Inside The Penalty Box 09.18.06: Islanders' Circus Continues ...
Posted by Neil Borenstein on 09.18.2006
Charles Wang continues to kill the team out on Long Island while Bob Clarke proves once again why he is one of the most hated GMs in the NHL. Plus, the third week of our look at fantasy hockey - this time focusing on centers!
Isles' circus of a summer continues …
www.newyorkislanders.com
I really don't get it.
I'm so completely confused as to how team owner Charles Wang wants his team to be represented in the National Hockey League. Does he want the New York Islanders to be taken seriously? Or is he completely content to have them be known as the current laughing stock of the league?
I know some time has past for this whole Rick DiPietro deal to blow over, but the hell if anybody thinks I'm not going to dedicate a lot of this column to completely blasting the 15-year, $67.5 million contract that was agreed to between the unproven netminder and the team that actually had a general manager with credentials on their staff, but decided to toss him away for a backup goalie.
I don't know if Wang actually knows he owns, and is majority-running, a professional hockey franchise, or if he thinks he is running a three-ring circus. But this summer has been a complete joke for Long Island. And as a fan of the New York Rangers, normally I would just scoff and revel in the utter stupidity of a rival. But I have to say that I honestly feel bad for Islanders' fans.
Things looked to be on the up-and-up for the Islanders coming into the offseason. Sure, they had just missed the playoffs by 14 points (finishing 12th in the conference), but they had hired a new head coach in Ted Nolan – whose absence in the NHL was far too long in some peoples' eyes – and a new general manager in Neil Smith, who would replace the utter disappointment in Mike Milbury with a Stanley Cup winning leader. This was a duo hired on the same day in early June. And while nothing was ever guaranteed from these two, they at least put the Islanders in a much better situation with their knowledge of the game – business-wise and play-wise.
But then Wang decided to get involved. And one of the worst things that can happen in sports is when somebody who doesn't have a freakin' clue, but has all the power in the world to make decisions, decides to stick his nose in something he would much better serve his team staying out of. After Smith made some decent moves to aid in the improvement of the franchise, specifically with the signings of Brendan Witt, Tom Poti and Mike Sillinger, Wang decided that he should give him the ax based on "philosophical differences."
If you want to see my thoughts on that move, check out the July 24th edition of Inside The Penalty Box. But to make a long story short, it was a senseless move. And why was it senseless? Because Wang immediately named Garth Snow (previously the Islanders' backup goalie) as Smith's replacement at the GM desk. So they went from a tried-and-true general manager just trying to get another shot to a backup goalie with as much general manager experience as … well … ME!
What really came to the surface, however, was that Snow was going to have as little to do with running this hockey club as possible. He essentially had nothing to do with the Mike York arbitration hearing, and probably only accepted the award of $2.85 million over one year because Wang told him to. Snow's only signing, really, was that of Sean Hill to a one-year deal. And Hill is a 36-year-old defenseman that will probably be this team's fifth or sixth blue liner in the lineup.
The biggest task at hand for Snow was the re-signing of DiPietro, who was a restricted free agent. But it became extremely apparent that Snow was really going to have very little to do with the negotiation process to try and re-sign the player he has just previously backed up. Instead, this was going to be Wang's endeavor, and he was going to attempt to do more than what is required (and what is liked) out of an owner.
A major problem for the Islanders was that with the opening of training camp a few weeks away, the team needed to try and lock up DiPietro to a deal. There were two conditions to this, however. First, Snow could not do anything with DiPietro until Wang came back from his incredibly important summer vacation. Wang wanted to be at the forefront of this deal, and he was not going to allow his new, and completely untested, GM screw up the negotiations with the team's "franchise" netminder. Instead, Wang wanted to do the screwing up.
The second condition that was a policy of Wang was that any player from the organization that is not signed by the start of training camp will not be signed by the team. That means any player previously holding a contract with the Islanders who had not re-signed to a new deal by the time training camp opened would be given the boot and forced to sit out the season. For some reason, Wang can take time off from doing "his" job, causing a slowing down of the negotiation process for those deals he wants to be involved in, but players can't miss time in training camp for a legitimate reason – like not having a freakin' contract!
So one day, Wang decided to return from his tanning session and actually get down to business, and start working on a deal he had no confidence in his new general manger doing by himself – even though he thought Snow was perfectly capable of handling the job post-Smith.
And on Tuesday, out came the most ludicrous deal I have personally ever seen in sports. DiPietro was signed to a 15-year, $67.5 million deal by the Islanders only one year after Milbury tried to sign the goalie to a 15-year, $60 million contract. That Milbury offer never came to fruition after the league pressured the team to think otherwise.
DiPietro's new deal averages out at $4.5 million a season for what is seemingly the rest of his NHL career. And what's most funny about this deal is that it comes with guaranteed money if DiPietro retires based on a career-ending injury. If I were him, I would "accidentally" step in front of a truck tomorrow morning.
I can understand the yearning to lock up DiPietro long term. Though he is far from the proven one number netminder the Islanders were hoping they would get when they drafted him first overall in the 2000 draft, he is still a solid goalie that can grow into the franchise player on Long Island. But, he not there yet and there is no guarantee he is ever going to get there. To reward him with a 15-year deal that, at least for now, pays him far more than he is worth is a horrible mistake.
In fact, there are a lot of different problems that arise out of this:
- "Let's just say DiPietro takes off and he becomes a star and a top-five goalie and you have to pay him $7 million a year, let him go to another team if you can't afford him because you can get a pretty damn good goalie at $4 million every year," said an Eastern Conference GM.
"They're trying to protect themselves from that $7-million salary but quite honestly, it's an absolutely ridiculous thing to do," added the GM. "From an organization's point of view, it makes absolutely no sense." {Credit: TSN.ca, September 12}
This is basically what I was just discussing, though it goes a bit further in the words of this unknown Eastern Conference general manager.
At the current moment, DiPietro isn't a $4.5 million goalie in the NHL, and what the Islanders are trying to do is pay him that much now and make it an attractive number now so that they can avoid having to sign him to a contract later on that exceeds that number if he becomes a premier goalie in the NHL. And while that might make some sense from the perspective of right now, a few years down the road, that type of thinking is not going to work.
Because let's say DiPietro never gets there. Let's say he never gets to the $7 million deserving plateau. The Islanders basically pulled off this deal for nothing. And then, they're stuck with the contract until he's about 40-years-old.
Then let's say he never really reaches the $4.5 million deserving plateau. Now, not only do they have a goalie that they didn't save money on, but they are now overpaying him until he's 40.
And let's put that wonderful age of 40 in perspective. This deal doesn't expire until 2021. I can run for President at that point. In fact, that's basically one year after the election I can first run for President. And including that election, between now and then, this country will have held four Presidential elections. FOUR!
The Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby will be 33-years-old, going on 34, and the Washington Capitals' Alexander Ovechkin will be 35-years-old, going on 36. And by that point, whether or not these players are Hall of Famers will have already been decided.
Simply put, that's a lot of time. That is a lot of time to be stuck with a contract for a player; pending he makes it through the entire deal and doesn't get injured enough to cause a retirement.
- ''I don't know the benefit of a 15-year contract," said Philadelphia's Bob Clarke, the only GM contacted by [Canadian Press] who would go on the record on the subject. "But they must have their own thoughts on that. They also signed (Alexei) Yashin to 10 (years). For us, in today's world, we think five years is a long contract […]
"But if DiPietro turns out to be one the best goalies in the league, then it's a hell of a deal." {Credit: TSN.ca, September 12}
Not only does Clarke's statement call out the length of the deal, which I have already established is extremely excessive, but the Islanders have already been bitten by this bug before.
Having already signed Alexei Yashin to a 10-year deal, the Islanders just added another very lengthy contract to their payroll. Now, in fairness, the Yashin contract was made before the new collective bargaining agreement was put into effect (this deal came in 2001 to be exact), and not even the Islanders could have predicted the implications that would have resulted from a new CBA. But, Yashin's salary is one the Islanders will never be able to get rid of, as he is nowhere near worth the damn near $8 million he's making per season.
The Islanders still have half of that Yashin deal to live with, and now they have added another long-term deal without recognizing that anything over five is not very smart.
As Clarke said, if DiPietro turns into an elite goalie in the NHL, this was a major plus for the Islanders. But DiPietro has not yet proven that he can be the franchise goalie of the Islanders. At this point, though, the Islanders have tagged him as such, regardless of whether his talent ever gets to that point.
He was a 30-game winner last season, and that's nothing to scoff at with an underachieving Islanders team. But he also had a goals against average over three and a save percentage at .900. I mean, I can think of a lot worse goalies in the NHL to give that kind of deal to, but as a career 2.85 GAA and .900 SV% player, I don't think DiPietro qualifies as a player a team should have that much confidence in.
- "How's he going to react to all this?" wondered one GM. "He's never going to have another negotiation in his career, how motivated will he be? If this Rick DiPietro isn't a completely passionate athlete, he's going to sleep. He has to, that's just human nature." {Credit: TSN.ca, September 12}
This is perhaps the biggest indictment of this deal, and I'm so happy this general manager said something in this Canadian Press story.
What the hell does DiPietro have left to play for?
I know a Stanley Cup is the obvious reason here. It is a huge reason for players lacing up the skates game-in and game-out. But how important is that to DiPietro?
There are a lot of players that go play careers in sports and never win a championship. But at least they have the motivation to play their butts off because they might be playing for their next payday.
We see it all the time in sports. How many athletes have monster years during their contract season, and then bomb during the duration of their next rich deal? So many athletes step up and perform extraordinarily well during their contract season, and then are absolutely nothing compared to that benchmark.
Sports are about money. A championship is nice, and athletes will always want to win. But, money is always more important. And level of motivation has to be reduced when a player no longer needs to prove himself for his next contract. This is DiPietro's last deal. As long as he plays, or is retired due to career-ending injuries, he is making his $67.5 million. Nobody can take that away from him, and he no longer has to prove anything to anybody.
As this GM says, if DiPietro doesn't have the passion for game, his play on the ice is going to be a reflection of that because it no longer becomes a money issue for him. Whether he wins 30 games or five, whether he has a 2.5 GAA or a 5.5 GAA, whether he has a .920 SV% or a .775 SV% or whether he has 10 shutouts or none, DiPietro is making his money. And if the Cup is not a huge priority for him, what the hell does he care if he never backstops the Islanders to anything?
Money is a motivator for athletes. For DiPietro and the Islanders, they have to hope a Stanley Cup Championship is enough.
Plain and simple, long-term deals don't work in the NHL like they used to. With a salary cap system in place, they can hinder a team's future tremendously. I bashed the New Jersey Devils for giving Patrick Elias a seven-year deal, and that pales in comparison to the lunacy of this deal.
I don't know if Wang really understands what he is running here, but he better learn real quick because this summer has been nothing short of a joke for the Islanders. From removing a proven GM for a backup goalie to signing a current goalie to a 15-year deal, the Islanders have set themselves up for years of uncertainty. For Islanders fans, who really never got to see their team become a real playoff threat, that has to be an abysmal future to look forward to.
Bob Clarke being Bob Clarke …
"I was told a long time ago that Bob Clarke would kick his grandmother down a flight of stairs if it would give him a better chance of winning," [Vancouver Canucks general manager Dave] Nonis said Friday at the Canucks training camp. "That's what it comes down to.
"It's something I didn't understand. It's something I don't understand to this minute. That's what he did." {Credit: TSN.ca, September 15}
Philadelphia Flyers' general manager Bob Clarke decided to be the asshole he is known to be around the NHL and gave Vancouver Canucks' restricted free agent forward Ryan Kesler an offer sheet for $1.9 million – a value Vancouver was set to sign Kesler to on a two-year deal. This was the first offer sheet signed by a restricted free agent in the NHL since 1999.
While Clarke technically did nothing wrong, and was simply playing by the rules of the NHL CBA, he went and did something that was highly unnecessary.
For starters, it was simple logic to assess that the Canucks were going to match that offer sheet. All Clarke did was inflate the price at which the Canucks were going to do so, forcing them to cough up $1 million more to keep him in Vancouver.
Second, Clarke offered a $1.9 million deal to a player hardly deserving of that salary. Kesler was a 10-goal scorer, and to make up a bullshit excuse that he would be Keith Primeau's replacement in Philadelphia is ludicrous and does not nearly support the gross overpayment Kesler is now set to receive.
Finally, it's quite convenient for Clarke to not recognize the implications this move would have since he doesn't have any restricted free agents sitting in his stable. But not too long ago, Simon Gagne was threatening to sit out of training camp if he didn't have a new deal. He finally received a five-year, $26.25 million contract from the Flyers, but how pissed off would Clarke be had some team gone ahead and offered Gagne an offer sheet worth $6 million a season? I don't think he would have been too thrilled, and I highly doubt he would take the "it's in the rules" perspective. Sure, the four first round draft picks would have helped ease the pain had Clarke decided to let Gagne go. But Gagne is an important player in Philadelphia, and that just wouldn't have been smart. He would have had to pay up.
In the end, Clarke can say he doesn't care about what other general managers think about him, which is quite clear when he said, "I don't give a (expletive deleted) if nobody likes me, I could care less," Clarke told TSN. "But they shouldn't be getting mad at me, I didn't put the (offer sheet) rule in the collective bargaining agreement. If they're mad, they should call Gary Bettman and complain to him. Get mad at Gary Bettman. He's in charge of the rules, not me. I didn't realize there were some rules we're not allowed to use." {Credit: TSN.ca, September 14}
However, I doubt he would have gone on a tirade, which doesn't end on that quote, had he really not given a (expletive deleted) about it. He knew he would have this coming, and he certainly cares a little bit if he got so offensive about other general managers getting on him. And they did have every right to.
Clarke says that they are ridiculous for saying this inflated player costs, using Zdeno Chara's deal with the Bruins as an example. But what Clarke fails to realize is that unrestricted free agency is a completely different monster than restricted free agency. I'll agree Chara didn't deserve anywhere near the amount of money he received, but sometimes you need to overpay to get the player you want. That's just the nature of the beast. I don't agree with it, and I blasted it myself, but that's how it goes. Restricted free agency is a system where the team last played on by that player has the advantage, and it's everybody against that one team. It's not nearly as much of a free-for-all. Unrestricted free agency is known for forcing overpayment. It's not right, but it's always been that way. For Clarke to compare that to a useless offer sheet that he had to know was never going to result in Kesler becoming a Flyer was just not logical. It was a low blow move to try and force the Canucks' hand, and there was no doubt they were going to match.
Clarke just made the move for the sake of making a move, and that is the true mark of an asshole. Is this dire to the economic system of the NHL? No. But it sure as hell doesn't help.
Besides, what the hell is Clarke offering damn near two million dollars for a center for? Maybe he should worry about his goaltending situation first, as Robert Esche still absolutely sucks and Antero Niittymaki still hasn't proven he can completely taken over.
A little look at some fantasy hockey … Part Three
In last week's edition of Inside The Penalty Box, we took a look at defensemen for the upcoming fantasy hockey season. This week, we look at some centers, and I'll toss out one honorable mention and one sleeper in addition to the top five as I view them to be ranked.
Centers
1. Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks- The winner of the Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy should legitimately be the first overall selection in ALL fantasy drafts, but he's likely to go anywhere in the top four. After being traded to the San Jose Sharks from the Boston Bruins, Joe Thornton managed to score 20 goals and notch 72 assists (thanks in large part to Jonathan Cheechoo's stellar goal scoring ability) in 58 games. Added with the 23 games he played in Boston, Thornton finished the season with 29 goals and 96 assists for 125 points. On top of that, he had 40 points on the power play, mostly dominated with assists (32.) And while his total penalty minute mark was down, Thornton is still a physical presence and the best power forward in the game, and he should once against reach around 100 PIMs next season. Overall, look for Thornton to snag over 100 points again with around 80-90 assists. I don't care what spot you draft in. If he's there – take him.
2. Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes- Eric Staal has a breakout season last year on his way to becoming a Stanley Cup Champion. Scoring 45 goals and adding 55 assists for 100 points shows that Staal is an excellent all-around player. Centers are typically know for being better playmakers, thus scoring vastly better assist totals than goals scored. But Staal managed to do it all, and along with visiting the penalty box for 81 minutes, scoring 40 power play points and snagging four game-winning goals, he showed himself to be the future leader of the organization currently under the wing of Rod Brind'Amour. With tons of experience under his belt now that he has made it to postseason glory, Staal should repeat with similar numbers, and I think he can top 100 points this season if everybody clicks like they did last season on offense for Carolina. He should be off the board by late-first to mid-second rounds of fantasy drafts.
3. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins- Sidney Crosby goes off the board very early and will be gone by mid-first round in all fantasy drafts (unless everybody in the league is stoned or something.) He reached a large percentage of his incoming hype last season, and I see no reason that Crosby cannot get better with a full season of Colby Armstrong around him. I know, it's Colby Armstrong, but the two had chemistry last season when they were on the same line. Simply put, though, Crosby excelled on a team last season that it's very difficult to excel on. And while the Penguins are still disgustingly far away from playoff contention, Crosby is one of few bright spots the team can brag about. And with Evgeni Malkin likely to suit up, the two could perhaps team up for a nice unit on the power play. Crosby topped 100 points in his rookie year with 39 goals and 63 assists for 102 points, and also visited the box for 110 minutes and scored 47 points on the man advantage. This kid is stellar offensively. The only thing he will hurt you in is +/- ratings, but since he only walked out with a –1 rating last season, it's worth the hit in that category to grab him.
4. Peter Forsberg, Philadelphia Flyers- Peter Forsberg's status in fantasy leagues varies, and he could go anywhere from the mid-second round to somewhere in the fourth. But don't forget about him because he might be a player that slips your mind since he is ranked eighth among centers and 40th overall in Yahoo leagues. It's not hard to realize why since he only put up 75 points last year, but he did it in 60 games and topped 50 assists in the process. Forsberg's lingering injury issues must also be a concern, so I would say only take him if you are confident you can find an adequate number two and three. You never know when he's going to end up on the shelf. But as long as Forberg is playing, he's going to give you numbers, more so in assists than anything else. A lot of what he offers depends on his health, but if you're optimistic, you can't be blamed for grabbing him somewhere in the second to fourth rounds.
5. Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators- Jason Spezza has grown with the Ottawa Senators organization, and last season was a monster year for him with 71 assists and 90 points. Scoring 41 points on the power play and having a +23 rating didn't hurt either. This upcoming season will be a defining one for him. Spezza can prove to be an elite center in the NHL if he can repeat his 90-point performance, or perhaps even surpass it. But if he comes up short, then maybe last year was just a very lucky one for him. I'm optimistic about Spezza, and I think the Senators are a great all-around team. He will benefit from being their leading center, and I think he'll get around 25 goals and 60-65 assists. Spezza is a late-first to mid-second round selection.
Honorable Mention:
Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche- Joe Sakic is still one of the most skilled centers in the National Hockey League, but for some reason, he's falling to fourth to sixth round selections in fantasy drafts. Sakic is still a 30+ goal scorer and 80+ points scorer. Last season, he had 87 points between 32 goals and 55 assists. And despite Alex Tanguay no longer being there, Sakic will still be a clutch member of the Colorado Avalanche team. Why he falls that far I don't know, but Sakic will undoubtedly make fantasy owners happy this upcoming season with an over 80-point performance again. Plus, he gives you a decent set of power play points, visits the box for a decent amount of minutes and will produce a good number of game-winning goals. He's definitely a steal anywhere after round four.
Sleeper:
Robert Lang, Detroit Red Wings- Robert Lang tends to be available until the 12th or 13th round in fantasy drafts, and he would make a good second center option and an amazing third center/bench option. Lang has the ability to put up a big-point season, and has an upside of 80 points with a decent season consisting of around 60 points. Regardless, he has that ability to be a key player, and with the Detroit Red Wings' offense being more depleted than usual with the retirement of Steve Yzerman and the loss of Brendan Shanahan in free agency, Lang is going to be a huge part of Detroit's offense. He is not a first center option, but if you need a second or third center towards the 12th or 13th round, grab Lang if he's still available.
Make sure to tune in next week as ITPB looks at wingers!
Send all comments, questions, suggestions and telephone numbers from the ladies to br7qbsteelers@yahoo.com.
Until next week, you have just been Inside The Penalty Box!
