Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke will be able to tell anyone about the thoroughbred details of free agency, the frustration and downright insanity of it all when it comes to simply attracting a player's signature.
Some of those players don't even have to be in the same league, as he went to incredible ends—including two trips to Sweden—to persuade Jonas Gustavsson and have him eventually join the reformation of the Leafs.
Former Leaf Borje Salming was called upon to court the young 23-year-old netminder, among other current Leaf players who were deployed to list off the benefits of erecting a career in Toronto. Burke even proposed to attend the funeral for Gustavsson's mother, who had passed away during the off-season.
So his attempt to sway the goaltender's selection was nothing short of intimate.
However, for those who pose the most alluring qualities within North America, the arms races immediately begin. There aren't as many flights overseas for modern NHLers, as Burke could attest to, but the lengths required to compromise a deal with a wanted player can seem just as trying.
"What happens is there are five or six guys teams are interested in," said James Mirtle, a desk writer for the Globe and Mail and head blogger of From the Rink. "The player goes to the highest bidder and all the teams and agents are well aware of that."
To establish a benchmark, it takes a single signing. The value of one player is contingent on the worth of another, and if one is dashed off a list of unrestricted free agents, the next best prize is fought over in a vigorous or often vain tussle.
Not only is there the cap ceiling to consider, but there is also the term of contract—or the number of years one dedicates to a particular city, should he not later be traded. We then subsequently see players request eight, nine or 10 years to ensure their position as a staple in that franchise.
But this comes to us as common sense. We understand the market can be irrational and fickle. Yet the way in which the public and teams perceive the notion of the long-term deal can be just as indecisive.
On one hand, Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland was lauded for signing forward Henrik Zetterberg to a 12-year, $73 million contract, given the fact that the Swede is locked up and at a reasonable cap hit for his capabilities.
When Chicago Blackhawks GM Dale Talon made the swoop for Marian Hossa at a 12-year, $62.8 million deal, criticism flew like confetti.
Zetterberg, 28, and Hossa, 30, will both be in the twilight of their careers and have little to offer by way of goal scoring efficiency upon the expiration of their contracts. How a round of applause is audible for the former while a cautionary flag stands aloft for the latter is very peculiar.
Reconfiguring the collective bargaining agreement is one route Mirtle suggests, as the league could consider curbing the number of years to which a player can be subjected under a single contract.
"Basically, what the Blackhawks did with the Hossa deal was in the last years of his contract, it goes down to about $1 million a season. And the only reason the contract is structured like that is for the cap hit," he said.
"The league should have foreseen that and put in a limit on the length of contracts; it's really an oversight that they didn't have one. There's no real need for contracts to go over seven or eight years."
And when Rick Dipietro was handed a 15-year, $67.5 million chain to the New York Islanders in 2006, the deal provoked massive outcry as the second longest signing in sports. The decision made by GM Garth Snow wasn't ridiculed for the enduring payment, but the risk in vesting so much in a goaltender that, in retrospect, has been plighted by injury.
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1 comments so far (post your own)I love how in the midst of getting this story through the editing process, the Leafs finally sealed the deal on Gustavsson. Now we wait and see if it actually makes a difference to the organization.
Posted by Austin Kent on Monday, July 13, 2009 @ 2:25pm