Mikko Koivu stays with Wild

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Can't help but feel Koivu is being a little underrated around here HOWEVER I do agree, a bit of an overpayment. I would've thought somewhere between $5-6 mil would've been more realistic.

Koivu didn't really impress me in the Olympics though, whatever relevance that has!

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

Mikko is no superstar.

Lets get the list going

Datsyuk

Zetterberg

Crosby

Malkin

H. Sedin

Getzlaf

Backstrom

I would dare even say Stamkos

Thorton

anyone else want to add to it?

Stamkos is better than half the players on that list right now, so you don't need the "dare even say" part.

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Stamkos is better than half the players on that list right now, so you don't need the "dare even say" part.

I hear ya mate, Stamkos is a freak! Probably my favourite non Wing.

[Reds4Life 51]

So much money for that guy? He is great defensively, but not that good offensively. More money than Datsyuk. LOL

[kylee 727]

"You look around the league at all the No. 1 centers in the league, and you ask yourself honestly, 'How many players are better than Mikko?'" said Wild GM Chuck Fletcher.

Boy, I don't think he's going to like the answer to that question.

LOL oh wow. Good player and everything but the structure of that contract makes absolutely no sense.

[stevkrause 1,247]

HORRIBLE over-payment, for that term and that value, that is WAYYYYY too much for Mikko... don't get me wrong, he's a good player, but more in the 4-5 range a year and if you tack on that much term, you could even argue that since the term was taking him up to 35, why not just tack on 2-3 more years at MUCH smaller values and lower the caphit? They could have essentially paid him the 6.75m or so for 4 years, then like 4m for 3 years and then like 2m for 3 years and THAT would at least make the 6.75 in the beginning of the term make sense, but for it to be a consistent value and a total caphit, that's WAY too much...

[xtrememachine1 795]

HORRIBLE over-payment, for that term and that value, that is WAYYYYY too much for Mikko... don't get me wrong, he's a good player, but more in the 4-5 range a year and if you tack on that much term, you could even argue that since the term was taking him up to 35, why not just tack on 2-3 more years at MUCH smaller values and lower the caphit? They could have essentially paid him the 6.75m or so for 4 years, then like 4m for 3 years and then like 2m for 3 years and THAT would at least make the 6.75 in the beginning of the term make sense, but for it to be a consistent value and a total caphit, that's WAY too much...

My thoughts exactly. I could see him making like $4-5, that might make more sense, but $7 mil? $7 mil for 22 goals? I'm wondering if his agent said something like, "Koivu scored more points than Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Lecavalier, and they all make around the $7 mil mark."

[puffy 97]

I like Mikko, but this signing is pure insanity. If every kid who reaches 70pts once starts demanding 6+ mil a year, then you might as well just get rid of the cap all together.

He didn't even need to add the no trade clause in his deal. Noone else is crazy enough to pay him this much.

Edited July 16, 2010 by puffy

[stevkrause 1,247]

Why would it fluctuate from year to year? why would it pay more on the back end? why would they pay that much in the first place? why so much term? why, IF you're going to add so much term, have the contract end at 35 without tacking on a couple "cheap" years to lower the cap hit at the end and avoid the 35+ signing issue?

We're being punked, right? I have tried every way to wrap my head around this contract and NONE of it makes sense...

:confused1:

[puffy 97]

I fear this deal may have set the bar for future signings as well. So many great players are now making less than Mikko Koivu and they will probably want more than him.

I think Bobby Ryan's asking price got even higher in the past 24hrs. His agent is probably on cloud nine over this signing because he can now make the argument for 6mil per season.

Edited July 16, 2010 by puffy

[HankthaTank 1,100]

Datsyuk

Zetterberg

Crosby

Malkin

H. Sedin

Getzlaf

Backstrom

I would dare even say Stamkos

Thorton

anyone else want to add to it?

Dare I say....

Ovechkin????

[Carman 387]

This is awful, I really really like Koivu and think he is extremely underrated, but I cannot justify spending 7 million!!! on him. That's just mind numbing.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

"You look around the league at all the No. 1 centers in the league, and you ask yourself honestly, 'How many players are better than Mikko?'" said Wild GM Chuck Fletcher.

Boy, I don't think he's going to like the answer to that question.

Has he even watched anyone other than Minnesota?

[Majsheppard 203]

I kinda think people here are not getting how much the league is inflating the contracts of people. This is a hell of a deal a few of years from now. Hell, it is not horrible now. Datsyuk's deal was overpriced for like one or two years, as was Zetter's and Johan's. Seems thats the way the league is going to be, get them under the long term and overpay for a few years and then get a deal.

I mean you could say every single player we have had under contract for a few years was getting overpaid, and many of them are a steal now.

I have heard about 700 posts about how this guy or that guy is overpaid. Doesn't that just mean that it all adds up to the new market value? Overpaid or not, it is in line with a franchise player. He is their Franchise right now, doesn't matter what other guys got last year, only what guys got this year.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

It would be pretty unfortunate if he is indeed their franchise.

[CenterIce 83]

Dare I say....

Ovechkin????

Not a center.

[HankthaTank 1,100]

Not a center.

Goodness...

Thanks for saving me from keeping that past a few more days lol.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Quite the overpayment based on potential. It's pretty surprising he got that average cap hit AND that term.

I wouldn't have paid over 6 mil a year for Koivu (even though I'd kill to see him in a Wings uniform).

In this salary cap world that contract is a massive risk.

[CenterIce 83]

Puck Daddy

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Puck Daddy

This was a stunner: Minnesota Wild center Mikko Koivu(notes), a 27-year-old 70-point player who is among the best two-way forwards in the NHL, signed a $47.25 million contract over the span of seven seasons with a no-trade clause.

The richest contract in franchise history; a larger annual cap hit than that of Pavel Datsyuk(notes) with the Detroit Red Wings ($6.7 million). This is not an offensive superstar or a stat-collector or a player that can net 40 goals, is it?

"How do you know?" said GM Chuck Fletcher on a conference call Thursday night.

If ever there was evidence of overpayment, that's it.

[puffy 97]

Chuck Fletcher....the son of Cliff Fletcher no?

That says it all right there doesn't it? Cliff signed Jeff F**king Finger for 3.5million per season.

I guess overpayment runs in the family.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

If ever there was evidence of overpayment, that's it.

I don't necessarily disagree with that post, but keep in mind, at the time Datsyuk signed that deal, the %age of the cap his contract was taking up was FAR HIGHER then Mikko's is now.

[Donaldjr2448 43]

Hold on a sec. $9M in the LAST year? ...Does that make sense to anyone?

They may have structured it that way incase he retires early or has a career ending injury! I wasn't sure they could do that though!

[toby91_ca 620]

I too saw this and thought huge overpayment, but if you want to compare to Datsyuk, I look at it this way:

- at the time Datsyuk signed his contract, he was a better player than Koivu is now, however, he was also 2 years older

- at the time Datsyuk signed his contract, the cap was about $44 million, for Koivu, it's about $57 million (this is the cap from the season just completed in each case). So by comparison, that's about a 30% difference. I think this is the most significant difference, which is probably being overlooked by most.

So, still overpayment today and risk involved, but with these types of deals, you hope the player continues to develop and make the cap hit look low later in his career.

When Datsyuk signed his contract, I thought it was overpayment, but now, not so much. Same thing can happen with Koivu.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

I too saw this and thought huge overpayment, but if you want to compare to Datsyuk, I look at it this way:

- at the time Datsyuk signed his contract, he was a better player than Koivu is now, however, he was also 2 years older

- at the time Datsyuk signed his contract, the cap was about $44 million, for Koivu, it's about $57 million (this is the cap from the season just completed in each case). So by comparison, that's about a 30% difference. I think this is the most significant difference, which is probably being overlooked by most.

So, still overpayment today and risk involved, but with these types of deals, you hope the player continues to develop and make the cap hit look low later in his career.

When Datsyuk signed his contract, I thought it was overpayment, but now, not so much. Same thing can happen with Koivu.

Exactly. It is an overpayment now, but in a few years, may not be. Nowhere close to being as bad as say the Scott Gomez Contract.