wouldn't be the $20M'ish gap between the cap floor and the ceiling. The cap was meant to enable teams to be competitive.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Well there's no way to level the playing field. It's the law. It's not changing no matter how much some high tax markets might complain (while no doubt telling their own players the various benefits of choosing to play in their city)

Simple accounting. For purposes of calculating the (in this example) Tampa cap number, The league would add a value equilivant to say the average tax rates players pay across the league.

I'm curious (but not enough to research it ), has Tampa been able to get other homegrown players for lower $ than their comparables across the league signed for?

I wonder if Yzerman and company blatantly promote that in the financial negotiations?

"Hey Player X, your market$ is this value, but since you don't have to pay tax, we can actually sign you for less AAV and your pocket doesn't take a hit. Now we know that 7% extra would be nice for you to have, but can you be a good teammate and help us out here? Hedman is doing it, can you be a team player?"

Also I'm pretty sure players are paying some sort of tax on away games to that state. I remember seeing some expose on it somewhere. I wonder if because of that, this whole tax thing gets evened out, or the impact may only be on the home games he plays in, or basically half his yearly salary?

Fascinating stuff.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Fire the agent.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

Yes he has an agent. Otherwise this would have been done a long time ago.

Haha, I know he has an agent. It was a rhetorical question.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Haha, I know he has an agent. It was a rhetorical question.

I know I was just trying to explain why this took so long. I still cant believe he took this much less. He must really like it here.

 

[Werewolf]

There is a multi-BILLION dollar renovation in place under Vinik's Strategic Property Partners real estate company for Downtown Tampa (http://spprealestate.com/). Getting in early on some of the condos, properties, and opportunities in the area should be part of Yzerman's pitch regarding selling Tampa to these guys. All these guys instagram and post pictures from their condos and properties overlooking Amalie Arena ... getting the direct scoop about the plans has to be worth a fortune as well.

 

[dechire]

Simple accounting. For purposes of calculating the (in this example) Tampa cap number, The league would add a value equilivant to say the average tax rates players pay across the league.

I'm curious (but not enough to research it ), has Tampa been able to get other homegrown players for lower $ than their comparables across the league signed for?

I wonder if Yzerman and company blatantly promote that in the financial negotiations?

"Hey Player X, your market$ is this value, but since you don't have to pay tax, we can actually sign you for less AAV and your pocket doesn't take a hit. Now we know that 7% extra would be nice for you to have, but can you be a good teammate and help us out here? Hedman is doing it, can you be a team player?"

Also I'm pretty sure players are paying some sort of tax on away games to that state. I remember seeing some expose on it somewhere. I wonder if because of that, this whole tax thing gets evened out, or the impact may only be on the home games he plays in, or basically half his yearly salary?

Fascinating stuff.

There's no "expose" on it. It's also the law. Players are taxed in the place they play. Half of the time that's their own city, the other half it's an away city. Every player across the league pays different amounts in taxes and that cannot be accounted for in the cap. And the idea of different teams having different cap numbers is absolutely ridiculous and counter to the CBA and the basic principle of the cap.

 

[izzy]

What

what

 

[JayKing]

Absolute robbery. I feel bad for the next RFAs in Tampa Bay. Good luck getting paid because of Kuch.

Kuch is worth almost 8mil on an 8 year deal.