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Ozzie30

Wings re-sign Ericsson to 3-year, $9.75m contract

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The price is inflated and an overpayment by easily a million, but that's the reality of the new NHL with the Salary Cap going up. It's not like players are going to take the same money with a higher ceiling available.

I support Big E as he remains a Wing, even if I'd be happy to see him walk. He needs to get serious about his role with the team, though.

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Soooo, this contract or Kopecky's in Florida as the worst signings so far in the last few days? I can't believe Kopecky got 12 mill over 4 years.

Meh, I would still rather have E than Kopecky.

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Ken Holland's cap philosophy is to: Sign players near or under market value, and have them play above their pay grade. This is a huge overpayment. I just don't see Ericsson living up to his cap number. He's basically a 6'5 Lebda. Could Ericsson improve his play? Sure, and he better! The Wings need to get someone in here and teach this guy how to use his size out there. Maybe someone needs to piss in this guy's breakfast everyday and get him pissed off. He needs an edge. As far as Ken Holland goes, he needs to get his sh!t together. This has PANIC MOVE written all over it. I think it's fair to assume a hand full of the D-Men he was targeting got scooped up before today. And this is the result. A huge overpayment. Totally against his cap philosophy.

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Whoa, this is a terrible signing. I can't believe Holland would ever sign something like this. He must really expect E to play like a Top 4 defenseman this year. I don't like paying players for potential, especially when they haven't shown much.

Man..how did the rumors get it so wrong? Over 3 mil is a big difference from 1.8. And geez, how did Holland let E take him to the cleaners? The original offer was 2 million! I'm beginning to wonder if E is our "big defenseman signing." Disaster in the making. Reminds me of Kronwall getting a similar contract, only Kronwall had tons of potential.

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Whoa, this is a terrible signing. I can't believe Holland would ever sign something like this. He must really expect E to play like a Top 4 defenseman this year. I don't like paying players for potential, especially when they haven't shown much.

Man..how did the rumors get it so wrong? Over 3 mil is a big difference from 1.8. And geez, how did Holland let E take him to the cleaners? The original offer was 2 million! I'm beginning to wonder if E is our "big defenseman signing." Disaster in the making. Reminds me of Kronwall getting a similar contract, only Kronwall had tons of potential.

As I said, PANIC MOVE.

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I am sure that with how disgruntle people are about this signing here, I am about ready to pour gas on the proverbial fire, but what the hell! It is a good day!

While I can guess that Holland would rather not have signed big E for $3.25M/yr, here are theories as to why it happened that way. (That don't already include the Holland is dumb, smoking crack, drunk, or Big E has some questionable photos of Holland.)

While you can look, in general at the salaries of all d-men, and plop E into a 'in general' grouping of perhaps $2-2.5M/yr. Here are things to up the ante for him:

- The 'great' FA d-men, are few (if you can even argue that there are 'great' ones in the list, and not just pretty good.) The demand on the ones available will be higher, so thus, will probably get slightly more this off-season than what their 'true' market value is. Other teams, because of the 'good' d-man shortage this year would have been willing to gamble more than $2.5M on him, driving up his value.

- We will not have McCrimmon as the d-coach next year. His taint affected the d as a whole, not just Ericsson.

- Holland must believe there is still untapped potential with Ericsson. He is still young, healthy, and the biggest d-man we currently have. He is also familiar with the team (the whole the devil you know...). There is a lot of intangible value there.

So, the question for Holland before re-signing Ericsson becomes this:

Can I get 3 d-men via free market, farm system, and trades to replace Rafalski, Salei, and Ericsson that keeps our D comparable or better than the 2010-11 D that we had cheaper than if I keep Ericsson for $3.25M/yr and just have to replace Rafalski and Salei?

Obviously, Holland didn't want to chance it and thought the better bet was to keep him, albeit for more than he might have wanted to spend.

You are right about the circumstances that drove Ericsson's price up, but not the reason that Holland agreed to pay him. Ericsson has not proven to be any better than any other average defenseman. We did not need to overpay Ericsson because we could've gotten virtually any no-name bottom pairing defenseman for cheaper and had a seamless transition. Holland is paying for what he hopes is potential. It's not dumb, because Holland is a brilliant GM, but it is likely a mistake.

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I don't understand some of the response from a lot of you Ericsson and Holland haters here. What do you really know that's not out there for the rest of us hockey fans to read?

Do you think Holland should have paid Wisniewski 5.5 mill for 6 years, knowing he still needed a forward and back-up goalie? Do you not believe Holland knew what Wis could possibly get within the expanding cap?

Do you believe Ericsson couldn't have earned that much on the open market?

WHAT defenseman would logically go after, KNOWING what else you had to work out for your team, and knowing the price would be overblown because of the expanding cap?

What have you heard that Holland hasn't heard? What do you know that Holland DOESN'T know? Unless any of you are mind-readers, your rants mean next to nothing.

Edited by Vladifan

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I don't understand some of the response from a lot of you Ericsson and Holland haters here. What do you really know that's not out there for the rest of us hockey fans to read?

Do you think Holland should have paid Wisniewski 5.5 mill for 6 years, knowing he still needed a forward and back-up goalie? Do you not believe Holland knew what Wis would get within the expanding cap?

Do you believe Ericsson couldn't have earned that much on the open market?

WHAT defenseman would logically go after, KNOWING what else you had to work out for your team, and knowing the price would be overblown because of the expanding cap?

What have you heard that Holland hasn't heard? What do you know that Holland DOESN'T know? Unless any of you are mind-readers, your rants mean next to nothing.

We could have paid that and still afforded a top 6 forward and a backup goalie.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110701/SPORTS05/107010406/1053/sports05 This article mentions E is slated to be a 5th D-man. It may just be pure speculation by the author, but why would a 5th pairing d-man get that much money? I have a feeling with the lack of D-men out there E is the top 4 guy.

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We could have paid that and still afforded a top 6 forward and a backup goalie.

http://www.freep.com...6/1053/sports05 This article mentions E is slated to be a 5th D-man. It may just be pure speculation by the author, but why would a 5th pairing d-man get that much money? I have a feeling with the lack of D-men out there E is the top 4 guy.

I will ask again. Don't you think E could have made that much money on the open market?

And yeah, the difference between me and a lot of you on here is that I think he has the potential to be a solid defenseman. Especially with a good defensive coach hiring. The no-hope attitude about him on this thread is mind-boggling.

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I will ask again. Don't you think E could have made that much money on the open market?

And yeah, the difference between me and a lot of you on here is that I think he has the potential to be a solid defenseman. Especially with a good defensive coach hiring. The no-hope attitude about him on this thread is mind-boggling.

Maybe he could have. My point is we should have let another team overpay for him, we can find some lesser known defenseman who would be just as good for half the price.

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Guest stinky fish taco

3.25 mil isn't bad for a defenseman that will score less than 20 pts a year if he's solid defensively and great on the PK.

...ericsson is not.

at least he might be able to eat up minutes while staying out of the box?

...nope.

at least he has size, right?

...oh wait, he plays tiny.

so what does he bring to the table?

...i've got nothing.

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I will ask again. Don't you think E could have made that much money on the open market?

And yeah, the difference between me and a lot of you on here is that I think he has the potential to be a solid defenseman. Especially with a good defensive coach hiring. The no-hope attitude about him on this thread is mind-boggling.

When did caring what guys were worth on the open market ever get the Red Wings anywhere?

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Maybe he could have. My point is we should have let another team overpay for him, we can find some lesser known defenseman who would be just as good for half the price.

Please name some of those guys who are available at half the price. Thanks.

Kronwall and Datsyuk were overpaid too. Kenny you mad man!!!!11

I've used up all my +'s , so here ya are.

+1

PERSPECTIVE, PLEASE?! PATIENCE, PLEASE?!

Yeah, yeah I know...lotsa luck on that one. :(

Whoa! Jagr to Philly! Buhby, Penguins' putz!

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When did caring what guys were worth on the open market ever get the Red Wings anywhere?

SOMEwhere there's got to be multiple examples of players overpaid for in trades that were total busts - that posters on this board were screaming for early on. Gimme a break....

I just wish I had a better sense of Wings' hockey history. :ph34r:

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Kronwall and Datsyuk were overpaid too. Kenny you mad man!!!!11

This is so profoundly off the mark, even if you take every slappy into account and double the amount of absurdity flying around back then.

Can you really not see the difference between a superstar like Datsyuk, a future number 1-2 defenseman in Kronwall and then Ericsson, a guy who's done nothing but struggle, play sloppy hockey and underperform on every front on his way to the number 5 spot?

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Guest Heaten

This is so profoundly off the mark, even if you take every slappy into account and double the amount of absurdity flying around back then.

Can you really not see the difference between a superstar like Datsyuk, a future number 1-2 defenseman in Kronwall and then Ericsson, a guy who's done nothing but struggle, play sloppy hockey and underperform on every front on his way to the number 5 spot?

So what you are saying is it's absurd for anyone to think Ericsson will ever become the caliber of player as a Datsyuk? Well...duh! Lol.

People were outraged at Datsyuk and Kronwall's contract at first, now they are playing above their potential, that's the point.

Ericsson will never be more than a #3 guy at best. But he will become a solid #4 and may even QB the 2nd unit on the PP in the near distant future. $3.25 is a bargain (in this current salary cap world) for a #4, potentially a future #3.

27 is young for a defenseman, people act like he's on the downside of his aging career. Lidstrom didn't even peak till age 30. Chara didn't even start putting it together til his 6th or 7th year in the NHL. Ericsson has played 2 seasons.

You act like everyone knew Kronwall was going to be a future 1-2 dman. It was projected, but nobody on LGWs believed it. NOBODY! - The forum was outraged.

Edited by Heaten

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So what you are saying is it's absurd for anyone to think Ericsson will ever become the caliber of player as a Datsyuk? Well...duh! Lol.

People were outraged at Datsyuk and Kronwall's contract at first, now they are playing above their potential, that's the point.

Ericsson will never be more than a #3 guy at best. But he will become a solid #4 and may even QB the 2nd unit on the PP in the near distant future. $3.25 is a bargain (in this current salary cap world) for a #4, potentially a future #3.

27 is young for a defenseman, people act like he's on the downside of his aging career. Lidstrom didn't even peak till age 30. Chara didn't even start putting it together til his 6th or 7th year in the NHL. Ericsson has played 2 seasons.

You act like everyone knew Kronwall was going to be a future 1-2 dman. It was projected, but nobody on LGWs believed it. NOBODY! - The forum was outraged.

Datsyuk and Kronwall both had done more to earn their pay day. They had leverage in their negotiations based on their performance AND their potential. Ericsson has surrendered leverage to Holland because of his poor performance and is getting a payday based solely on the hope that he might live up to some potential and maybe give them reason to think that he's not just a 5-6 defenseman. He will never be a #4 guy if he doesn't seriously improve his mental game and thus far, he has done nothing to suggest he'll magically get it together.

I don't know if you're just a big Ericsson fan, but you just seem incredibly biased here. You're bring all these other names into it but ignoring that while they were young, they actually were well on their way to performing at a level demonstrative of their potential. Ericsson hasn't come anywhere remotely close to doing that since joining this team as a regular. He's done nothing but struggle.

Now I full admit that I think he does have potential and I think he still has a chance to live up to it, but I think this signing is completely out of characteristic for the Wings and sets a terrible precedent. Better players have walked for less in years past. If E wasn't willing to take $1.8-2 million to be a Red Wing, Holland should have let him walk.

Holland should have made Howard the bar especially after his outstanding playoff performance. Howard's your starting goalie and he took a team-first contract, signing for less to stay and in return getting a chance to prove himself on an elite club. That's exactly what should have been put on the table for Ericsson. I would be 100% fine with a deal like that. And that's generous considering even with Howard's struggles, he's still had far more positive moments than negatives thus far in his career.

But a 3-year deal worth almost $10 million? That's just a stupid deal for the Detroit Red Wings. They never cared about the open market and it's served them well. If you're not willing to play ball within the system, go find a payday somewhere else. Better, more proven players have left for less than Ericsson signed for, even proportional to the changing cap. That's why this deal is a joke. It's less about Ericsson and more about setting terrible precedents.

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Like?

No idea. Thus the "lesser known" part of the equation. There are hundreds of defensemen in the league, are there not? THere's got to be someone out there who will play for 1.8, take penalties, hardly score and make bad defensive decisions.

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