'Canes lock up Staal
The Carolina Hurricanes have locked up their franchise player, signing centre Eric Staal to a multi-year contract extension on Thursday.
The $57.75 million deal begins with the 2009-10 NHL season and extends through the 2015-16 season, paying Staal an average of $8.25 million per season.
The trend of young stars getting behemoth contracts continues.
The only players with deals at the moment that will pay them more than $8.25-million in 2009-10 are Vinny Lecavalier, Sid Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, and with all due respect to Staal's talents, he's not quite in their league*.
All four have been legitimate Hart Trophy candidates (or winners) in the three postlockout seasons.
Over that span, Staal ranks seventh in goals scored (113), 24th in assists (139), 14th in points (252) and 21st in points per game (1.02). He is minus-16 over the past three years, although that reflects Carolina's struggles more than anything.
Staal's a proven point-a-game player, but this is a deal that will see him overpaid in the first few years unless he can replicate his breakout 100-point season of 2005-06. The good news is that he is just 23 years old and that the 'Canes wisely capped the deal at seven years (avoiding insurance issues).
*- Other players in the $8-million salary range that season include better comparables: Chris Drury, Dany Heatley, Danny Briere, Scott Gomez, Jason Spezza and Brad Richards.
.The only players with deals at the moment that will pay them more than $8.25-million in 2009-10 are Vinny Lecavalier, Sid Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, and with all due respect to Staal's talents, he's not quite in their league*.
All four have been legitimate Hart Trophy candidates (or winners) in the three postlockout seasons.
Over that span, Staal ranks seventh in goals scored (113), 24th in assists (139), 14th in points (252) and 21st in points per game (1.02). He is minus-16 over the past three years, although that reflects Carolina's struggles more than anything.
Staal's a proven point-a-game player, but this is a deal that will see him overpaid in the first few years unless he can replicate his breakout 100-point season of 2005-06. The good news is that he is just 23 years old and that the 'Canes wisely capped the deal at seven years (avoiding insurance issues).
*- Other players in the $8-million salary range that season include better comparables: Chris Drury, Dany Heatley, Danny Briere, Scott Gomez, Jason Spezza and Brad Richards.
Labels: Eric Staal, Hurricanes, Salaries
by James Mirtle @ 3:08 p.m. | Permalink |
12 comments
12 Comments:
Seeing a contract like this reminds me of how much a steal it is to have bing and geno at 8.7
You have to wonder if the teams doling out these heavy contracts really consider how they'll be able to afford any other franchise player, ever.
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Seeing a contract like this reminds me of how much a steal it is to have Lidstrom at 7.45.
obviously it's a little too much...but he is the face of the franchise now and he's better than some of those secondary 8+ mil players you mentioned. Hopefully this doesn't negatively affect what the other Staal brother (Jordan) will ask for.
Seeing a contract like this reminds me of how much a steal it is to have Lidstrom at 7.45.
Not to mention Pavel Datsyuk at $6.7 million. :)
57.75 million buys a real nice sex cave
It's amazing that to imagine the figures he'll be signing as a 30 and then 34-36 year old.
mumble mumble lock out mumble mumble.
This reminds me of Florida Panthers giving long deals to non-stars. Well, this is still too much money but at least not as stupid as JM giving big deals to average players.
Does anyone know if there is a list somewhere in the WWW showing the biggest contracts (post lockout season)? I assume Nr.1 is Mr. Ovechkin with his 13-year, $124-million contract. But who's next?
Link to insurance story was greatly appreciated. This story was probably the best that I have read in this subject at least in the sense that it was simple enough even for me to understand.
Ovechkin's last six years of his contract are uninsured so hopefully he doesn't get seriously injured. Well, whatta hell, NHL owners are billionaires so who really cares.
Andy:
http://www.nhlnumbers.com/sort.php
That might be what you're looking for.
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