Forget Vanek or any other RFA
Posted 9:13 AM ET | Comments 4
doing this on the fly...
...no gm in their right mind is going to set the precedent and go after an RFA the caliber of a player such as thomas vanek. bob clarke did this last year to test the waters with a team and gm he has rarely dealt with. i think from that reaction we saw and the spotted history of 'rfa robbing' that it is most definitely not going to continue on in some prolific manner.
say it does go down, we offer vanek an offer. what happens 2 years from now and some team wants downie or richards. no team is going to hesitate to snag them up. its roullete and something i doubt that gms see as a benefit to long term planning. discretionary plans for future cap numbers would soon become a regular dicey thing. its hard enough drafting and grooming players for the nhl, let alone for someone else to enjoy those rewards at your expense in say 3 or 4 years into a players career.
the gms stood together during the lockout, and they were able to keep a solid front and take advantage of a disorganized players association. are the gm's willing to disrupt that with guerilla like tactics involving their young players? cant say i can ever see that happening.
...no gm in their right mind is going to set the precedent and go after an RFA the caliber of a player such as thomas vanek. bob clarke did this last year to test the waters with a team and gm he has rarely dealt with. i think from that reaction we saw and the spotted history of 'rfa robbing' that it is most definitely not going to continue on in some prolific manner.
say it does go down, we offer vanek an offer. what happens 2 years from now and some team wants downie or richards. no team is going to hesitate to snag them up. its roullete and something i doubt that gms see as a benefit to long term planning. discretionary plans for future cap numbers would soon become a regular dicey thing. its hard enough drafting and grooming players for the nhl, let alone for someone else to enjoy those rewards at your expense in say 3 or 4 years into a players career.
the gms stood together during the lockout, and they were able to keep a solid front and take advantage of a disorganized players association. are the gm's willing to disrupt that with guerilla like tactics involving their young players? cant say i can ever see that happening.
It's part of the CBA, and the compensation for losing a player of Vanek's stature and potential salary will be pretty high-- you think Tampa wouldn't have rather kept those 4 first round picks they got when the Flyers inked Chris Gratton? Teams will just have to get their young stars under contract before the free-market opens.
i understand it is part of the cba. but the gms seem to still retain a sort of mutual code that governs itself. am i overemphasizing the presense of this? possibly. but honestly, if a gm of a playoff caliber team with late 1st round draft picks every year takes my prized young player, i can't say i am going to be pleased with those draft picks. you are correct though. teams are just going to have to sign there players before free agency. but this will give players even more leverage to hold out until that period to do so knowing a team can give an offer sheet for beacoup denero.
I agree with jerlejeune completely. We haven't seen a significant RFA signing since the mid-90's when Carolina signed Federov to that ridiculously front loaded offer sheet. The GM's only have the hammer in negotiations for 7 years now. They aren't going to blow that opportunity by starting a bidding war for RFA's. It would be completely insane.
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