Lidstrom Signs 1-Year Contract Extension

[uk_redwing 495]

Not bad. Thought he could have signed for less Why couldnt he sign for $550,000 just for a laugh? I would.

[octopus8 0]

It's great to have him back for another season. At this point, he'll just keep signing 1 year deals if he wants to keep playing.

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Official: $6.5 mil.

Oifficially disappointed.

[Dave 324]

I think everyone just set themselves up for disappointment. A lot of people were thinking 5 mil, some 4. It's like thinking you're going to get 15k back on taxes for the entire year, but when you file you get 2k, you built it up too much.

[Dimaline312000 51]

I'm happy to see Liddy return but on the other hand I was looking forward to trying use that money to get a bigger name player that could provide some offense and maybe bring Kindl up for next season. Glad to have you back Cap'n!!

[egroen 384]

If he got that offer, he should take it. For $8 million he's replaceable at this point in his career.

You guys need to wait and see what Volchenkov signs for, whom many had slotted as Nick's 'replacement'.

This guy could be signing for anywhere from $4-$5m -- and with Lidstrom you get better defense, as well as 40+ extra points for only a couple million more.

That's a steal any way you look at it.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I think everyone just set themselves up for disappointment. A lot of people were thinking 5 mil, some 4. It's like thinking you're going to get 15k back on taxes for the entire year, but when you file you get 2k, you built it up too much.

^ This.

Lidstrom has taken discounts off and on throughout his career, and I consider this to be antoher one. Hell we'd all love for him to play for free if possible, but a lot of people are being unrealistic, and unfortuatnely are "demanding" now more/less that players in certain situations take discounts to remain a beloved Red Wing. Would it have been nice for him to sign for under $6 million or $5 million? Of course. Should we have expected it or demanded it to happen? Nope. Should we think anything less of Lidstrom now? Nope.

This is a better team with Lidstrom in the lineup and I am thrilled he's back. Whatever he wants, within reason monetarily, he gets. $6 million a year is well within reason given that he's still one of the best d-men in the league.

Edited June 1, 2010 by SouthernWingsFan

[Bannedforlife 403]

I would just like to point out that not one of the Norris Trophy finalists this year has over a 5.5 million dollar cap hit.

[Z Winged Dangler 2,082]

Why are people disappointed at 6 million...that is 1.5 million dollar pay cut for a guy that is still one of the best defenseman in the NHL...

I said people putting him at 5 mill were going too low all season in the "Projected Cap Hits"

Happy to have him back.

and the cap is going up approx 2 mil. so the wings have atleast 3.5mil more to play with. there's a good dman right there. and abby's up full time next year for under a mil. and williams 1.5 mil is gone. the wings are in good shape with the cap raise and lids making 1.4 less than last year.

[LeftWinger 4,934]

Well, it's not as big as I was hoping, but $6M is only $1.5 away from what I was asking for, and if the Cap does go up by $2M it'll wash that $1.5M out plus add $500,000, so if we go back to the origianl $12M plus we had available, it's like he signed for $4M really. So if we still have $8M available, I hope Holland doesn't overspend on Holmstrom and Bertuzzi. I know they deserve their market value, but for the money left, we need to make sure the likes of Helm, Abdelkader and Miller are taken care of. Those three prolly wont get HUGE raises, but I can see maybe $2M spent all together between the three of them, which leaves $6M to (PLEASE) add someone on July 1st. So, lets look at the breakdown:

Franzen Datryuk (UFA)

(UFA) Zetterberg Filppula

Hudler Helm Cleary

Draper Adbelkader Miller

Ritola (possibly Eaves)

Lidstrom Rafalski

Stuart Kronnwall

Ericsson (UFA)

Kindl

...I didnt put Holmstrom or Bertuzzi or Lilja in there because we aren't sure yet. OF the three, Holmstrom is prolly the most likely to re-sign with us. I chose Miller before Eaves because it seemed like he got more important icetime in the playoffs, but maybe signing both is in the mix. There is just such a logjam at forward, especially if Bert and Holmer come back. Is Ritola & Kindl the only Griffins out of options or will there be more tough decisions to make?

I personally hope they spend some of that $6M on a nice solid defensman. I just dont think putting the same exact top 6 defensive lineup out there (sans Lebda & Meech) and just adding Kindl (who I still dont think is an NHL caliber defender) is gonna help this team any.

[TheOctopusKid 19]

I think NeverForgetMac has brought a lot of proper perspective to this duscussion. Allow me to expanded upon his original retorts.

What is honestly fueling this argument? The fans that are upset regarding the terms of Lidstrom's contract prescribe primarily into 1 of 3 possible ideologies - or some combination thereof.

1) "He should have taken less for the betterment of the team" - The Hometown Discount Clause

Okay, certainly there has been some precedence of this. However, lets shape this argument in a more appropriate context. Lets say you are a factory line worker for General Motors. You've worked and dedicated the prime years of your life to the betterment of the company at the sacrifice of your physical health and meaningful time with your family. You are the most senior member of your assembly team and have the added responsibility of leadership which is rightfully deserved and are considered one of the finest, if not the very best at what you do. You are the receipient of countless company commendations and your pension is securly set for retirement. At this point in your career, you have nothing left to prove and look forward to a life of leisure that is well deserved.

Now, you have worked yourself to the point where you gross $70,000.00 a year. You plan to retire but the company and management at General Motors has asked you to return because they respect you and the quality of the work that you produce. And ask you to come back for another year at $60,0000 - or roughly a 14% pay cut. A person of your quality is not easily replaced, and you are rewarded for you years of dedicated, unfallable service by taking a reduced salary to do everything that you were asked to do for the last 40 years.

Basic Labor Economics states - The Marginal Utility of Free Time Expontentially Increases the Less You Have Time you Have. That is, as each additional hour you work - your free time becomes more valuable because you have less of it - and thus more money is needed to incentivize you to sacrifice your free time. Hence, the concept of Overtime. If you only have 10 hours of free time a week - you protect those hours pretty fiercly and it would take an increase in rate to convince you to work.

So, if you were this Assembly line worker - would you take a 14% pay cut when the value of your free time (your retirement) dictates that an increase in salary is needed for you to sacrifice an additional year?

The obvious response is "Well, it's different for the every day worker because he's a Millionaire! He doesn't need the money!"

Yes, it's true - he is not hurting financially. But he also doesn't have any additional skills besides hockey. He had no trade or schooling to speak of - so what we does now is the money that he receives for the rest of his life unless he takes some type of organizational position in hockey. Assuming he lives to the mid 80's - that means he must live for the next 45 years off the money that he has accumulated - that is a massively long retirement horizon. As your retirement horizon increases - so does uncertainty. Take for instance the crisis of 2007 - Sergei Federov lost over $43M to fraudlent investment and market fluctuations. Or the average American who had their savings and pensions crushed by overextending debt by the financials or the liquidity crunch that followed?

What's Lidstrom going to do? Car commercials? Puck Signings? Lidstrom's decision to take a couple of million more may seem "greedy" to someone who doesn't have a net worth of $10M - but he is also doing his best to secure his and his family's financial future for the next four decades and every cent counts.

Like NeverForgetMac says - It's easy to tell someone else to take less money when it's not you.

Lidstrom's decision - and I don't believe it was monetarily motivated (even though he would be very justified in doing so) - is because he loves Detroit and respects the organization. Concurrently, the Detroit Red Wings value his contribution and all that he had done for them and rewarded him with his salary request - because of all that he has done for them and not insult him with petty contract negotiations. What is tragic, is that despite all this man has done for this organization and how much he has contributed to the joy for being a Red Wing fans - there are those who question his motivations and unfairly accuse him of being selfish for not "sacrficing" more.

To be continued...

[Echolalia 2,961]

I would just like to point out that not one of the Norris Trophy finalists this year has over a 5.5 million dollar cap hit.

I would just like to point out that not one of the Norris Trophy finalists this year has won four Stanley Cups, or even one for that matter.

[stevkrause 1,247]

I would just like to point out that not one of the Norris Trophy finalists this year has won four Stanley Cups, or even one for that matter.

or a single Norris to date... whereas Nick has won 6...

hardly a fair comparison.

[dat's sick 1,002]

I would just like to point out that not one of the Norris Trophy finalists this year has over a 5.5 million dollar cap hit.

None of them are signed to 1-year deal and Doughty's next contract will be A LOT bigger.

Not to mention Lidstrom is more important to the Wings than any of the Norris finalists are to their team.

[Z and D for the C 712]

For all those people that are complaining about the pay cut wasn't enough, let me see you guys take a pay cut from your jobs.

Stupid analogy. How is you life going to change from making 7.5 million a year versus 4 million. You're still rich as f***. 50,000 versus 26,000 is a huge change in lifestyle, though.

[egroen 384]

When Lidstrom signed for two years at $7.45m in 2008 the cap was at $50.3 million.

His salary was 14.8% of the cap.

Today he is signing for $6.5m with a $56.8m cap.

Which is 11.4% of the cap.

So not only did he accept less money, but he accepted even less money when you factor in inflation of the cap.

His signing for $6.5m today is exactly the same as him signing for $5.73m 2 years ago -- yes, that is a very generous discount.

Or another way to look at it, if he were to demand the same money he *was* earning, it would be $8.4m -- so essentially, Lidstrom has come down on the price of his services by almost $2m in only two years.

[Paolino99 5]

If this is true I will be royally disappointed and we can kiss next season goodbye.

I absolutely agree with you mate..Great d-man of all time IMO but 6million for a 40 yrs old player is too much and we cannot sign some younger big name to keep the Red Wings a solid team in the future

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Yeah imagine a 5million contract and the cap goes up 2million as reports indicated... that would improve this team in a very good way.

$1 million is not going to make or break this (or any) team. This is just a matter of spoiled Wings fans having their cake and eating it too.

[Rivalred 630]

Official: $6.5 mil.

Oifficially disappointed.

Catch 22 and I feel the same

[dat's sick 1,002]

Stupid analogy. How is you life going to change from making 7.5 million a year versus 4 million. You're still rich as f***. 50,000 versus 26,000 is a huge change in lifestyle, though.

I can not believe people actually think like this.

edit: I also can't believe this thread is overwhelmingly negative reactions. What the hell LGW.

Edited June 1, 2010 by dat's sick

[egroen 384]

I absolutely agree with you mate..Great d-man of all time IMO but 6million for a 40 yrs old player is too much and we cannot sign some younger big name to keep the Red Wings a solid team in the future

Like who?

Which free agent is going to replace Lidstrom's 25 minutes/gm 50+ pts and literally being the #1 shut-down defenseman in the league?

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

If he got that offer, he should take it. For $8 million he's replaceable at this point in his career.

But not at $6....and that's the point. It's great deal for a player of his calibre!

[Mors 201]

Good post and a legitimate point that should ease some feelings of disappointment about the cap hit (including my own).

[GONGSHOW HOCKEY 35]

Not to mention Lidstrom is more important to the Wings than any of the Norris finalists are to their team.

I wouldn't go that far.

I'm not too optimistic about next year right now. We don't have close to the depth up front that we had in 2008, and 2009. Zetterberg and Datysuk are both getting older, and it may have showed last year. Franzen blew a knee, who knows how he plays next year....

This team with Lidstrom playing for 6+ million will not be a cup contender next year. I can guarantee. Hudler will not be the difference.

I'm gonna get in trouble for saying this, but I think Holland is vastly overrated by Wings fans and deals like this prove it. Holland hasn't done a single thing besides sign long term deals with players exiting their prime that may have possibly neglected the future of the Red Wings.

[Electrophile 3,554]

This is unfathomable to me. One of the greatest players the Red Wings have EVER had, just signs a one-year contract to stay with the team rather than retire, which we all feared........and people are pissed?

Jesus, no wonder people think we're spoiled. Maybe Nick should have retired. Then you people really would have something to ***** about.

Edited June 1, 2010 by Electrophile