Quote:
Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue
While, I don't think it the deal is super crazy, I was kind of surprised by it a bit. I really felt like we had seen the end of the 5+ year, $7+ million per year contract (Rangers, not included). Given the whole cap not going up this year and the prediction that the cap would be going down next year, I really felt like more teams and players would see the reasoning behind a more sensible deal. I think I would include Nash in the category of players who could, potentially, play up the level of that kind of contract (along with Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, Iginla, Chara, Lidstrom), but you'd think a player would realize the value to his own career of taking a bit less per year to allow management to build a better team around him.
|
He actually added on the 8th year personally, as the 2 sides had been negotiating a 7 yr deal with a cap hit around 8.3 million. When Nash talked to his agent, he told him to add an 8th year to the deal and a couple million more, so that the cap hit would go down.
Personally, I was expecting something in the 8-8.5 range, so getting him in under 8 was a good deal. Also, he's making 7 million this year, even though his cap hit is 5.4 mill, so he's only going to be receiving a 500k raise in the first year. Its hard to compare him to some players out there, but I think the situation that is most comparable (well, sans the Stanley Cup) is Eric Staal. Face of a non-traditional market, close to the same age, third contract for both (I believe), both solid young players.
I think he could have commanded 8.5-9 on the open market. I know that sounds crazy for a guy who hasn't won a playoff game yet, but he's scored over 40 twice in his career with fantastic centermen as Andrew Cassels and Manny Malhotra on his line. Here's a little nugget of information that I found: "Nash has the seventh-most goals in the NHL over the last five seasons. Here's the list -- 1. Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta) 230; 2. Alex Ovechkin (Washington) 219; 3. Jarome Iginla (Calgary) 200; 4. Dany Heatley (Ottawa) 193; 5. Vincent Lecavalier (Tampa Bay) 188; 6. Marian Hossa (Chicago) 187; 7. Rick Nash (Columbus) 177."
EDIT: I guess what was driving me nuts was the fact that most people don't realize that the days of cheap young players is over. You can argue that the Nash's current contract was the start of that, and I still blame MacLean for giving him that much, especially 7 million this past year. Although, in Doug's defense, Rick's probably earned it.