NHL Salaries

[jimbo2006]

Danny Briere just hit the jackpot in his arbitration hearing. 1 yr $5mil after playing only 1/2 the season and a 65 pt campaign before the lockout.

What about guys like Havlat $6 mil, Gaborik 6.3 mil, Tanguay 5.25. None of these guys are gamebreakers, but they're all getting paid more or in the neighborhood of Forsberg. Things are quickly getting out of control again

 

[Smother]

Danny Briere just hit the jackpot in his arbitration hearing. 1 yr $5mil after playing only 1/2 the season and a 65 pt campaign before the lockout.

What about guys like Havlat $6 mil, Gaborik 6.3 mil, Tanguay 5.25. None of these guys are gamebreakers, but they're all getting paid more or in the neighborhood of Forsberg. Things are quickly getting out of control again

Ya I agree with you....I thought about that too....although...I've always like Daniel Briere.....The guy is super speedy....Major skilled player....not afraid of the corners...a leader...and young too.....
He has a great future.....last season he had a stomach Operation that put him out for awhile..
But given a full season....this guy can be deadly!!! For sure top 10.
If only Vancouver had him!!!

 

[87112]

5 million a year should be for a proven player over years and not a 65 pt season and getting hot in the playoffs. We all know the year was a contract push.

Its already getting out of whack again.

 

[twoblues]

Arbitration rarely works in favour of the club. These arbitrators rarely look at the career output of the player and they tend to put too much weight into the past years totals.

Now, the problem is Buffalo could let him walk, but then they've lost the asset. So they're forced to sign him at that price which artificially inflates salaries.

Eventually, though, the player salaries will hit a point where the club cannot sign the player due to the cap.

As a side note, look at Tampa Bay, St.Louis/Richards/LeCav together make ~$21 million. Tampa will have to be smart about how it spends it's remaining ~$20 million.

 

[ValleyGuy]

When hearing and seeing these big salaries, its hard to believe Bettman shut down the NHL for a year to put an end to this type of thing. I guess we did`nt learn much from the lockout......

 

[poonersdelight]

The salary cap will certainly alter things. 5 mill a year is a big cash bonus, however not unheard of from someone as proficient as Briere. It's a bidding war, but they can't go out and spend over fourty something million of year. Briere's signing will be approximately 1/8th of that 40 mill. Team GMs still need to get used to having a cap over their heads.

 

[Moose]

When hearing and seeing these big salaries, its hard to believe Bettman shut down the NHL for a year to put an end to this type of thing. I guess we did`nt learn much from the lockout......

What the lockout did was to give the smaller market teams a chance to keep their stars players and compete. The Rangers or the Leafs can't sign Iggy or Kipper away from the Flames by offering insane (or should I say more insane) amounts of money. They cannot offer anymore then the Flames can depend on cap space. Teams like the Flames and Oilers can now compete with the big market teams. The onus is really now on the GM's to be smart with their money and have good scouts to get good young talent in their organizations.

 

[wolverine]

What the lockout did was to give the smaller market teams a chance to keep their stars players and compete. The Rangers or the Leafs can't sign Iggy or Kipper away from the Flames by offering insane (or should I say more insane) amounts of money. They cannot offer anymore then the Flames can depend on cap space. Teams like the Flames and Oilers can now compete with the big market teams. The onus is really now on the GM's to be smart with their money and have good scouts to get good young talent in their organizations.

That was supposed to be the theory anyway. But now the Northwest Conference teams (such as the Oilers) lose players to other divisions over crap excuses like family and travel.

 

[Evan]

I guess someone forgot to tell the arbitrator that there is a NEW NHL with a salary cap! What this all means is that a team can no longer try to build a dynasty, even if they were smart enough to do it through draft picks. Once someone has a good season and is in RFA or UFA (restricted/unrestricted free agent), they pretty much screw things up for that team. With Briere, the Sabres can sign him and then try to trade him (or somebody else on the team) to dump salary. The Sabres also can let him become a UFA and other teams can either sign him at $5M or as low as 80% of the awarded $5M. I believe Buffalo then has the opportunity to match the offer.
With arbitrators handing out stupid amounts, why wouldn't a player go to arbitration?

 

[KYG]

Brendan Morrison makes 3.5 million I believe. Would the Canucks trade Morrison for Briere even though Briere would be 1.5 million more?