TSN has the grizzly details. But BB didn’t relinquish his young power forward Dustin Penner quietly: “. . . this is the second time this year in my opinion Edmonton have offered a grossly inflated salary for a player, and it impacts on all 30 teams and I think it’s an act of desperation by a general manager who is fighting to keep his job.”
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I think it’s a bad sign for salaries in the future. How much do you pay for a guy’s potential? And length is tricky too. You never know what will happen to a player, especially playing a sport as physical as hockey.
This is not a good thing for the league as a whole. One rogue GM has way too much power; Vanek was outlandishly over-salaried, but the Sabres could not give up, having lost their top 2 guys to free agency. You can see the difference with Anaheim; they retained many pieces of their team and are near the salary cap; they did the predictable and smart thing by taking the draft choices. Hockey outcome should be decided in the rink and not by the businessmen. Let’s hope sanity prevails; moreover, let’s hope agents don’t pursue “Vanek” type of terms for non-superstar talents.
v/r
Doug
I don’t see as much doom and gloom. Penner is a gamble at that salary. What if the Oilers strike gold and he really turns into a player worth that salary. Also Edmonton had to do something to get some players since they could attract much in free agency.
“I’m not in the business of trying to make friends. Never have, never will be… It’s not a priority to mend this fence.”
I hope Lowe isn’t planning on trying to make any trades anytime soon…
usiel, I’m surprised at you. “What if” the Oil strike gold with Penner? What if he’s Oleg Kvasha? Or Dainius Zubrus? Is the NHL on a platform of popularity and fiscal stability such as to be doling out “What if” contracts to players with 40 games in the Bigs? How soon we seem to forget ‘04-’05.
My hope is that the league (i.e., arbitrators) see this contract as an anomoly brought on by the circumstances (namely, that’s its an inflated RFA offer designed to pull a player away from another team). I’d hate to think that this contract would be used as a comparable in negotiations….
I think its a bit of an anomaly, after what happened with Pronger, then Smyth, and Nylander. In Lowe’s case, I suppose he figured that was the only way to get a talented free agent to Edmonton – someone who has a long enough career ahead of him to later play in what he perceives as a more desirable location (and presumably has no wife objecting to living there or family obligations).
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