sibiriak

Fedorov had offers from 4 NHL teams and 1 Russian team. He was in demand. He ended up with 4 mil. for 1 year. That was his market price right here, right now. Ergo, he is worth it. Gomez and Drury also got their contract as a result of bidding by several teams. Their prices were also determined by the market, and were fair then. It doesn't matter whatb the player's stats are. The GM's make their decisions based on whatever it is they base them on, and then bid for the player's services. If there are a lot of bids, then the player lucks out. If not, he gets less. Can't really compare contracts from different years for different types of players.

To summarize, poor Vinny had to deal with: a) cold weather. Him being Canadian, that must have been a shock; b) language barrier. Oh no, he must have expected everybody there to speak pure Parisian; c) lots of practice. He is a pro athlete, what exactly does he think they pay him to do? d) living in a luxury hotel away from his family for a few months. Yeah, that's really tough; e) playing at smaller older arenas. He must have done so in juniors, shouldn't be a big deal; f) slightly less talent and lower tempo of the league. Yeah, but it's still much better then the AHL or the Swiss league, where the other NHLeers spent the lock-out; g) poor officiating, OK that's true, but it's not like he were a physical player like Artykhin or Naszarov, who were whistled for just about any contact, I don't think Vinny suffered too much from the Russian refs. I don't think that Lecavallier himself was whining or complaining. I think that the writer of the article did a very poor job, got most of his facts wrong, even the easily checkable ones, like how the team's name is translated. And he seem to have gone out of his way to portrait Russia as a gloomy and horrfible place to live. Not a professional job at all. About 1/3 of the teams play in new large modern arenas. About 1/2 play in older 5,000-10,000 seaters with decent facilities and a few teams play in small rinks that require renovations. There are modern luxury hotels in at least 18 of the 24 hockey venues. In short, there are worse jobs than being a pro hockey player in the Russian league.

My point was, that a big player, who played well in the last season, especially playoffs, and was himself a 16th overall pick, is certainly worth 19th pick, and more.

Funny you should say that, seeing how he was picked 16th overall...

Supposedly, the new Russian KHL is supposed to be living within its means with a salary cap of something like $10 mil. per team plus 3 or 4 "franchise" players whose salaries are excepted from the cap. I don't see more than a handful of first-caliber NHL stars going back. Most likely, the new league will attract marginal NHLers, aging Russian and European NHLers and perhaps a few bone-fide stars. In the next 5-7 years I don't see much threat to the NHL's talent pool. After that, we'll see, but I still wouldn't hold my breath.

Income tax in Russia is a flat 13% with no loopholes (at least for individual taxpayers). The article should have said "almost tax-free". There are no state or local income taxes. There is a 20% VAT (sales tax on all purchases). Prices on tradable goods, like food and clothing are the same as in the US. Housing (outside Moscow and St. Petersburg) is cheaper, services (like hairdressers) are cheaper. But economic stability is the main concern. I would bet money that Malkin will not go back for less than an obscene amount like US$20 mil., including a large up-front sighninhg bonus.

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch $12.5 mil. with 13% income tax in Russia comes out to be net $10.9 mil. BUT, the money is not guaranteed or insured. If the new league doesn't work out as they expect, he may end up with much less cash then the contract specifies with no meaningful recourse. The oil and gas prices will not keep going up as fast as they do now for very long. Russian current prosperity is not based on very firm foundation. And the Russians (and Malkin's advisors) are aware of this. And, of course, the competitve instinct that led Malkin to come to the NHL for less money is still there. So once this guy chose to play in the NHL for $900,000 instead of $3,000,000 in Russia (giving up roughly $2 mil. after taxes), I don't see him choosing to go back to Russia for not guaranteed $11 mil. over guaranteed after-tax $7 mil. in the NHL.

While I'm sure that quite a few Russian teams would like to have Malkin, and a few of them could actually pay him the huge amount reported, I didn't see anything that suggests that Malkin or his agent actually negotiated with any of them. In fact, Malkin walked away from $3 mil. a year contract (almost tax-free) in order to come play for Pittsburgh for the rookie minimum. So I don't see any basis for thinking that Malkin would want to go back. He sacrificed about $2 mil./year for 3 years to play in the NHL and he will get $9-10 mil. as a RFA IN the NHL. Why would he go back for $2-3 mil. per year more?

Actually, revenue sharing is NOT a part of the CBA and is not really related to it. The NHL is not based on any kind of a free market in the first place. It is essentially a trust (as in violating the anti-trust laws) that can operate only under the "sports league" exception to those laws. The NHL restricts competition, restricts free movement of labor etc. So why would the redistributing of the profits earned in that cooperative arrangement be out of line?

Why should we, the fans, care about this? The Rangers management wants to keep more of their profits in-house, and the league wants to share in those profits like with all the other teams. Who cares how the money gets divvied up, besides the owners?

Pavel wins the Selke. The Byng is certainly his also. Way to go!

Pavel wins the Selke. The Byng is certainly his also. Way to go!

Therien hasn't used the O-word once in his press-conference! He may have some morals after all.

Actually, I think that the key word is SERIOUSLY. He was obviously just trying to be funny. If Detroit was 0-2 he'd have said Detroit would win.

Guys, you need to listen to the whole clip. Right after saying what you are discussing, he said: "Seriously, I don't care who wins, Detroit or Pittsburgh." He was just clowning for the camera. Like with the rest of his answers. He did predict a Pitt victory tonight, 5-3. If that comes to pass, THEN y'all can start worrying.

DET/PIT: 4-1 Bring on the birdies.

Good PP is a good PP. No argument here. But the Wings' PK is top 4 in the playoffs and was very good during the regular season. Who needs a stay at home defenseman when one has Lidstrom? Detroit's top 4 D-men are good in both ends of the ice. That's a new one on me. Do you have some stats to back this up? Hossa may not be bad defensively, but I'd not call him a "AS GOOD A BACKCHECKER AS THERE IS IN THE GAME" And when the 20-year old suddenly realizes that he is playing in the Stanley Cup finals, his hands start to shake and his brain freezes. Also a 20-year old tends to think that he'll be in the finals many times in the future. When Drake and Chelios know how rare an opportunity this is. Osgood kept the Wings in games where they were outplayed. And he's "seen the elefant". Which Fleury yet hasn't. And that's where we'll have to watch the games to find out who's right. It indeed should be one heck of a series.

I've got tix for Game 1. We plan to arrive to Detroit on Sat afternoon and leave the next day. Can anyone recommend a hotel within reasonable distanse to the Joe, and good places to eat/hang out before the game? I know that this was asked before, but I couldn't find that old topic. Thanks a lot.

No Pens fan, I . I'm coming from Ohio. So downtown hotels like Sheraton Riverside are not good, then?

Does anyone else think that McCarty-Hudler-Helm line looked better than Malbty-Hudler-Helm line? I know one shouldn't mess witn a winning line-up, but as a hypothetical?

DET/DAL: 4-2 PIT/PHI: 4-2

Just because of inflation, Zetterberg's contract must be greater than Datsyuk's in per year terms. Add to that the salary cap balooning by 5-6 mil. next year, the fact that Datsyuk wasn't in top 5 scorers at the time like they both are now, and you have Zetterberg getting no less than $8-8.5 mil per. Anything less would be a hometown discount. ... I wonder, has anyone ever won the Lady Byng and the Selke in the same season before?

DET/COL: 4-2 SJ/DAL: 4-2 MON/PHI: 4-2 PIT/NYR: 4-2 Forgot to bold the winners. Note the time of the edit.

Ovechkin in his first carreer playoffs 6 GP 3G 2A 2 GWG What a bum

Wouldn't that work against both goalies?