TheRussianRocket. Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=8623613 VANCOUVER — Each man would be appalled at the association, but seven hours and $350-million US into National Hockey League free agency on Friday, we discovered that Mike Gillis and Brian Burke have something in common. It was 12 years ago that Burke, then general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, famously stood before reporters and said how embarrassed he was to work in the NHL when so many GMs were “nuts, absolutely out of their minds” when it came to free-agent spending. On Friday, Gillis merely wanted to say it. You could tell. This is the league that locked out players for four months, then tried to justify it by telling fans the hockey business needed fixing and that this would be achieved if owners got a bigger share of revenue by lowering the salary cap. Then on the fifth day of the seventh month — lucky seven to anyone with a pair of skates and an agent with a working telephone — these fiscally-responsible and wary owners allowed their top employees to gorge on free agents. General managers stuffed themselves in a feeding frenzy unseen in league history, pouring more than $350 million into free agents’ bank accounts by Friday afternoon. Including the $128 million paid to players this week to buy them out of contracts, a procedure intended to allow these cornered GMs to duck under the plunging salary cap, the player tab is nearly a half-billion dollars. And it far exceeds that when all the money committed players signed or re-signed by teams before the opening bell Friday is counted. Within two hours, spending had already surpassed last year’s opening-day record of $201 million. Imagine if the salary cap wasn’t plummeting, dropping to $64.3 million next year from $70.2 million. Imagine if these free agents were not universally regarded as the mangiest crop in years. PHOTOS: NHL STARS ON THE MOVE (or go to photo tab on this story) David Clarkson, a 29-year-old who has 170 points in 426 NHL games, got a seven-year contract worth $36.75 million from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ryane Clowe cashed in on his three-goal season with a five-year, $24.25-million deal from the New Jersey Devils. The Tampa Bay Lightning agreed to pay Valtteri Filppula, who once in six seasons has surpassed 40 points, $25 million over five years. Chronic under-achiever Stephen Weiss got the same from the Detroit Red Wings. “Uh, you know, I don’t know how to describe it actually,” Gillis began when asked about the gush of money from teams to players. Expert commentators described nearly every signing as good, great or fabulous for the team. History will prove otherwise on many of the transactions. Certainly, they were fabulous for the players. Told how Burke once described his colleagues’ spending, Gillis smiled, fidgeted slightly and said: “I’m not embarrassed being part of the NHL but I am surprised. I’m surprised about the (length) of a lot of the contracts that came down. But you know what? That’s those teams and their operation. They do things for the reasons they think are right. We weren’t part of it this year, but we have been in the past.” The Canucks signed only gritty, versatile forward Brad Richardson (two years at $1.15 million) and depth defenceman Yannick Weber (one year, $650,000). But Gillis shouldn’t be lauded for his restraint. Apart from making big-ticket purchases during past free-agency openings, the Canucks have already committed so much money to keep the players they have, there was little left to spend on Friday. What they did commit, they did so strategically. Richardson, 28, a speedy and antagonizing player from the Los Angeles Kings, adds some of the “bite” that new coach John Tortorella desires and could fill a hole as the Canucks’ third-line centre. But with just 16 points in 99 regular-season and playoff games the last two seasons, Richardson must prove he has the offensive skills to play in the top nine. He’ll be pushed at training camp by Canucks prospects Jordan Schroeder, Bo Horvat and Brendan Gaunce. “I don’t even think I’ve come close to reaching my potential offensively,” Richardson, who is from Belleville, Ont., said. “I haven’t been given a ton of opportunity that way. Vancouver wouldn’t have brought me in if they didn’t think there was more there. That’s been the frustrating thing — it was nice to play in L.A. on a great team, but I knew I had more to give.” The 24-year-old Weber, who spent parts of the last four seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, has a good right-handed shot and replaces some of the blue-line depth the Canucks lost by buying out Keith Ballard and not re-signing Andrew Alberts. The Canucks chose to pursue Weber over Jonathon Blum, the former Nashville Predator and Vancouver Giants’ junior star who had expressed a desire to return to the city. The Canucks were outbid by the Edmonton Oilers on Phoenix Coyotes centre Boyd Gordon (three years, $9 million) and were sticker-shocked by rugged Dallas Stars winger Eric Nystrom, who went to the Predators (four years, $10 million). Centre Max Lapierre became an ex-Canuck, signing with St. Louis. Vancouver added a pair of minor-league defencemen, Alex Biega and Jeremie Blain. The transactions left the Canucks with about $5.7 million of salary cap space, but still needing another five players to fill out their NHL roster. Two of those players, still to be re-signed as restricted free agents, will be defenceman Chris Tanev and fourth-line winger Dale Weise. The other spots may remain open for training-camp competition. This assumes Roberto Luongo, defaulted to starter status by Sunday’s trade of Cory Schneider in a cliffhanger ending to the Canucks’ goaltending melodrama, decides eventually to return to Vancouver to resume collecting the $40 million the team owes him. He has little choice, really, but it’s interesting that the 34-year-old now has Gillis flapping in the breeze just as Luongo was buffeted by uncertainty for 14 months. “I’m going to go down (to Florida) and meet Roberto as soon as we settle down here,” Gillis reiterated. “Right after things happen, in the heat of the moment, people say things and do things. Roberto’s our goalie. He’s under contract here. I’m going to go down and go through all the events with him and make sure we have a clear understanding. “I want to make sure that I’m absolutely clear to him and explain everything that occurred. I have the utmost respect for this guy. He’s an absolutely fantastic person.” Fantastically well-paid, too. After all, he plays hockey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashian Kassian Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 I agree, even if we had money some of those contracts are so ridiculous. I'm glad we werent in on guys like Clarkson, Clowe, Filppula, exc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRussianRocket. Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 I initially wanted to Gillis to get Clowe it Iggy a few days ago but after seeing today what money they were given, good riddance we never signed some high profile players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IIlIlIIllIlIIIlIl Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 I agree too. Good job on Gillis for not going crazy... Just apalled by how much Filpulla and Clarkson got.. People need to realize that this will probably help the Nucks in the long run as a bad contract can haunt you for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rypien37 Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Still should have gotten Blum over Y.Webber....makes no sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DollarAndADream Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 I agree. Gillis may get flamed for not signing a big FA, but the price was a huge one to pay. This kind of sums it up: "Ryane Clowe cashed in on his three-goal season with a five-year, $24.25-million deal" Clarkson is making over $5 million also. More than our beloved Ryan Kesler. Not far away from the Sedins salary either. If the twins were UFA's this year, you could imagine what money would be thrown at them if guys like the ones above are making their money. Or any pure-offensive talent that would be a UFA. Devils cashed in pretty well signing Ryder to only $3.5 million. There's still some players out there too who the Canucks could try for, nonetheless. The Canucks finally have some high-end talented prospects in the system, and I'm glad that they are getting a chance to crack the big club. I'm excited for training camp and to see which guys step up. The biggest maybe "problem" we have is Luongo., but we don't really know anything about it. We don't know what he's thinking. For all we know he's just tired of the media bugging him all the time and wants his summer off, and will return to the club. All we can do is wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Gillis can't go out and get big contract guys because of how tight our team is cap-wise already, but he has to be able to replace the players he's letting go. So far, our team's offseason has gone as such: OUT: Raymond Lapierre Alberts Ballard Schneider IN: Horvat Richardson Webber It's all well and good to say that young players will play in more important roles next season, but quite frankly Ballard was a better defenceman than Webber, Raymond was much better than Richardson and Lapierre was better than Horvat, not to mention our mess of a goalie situation right now with Luongo still undecided, no true proven NHL-worthy backup and no set starter. Gillis still has a lot to do before the season starts. We have to fill some offence in our bottom 6 still, sign Tanev and fix up the goalie problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJDDawg Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 It's not like he had a choice. He has no money. I agree that the money thrown around today was nuts, but we couldn't even afford a guy like Eric Freaking Nystrom or Boyd Gordon. Booth's $4.5 Mill is such a waste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamJamIam Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Gillis can't go out and get big contract guys because of how tight our team is cap-wise already, but he has to be able to replace the players he's letting go. So far, our team's offseason has gone as such: OUT: Raymond Lapierre Alberts Ballard Schneider IN: Horvat Richardson Webber It's all well and good to say that young players will play in more important roles next season, but quite frankly Ballard was a better defenceman than Webber, Raymond was much better than Richardson and Lapierre was better than Horvat, not to mention our mess of a goalie situation right now with Luongo still undecided, no true proven NHL-worthy backup and no set starter. Gillis still has a lot to do before the season starts. We have to fill some offence in our bottom 6 still, sign Tanev and fix up the goalie problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stexx Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Gillis can't go out and get big contract guys because of how tight our team is cap-wise already, but he has to be able to replace the players he's letting go. So far, our team's offseason has gone as such: OUT: Raymond Lapierre Alberts Ballard Schneider IN: Horvat Richardson Webber It's all well and good to say that young players will play in more important roles next season, but quite frankly Ballard was a better defenceman than Webber, Raymond was much better than Richardson and Lapierre was better than Horvat, not to mention our mess of a goalie situation right now with Luongo still undecided, no true proven NHL-worthy backup and no set starter. Gillis still has a lot to do before the season starts. We have to fill some offence in our bottom 6 still, sign Tanev and fix up the goalie problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJDDawg Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 http://www.capgeek.c...13&year_id=2013 4.25million. booths comparable caphits, he is close to the bottom of that list but certainly not the worst. At most booth is overpaid by about a million to 1.5mil which really isnt all that far off in the grand scheme of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flapjacks Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Side: I'm liking Richardson's attitude. Hope he works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bookie Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Still should have gotten Blum over Y.Webber....makes no sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DollarAndADream Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 I agree. I was more referring to the fact that we haven't received much value for that paycheque, and it could have been better spent on a couple guys solid role players like Nystrom and Gordon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drouin Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Agreed. Very happy MG decided not to spend a lot. So many players got overpaid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IIlIlIIllIlIIIlIl Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 It's not like he had a choice. He has no money. I agree that the money thrown around today was nuts, but we couldn't even afford a guy like Eric Freaking Nystrom or Boyd Gordon. Booth's $4.5 Mill is such a waste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rounoush Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Wait who did Blum sign with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Heffy Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Too bad Gillis couldn't have been intelligent and quiet on draft day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Canuck Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Agree 100% with OP. MG still has a couple of months before next season and plenty of time to fine tune the team. The roster on opening night could contain a few more new names yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodee Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 http://www.vancouver...html?id=8623613 Take a seat and jot down some notes. This is why Gillis stayed quiet today...the way things were ridiculously going on it makes the Sedins at $6.1 mill look pathetically cheap. ...watch these teams who gave out these unorthodox contracts suffer in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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