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Post by Score on Jul 6, 2007 12:48:42 GMT -3
The Edmonton Oilers have made a huge splash in the restricted free agent pool.
Sources tell TSN that the team has signed forward Thomas Vanek to a seven-year, $50 million offer sheet, a signing that carries a price tag of four first round picks as compensation to the Buffalo Sabres if the team chooses not to retain him.
The deal would pay Vanek $5 million in the first two seasons, and $6.4 million in each of the following five seasons. The contract will also pay him a $5 million signing bonus in each of the first two years.
Vanek finished fifth in the league in goals with 43 and 19th in points with 84 in only his second season.
The Sabres have called a media conference for 12:30pm et/9:30am pt to address the news.
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Post by Hockeyfan99 on Jul 6, 2007 13:20:09 GMT -3
Honestly I am not sure if this is smart or desperate.
Vanek could be a great compliment for Hemsky over the next 5 years if he continues to put up over 40 goals and a point a game. Of course it is a lot of money and an overpayment in the short term but with the way salaries are going it could be worth it over the long term.
The only problem I have with is the 4 future first round picks is pretty stiff especially if Edm doesn't really improve over the next couple of seasons although they do have a lot of young forward talent stored away.
Anyway I am going to go with this being a smart move as Buffalo basically is forced to match the offer after losing Briere and Drury and if not Edmonton can afford the deal. And if they don't end up getting him at least they have the excuse that Washington stole Nylander and they did there best to land a primier forward like Vanek.
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Post by Score on Jul 6, 2007 13:49:43 GMT -3
Sabres general manager Darcy Regier called a media conference on Friday afternoon to announce that the team would match the offer.
The deal will pay Vanek $5 million in the first two seasons, and $6.4 million in each of the following five seasons. The contract will also pay him a $5 million and $3 million signing bonus in the first two years.
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Post by wingman on Jul 6, 2007 14:06:10 GMT -3
Another free agent getting way over paid. Even though he had 80+ points last year, I think he is going to have a hard time putting up those kinds of numbers again without Briere, Drury and Zubrus on the team. If I was Buffalo I would have taken the draft choices, but I don't think they are on a position right now to lose another player to free-agency as HF99 said.
I know the salary cap was put in place so that small market teams are able to compete on a more level playing field with the richer teams, but here you have a small market team driving up the market for restricted free agents. Makes lots of sense.
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Post by Score on Jul 26, 2007 23:20:42 GMT -3
The Edmonton Oilers are back at it again, tendering a five year, $21.25 million offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks Group II restricted free agent Dustin Penner.
The Ducks have seven days to match Edmonton's offer. Should the Ducks decide not to match, the compensation from the Oilers would be a first-round draft pick, a second-round pick and a third-round pick.
The Oilers and Penners agent would not comment until after Anaheim made a decision.
''We're going to wait and see what happens here in the next seven days before we make a comment,'' Penner's agent Gerry Johannson told The Canadian Press.
The Ducks' salary cap currently sits in the neighbourhood of $48 million. With the Penner signing, they would go over the $50.3-million maximum but a team is allowed to be over the salary cap by 10 per cent until Oct. 1.
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Post by Krang7 on Jul 27, 2007 8:25:56 GMT -3
Kevin Lowe just became Brian Burke's worst enemy. Not a good thing for him...
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Post by Hockeyfan99 on Jul 27, 2007 13:48:00 GMT -3
Vanek's offer I actually thought made sense as he has already shown top level skill and they were simply looking for him to continue to produce the way he did last season and going forward. Unfortunately for Lowe Buffalo was the wrong team as they had just lost Briere, Drury and Zubrus and had lots of cap room to match. Whereas I think the Penner offer is a much more intriguing strategic offer which comes with a lot of risk. IMO, without a doubt $4M per season is clear overpayment for Penner this season. But Penner is still only 24 and a developing Power forward who had 29 goals in his first full season and if he continues to develop $4M could be great value in years 3, 4 and 5. Obviously Anahiem won't want to let him go but they are pushed right up against the cap and in order to keep Penner they would need to find a way to free up about $2M as opposed to Edmonton who has about $10M in cap space. And Burke is always about the big picture so unless he dumps Marchand ($2.5M) I think he will instead add a good player and focus on developing Bobby Ryan. Which means I think Edmonton has a good chance of actually getting Penner but it will be a tough pill for Burke to swallow. Personally I am glad to see Lowe using this aspect of the CBA and feel other teams should and will use it more often in the future but for now I am sure Lowe is quickly developing a list of enemies. Of note I found a great website to follow each team's salary and cap space at the following: www.nhlnumbers.com
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Post by Krang7 on Jul 27, 2007 14:35:41 GMT -3
A lot will depend on whether Scott Niedermayer retires or not. If he does then there is a possibility they'll be able to fit Penner under the cap. They would be saving $6.75 million if he does retire.
Burke also has to look ahead to when Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf become RFAs. If Penner is worth $4 million a season then you have to think that Perry and Getzlaf are worth closer to $5 million+. That makes the cap look a lot smaller.
Either way I bet Burkie is wishing he did sign Bertuzzi for $4 million per. What a bad contract.
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Post by Hockeyfan99 on Jul 27, 2007 14:47:39 GMT -3
A lot will depend on whether Scott Niedermayer retires or not. If he does then there is a possibility they'll be able to fit Penner under the cap. They would be saving $6.75 million if he does retire. Burke also has to look ahead to when Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf become RFAs. If Penner is worth $4 million a season then you have to think that Perry and Getzlaf are worth closer to $5 million+. That makes the cap look a lot smaller. Either way I bet Burkie is wishing he did sign Bertuzzi for $4 million per. What a bad contract. You are right but Burke only has a week to decide on Penner although it looks like Neidermayer will retire. And whether or not he signs Penner, Perry and Getzlaf are still going to command $5M plus. So to me Anahiem would be better off long term to let Penner go and keep a core of Getzlaf, Perry, Macdonald, Ryan and Kunitz (UFA next season) to build around up front. As I said Burke is a big picture thinker so he is thinking about much more than just whether or not he needs Penner this season.
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Post by wingman on Jul 28, 2007 19:41:55 GMT -3
If Anahem choose not to match the offer for Penner they get a 1st, 2nd & 3rd round draft choices, but are they all in the same year or is the 1st in the '08 draft, the 2nd in the '09 draft, etc?
Seeing how Brian Burke operates over the years, I wouldn't be surprised to see him let Penner go and take the draft choices. Burke has said that every year he sets a budget and he sticks by it and I can't see him disrupt his team's salary structure over Dustin Penner. As HF99 said, Burke looks at the big picture and he doesn't seem to make many knee-jerk reaction type decisions, so I can see him take his time with this and take most, if not all of the full week to give his decision.
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Post by Krang7 on Jul 30, 2007 9:21:12 GMT -3
I just wanted to add, Brian Burke claims that Kevin Lowe overpaid for Penner. He signed Bertuzzi for $4 million and considering Bertuzzi is older and past his prime and hasn't had numbers like Penner had last year in a few years time, and also considering Penner was just a rookie last year, I think Burke looked like a bit of a moron for saying that. Lowe paid slightly more for a similar player with WAY more upside.
I guess Burke was just hoping to low ball Penner so he could save money for Perry and Getzlaf. I'm kinda glad it came back to bite him in the ass.
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Post by Hockeyfan99 on Jul 30, 2007 9:44:58 GMT -3
Traditional NHL thinking has been that your 24-30 yr old players offer the best value because they begin to enter their prime and teams have been able to keep their salaries down because they are restricted free agents. And traditionally players need to wait until they becomes Unrestricted Free Agents before they can hit the big pay day. That has generally resulted in a big separation in salaries between the 20 yr olds and the 30 yr olds even if production is similar.
This is something that I think will change with younger UFA and if more offer sheets are used.
For example compare:
Penner's 29 goals and 45 pts for
to
Glen Murray's 29 goals and 45 pts for $4.12M Robert Lang's 19 goals and 52 pts for $4M Todd Bertuzzi's 25 goals and 71 pts (2005/06) for $4M Michael Ryder's 30goals and 58 pts for $2.95M Anson Carter's 11 goals and 29 pts for $2.5M Fredrik Modin's 22 goals and 42 pts for $2.2M Joffery Lupul's 16 goals and 28 pts for $2.3M
and so on.
So Murray and Lang have proven to be point a game players but are in the later part of their career with declining number. While younger guys who have also put up similar numbers like Ryder, Modin, Carter and Lupul (2 yrs ago) are in the $2-3M range.
So to me I think that $2.5-3M right now would make sense for Penner but if he develops into a 40 goal and 80 pts player over the next 5 yrs he would certainly earn $4M. And right now I personally would rather have Penner over any of those guys although he could just as easily end up being the next Shannan as the next Isbister.
So I can see why Burke is arguing overpayment for right now but the cap means that teams are signing players over the long term with smoothed amounts meaning it could be a smart move to overpay in the short term in order to get value over the long term.
I still consider Burke the smartest GM in the league but I am a little disappointed that he lashed out at Lowe the way he did (although that is not out of character for him). Either way in the end Burke will make the right move for Anahiem.
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Post by Score on Aug 2, 2007 15:57:04 GMT -3
The Anaheim Ducks have decided not to match the Edmonton Oilers' five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet for winger Dustin Penner.
As a result, Penner becomes property of the Oilers while the Ducks receive the Oilers' first, second and third round picks as compensation.
Last season, Penner scored 29 goals and added 16 assists for 45 points in 82 games. In the Ducks run to the Stanley Cup, he scored three goals and added five assists for eight points in 21 playoff games.
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Post by Score on Aug 2, 2007 16:00:37 GMT -3
Kevin Lowe------ They let Smyth go then they give up a 1st 2nd and 3rd round pick to way over pay Dustin Penner?
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Post by crocop on Aug 2, 2007 16:03:36 GMT -3
I was thinking the same thing Score. Penner is good but...they are giving up A LOT for him. Doesn't seem worth it to me.
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