Well, I’m glad I wasted about fifteen minutes of my afternoon to watch today’s press conference. I usually don’t watch that sort of thing, but I tuned in anyways hoping to get some insight into the contract extensions of the Big Three. It consisted of a lame introduction video, lack of inquisitive questions from the press corps and no contract details either.
Anyway, here is the year-to-year breakdown of the Keith, Toews and Kane extensions:
Duncan Keith (13 years, $5.54M cap hit) – $8; $8; $7.65; $7.6; $7.5; $6; $5; $4.5; $3.5; $2.65; $2.1; $1.5
Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane (5 years, $6.3M cap hit each) – $6.5; $6; $6; $6.5; $6.5
My first impression of the contract extensions handed to the Big Three is that they are over market value for players of their caliber in the league. What happened to the hometown discount? Stan Bowman has been dubbed as a salary-cap genius, but the guy can’t negotiate his way of a paper bag. What are your thoughts on the Keith, Toews and Kane deals?
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I’m really confused where this thought of being over market value is coming from. There’s nothing shocking about these numbers. It’s not like they gave Kane and Toews an Ovechkin or Malkin type contract. That would be over market value. Florida gave David Booth an extension at $4.4 million. Kane and Toews wouldn’t get less or equal to him.
I find it funny now that Hawk fans who for decades complained about their team’s inability to spend for their own talent are now perturbed that their team is overspending to keep their players. How the world goes round.
I could have used better wording then ‘over market value’ to make my point. For a team that was already painted into a corner in regard to next season’s payroll, you would think the GM would try to get the best price for the franchise in order to save as much cap-space as possible. I feel as though the extensions of Kane and Toews were a little much, but Keith’s was fair.
In no way did I comparing their extensions to the contracts of guys like Ovechkin or Malkin, but there are players in the league at or around the same age and talent level with lower cap hits. Mike Richards and Ryan Getzlaf are two that come to mind (in comparison with Kane and Toews).
Well, the Richards comparison you can throw away immediately. When he signed his contract after his rookie contract expired, he was coming off point lines of 32,34, and 75. Toews and Kane outscored him in their rookie seasons in is first two years combined. Richards didn’t start putting up big numbers until his enormous contract was signed. So that doesn’t really fly.
Getzlaf’s contract has long been considered one of the biggest bargains in the league. Also, after his first three years, he had seasons of 39, 58, and 82 points. I don’t recall when he signed his extension but if it was during his third season, I imagine there was a decent amount of hand-wringing about overpaid he was at the time. Getzlaf also has never scored 30 goals in a season. Toews has.
If you want to look at similar stat lines, draft order, and contracts of Kane and Toews, it’s Kopitar and Stastny. Both have hits well above 6.3. Kane absolutely took a hometown discount, imo. Toews is pretty much right where he should be.
You’re entitled to your opinion John, as am I to mine. I’ll continue thinking that Stan Bowman could have signed Toews and Kane at a slightly lower price, but there is nothing my opinion can do to change the fact that Kane and Toews signed extensions with a cap hit of $6.3M.