New NHL UFA Balancing Act
Posted 3:01 PM ET | Comments 2
many fans, bloggers, gm's etc are worried about the spending spiraling out of control. but i feel they are wrong...
...the over the top mentality the flyers and rangers had this july 1st is going to cause a counter-reaction for the remaining gm's this season. i believe we will see more the likes of joe thornton and iginla type signings by the time the new year hits.
hossa, heatley, liles and marleau will all be signed by their respective clubs by GM's having a little forsight. buffalo is the perfect example why it is futile to wait on free agency and let the sugar plums dance around in their premeir players' heads. the only players that will not be signed early are the teams not willing to take on large salaries. i see dan boyle hitting the market as i do wade redden, prospal, demitra and naslund. they will be the top UFA available. not quite as nice as we saw this year.
the catch 22 of all this is that the fewer premier UFA's the more prices will sky rocket for these players. and with the top ones already crossed off the 2008 UFA list. expect the gm's and players to continue the trend and counter balance the madness by signing longer term deals at lower prices.
...the over the top mentality the flyers and rangers had this july 1st is going to cause a counter-reaction for the remaining gm's this season. i believe we will see more the likes of joe thornton and iginla type signings by the time the new year hits.
hossa, heatley, liles and marleau will all be signed by their respective clubs by GM's having a little forsight. buffalo is the perfect example why it is futile to wait on free agency and let the sugar plums dance around in their premeir players' heads. the only players that will not be signed early are the teams not willing to take on large salaries. i see dan boyle hitting the market as i do wade redden, prospal, demitra and naslund. they will be the top UFA available. not quite as nice as we saw this year.
the catch 22 of all this is that the fewer premier UFA's the more prices will sky rocket for these players. and with the top ones already crossed off the 2008 UFA list. expect the gm's and players to continue the trend and counter balance the madness by signing longer term deals at lower prices.
You may be right, but I think some players do put dollars well before other considertation, and those players will wait to become UFA's before signing with anyone. For example: a player in a small market like Heatley may take the same money to leave Ottawa and go to a larger market with more endorsement opportunities such as NY, Philly, LA or Chicago (though it is hard to believe anyone would want to play for the Hawks crappy ownership!). That being said, many upcoming UFA's will be signed during the season, and don't be surprised if some are traded between the end of the playoffs and July 1st like the way Nashville sent Timmonen and Hartnell to Philly.
It's probably only a matter of time before we see NHL trades going the way of the NBA... where the most important facet of the deal is usually the contract status as opposed to the quality of the players. Thats unfortununate because the propensity for trades is one of the most exciting parts of hockey... and it's something that really no other sport duplicates. It may be gone soon! UGH!