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

[ben_usmc 253]

yep still ******* pissed about this deal. f*** you Ken Holland

[number9 3,297]

TRADE! TRADE! TRADE! E is worth 1.5 to 2, and in 5 years he'll still be worth 1.5 to 2. Holland is an alcoholic.

At this point, keep Jiri and trade Kenny

Edited July 1, 2011 by number9

[Guest Hatethedrake!]

Maybe Kenny has someting up his sleeve regarding Ericsson. A sign and trade? Ah Kenny doesn't make trades. I'll come back to reality now.

[Guest stinky fish taco]

guys, i had a bad dream last night that the wings signed ericsson to a multi-year deal at 3.25 mil a year! can you imagine! lol...

...

...

...s***.

[Guest Hatethedrake!]

WoW I've never seen a signing that has caused LGW to go this crazy.

I just don't get what's the bad part about signing Ericsson. Sure, he didn't perform to his expectancy but the his still 27, 6-4 and 220 ... which I really don't mind having. I really think he will pan out to be a good defenseman eventually if we hire a defensive coach that can groom him better then Brad McCrimmon did.

Did you guys forget his first playoffs when he stepped him and everyone was happy (The Year We Won The Cup. The following year, Brad McCrimmon stepped in as defensive coach ... the defense has never been the same since his arrival. IMO, his poor play / poor play of defense has more to do with Brad McCrimmon then anything else. It would be a real shame if he did go to another team with a better defensive coach and pan out to be a good player, then everyone would be complaining on how Holland let that slip by.

I could be possibly be wrong, Ericsson might just lack the level to play in the NHL but that one we won't be able to tell for at least 1 more year (with a new D. coach).

IMO, there are no quality FA's this year and if Holland didn't sign anyone and brought the kids up to play I would be very happy. The only FA that would of interested me is Wisnieski but please Kenny don't overpay him.

We don't have a problem with Ericsson being a Red Wing. But it's an overpayment of about 1 mil per year. I don't care that the Cap has gone up. A bad contract is still a bad contract. Just because you have Cap space to burn doesn't mean you should light your payroll on fire. I still have faith in Kenny but I am still shaking my head over this contract.

[Cevari 68]

Heh, saw this and instantly knew there would be a s***storm here. Seems really expensive, I feel like we're paying for potential that should already have surfaced. Not a fan of this move, would've expected about 2.5mil per year...

[AtomicPunk 296]

Article about Holand Panicking

[swiss_fan 3]

But he didn't want to take the risk. Not just with Hossa, but with anyone. He signed Franzen and then half-assed everything else and watched all of his free agents walk away. He admitted himself that he was taken by surprise. He didn't play it write. He didn't focus on what he so often preached which is "VALUE." The best move he could have made to get the most value out of his money was focusing on getting Hossa signed, letting Huds and Sammy walk, dealing Flip for picks. Then he could've used his greatest talent in finding under the radar guys and older guys with something left to prove to fill out the roster, much as he had to do anyways after he was left with nothing because he didn't put any real effort into anything.

This x 1000! This was a cornerstone bad move that send us years back to get the cup again..

[Jesusberg 1,256]

Wow. I go out for the night and don't get to check out signings and this happens? Obviously an overpayment, but I'm going to try not to get too bent out of shape. Maybe he'll be paired with Lidstrom and used in more situations? I can't see Kenny signing him for this if he's only going to be #5 on the depth chart? Am I off base here?

[Zeke 5]

Holland's most recent signings:

Ericsson

Modano

Bertuzzi

Hudler

Howard

Salei

and a little further back,

Drake

Lang

Lets give him props for the Howard signing at a bargain price,and the acquisition of Drake who was a factor in our cup run.

Salei was a value signing,but little risk,little reward.

The others.....pure genius.

[greenrebellion 415]

Negotiations probably went something like this:

Holland: We'll give you 2.25 million

Big E: Hmmm, close, but I'd need to know what my role on the team would be. I won't sign if I'm not a pivotal part of the D.

Holland: Oh for sure, we'll make you top 4 and use you in all kinds of situations.

Big E: Well in that case, I'm not signing for anywhere near 2.25 million, hahahaha.

Holland: F***, you got me.

Agent: Not sure what this kid pays me for, damn he's good.

Was funnier in my head, I'm on an hour of sleep here people, have mercy.

[WizardOfOz30 1,886]

I think Ericsson has a lot to prove this season. If he doesn't earn his pay then he deserves to be traded. He has potential and hopefully this year he'll be able to focus better and live up to it, prove all the doubters wrong. I would love to see him succeed and if/when that happens I'd like to be as a Wing.

I do think that the contract was a little high but it might just turn out to be a great deal.

[ShanahanMan 473]

Wow. I go out for the night and don't get to check out signings and this happens? Obviously an overpayment, but I'm going to try not to get too bent out of shape. Maybe he'll be paired with Lidstrom and used in more situations? I can't see Kenny signing him for this if he's only going to be #5 on the depth chart? Am I off base here?

Unfortunately....yes.

See my post here:

Holland basically stated that he signed Ericsson with the intention of having him be the 5th defenseman. Which just makes me raise my eyebrow even higher.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Wow. Ericsson got a lot more than I expected.

He definitely benefitted from the cap going up, Detroit's current defensive situation, and the market out there for D-men. I wonder if he had a serious offer from another team Holland had to beat.

Because Holland hadn't locked anyone up, can imagine if Ericsson walked too? The Wings defensive corps would be Lids, Kronwall, Stuart... Kindl? Smith? Janik?

The bottom line is, with this contract, it's going to miserable here at LGW. People act like he's the worst defenseman to play the game at 900k. Now with this contract I'm sure they're lighting the torches and getting the pitchforks already.

[Vladifan 680]

Dont bring his mom into it.

Hes Big

Hes Strong

and hes a limp wristed *****.

We cant afford to keep him on the team. We can monetarily handle it but the Wings arent going to WIN with him on the team. He got signed for one of two things...

1. Hes set to be traded to Toronto or Winni or Ottawa. OH GOD PLEASE MAKE IT TRUE.

2. Holland bluffed and waited and lost. Now hes picking up the pieces.

3. Im a total idiot that has no room to talk and we have a Grade A defense crew next year

I dont think #3 is the case.

Don't know about the total idiot thing but your lack of empathy and understanding about how serious illness can affect ANYone is obvious.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

The scary part is if Ericsson is getting that much, what is Kaberle and the few Dmen left going to go for? (he hasn't signed yet, has he?)

EDIT: Just saw Wiz signed for $5.5. Wow.

Edited July 1, 2011 by haroldsnepsts

[Mors 201]

I don't know why Ericsson's size is consistently mentioned as his saving grace, the guy plays like a complete ***** and barely utilizes his size at all...if this is his only positive attribute for $3.25 million then it's gonna be another rough year on defense.

[Rick D 350]

f***

[Krayzie_Bone 58]

Im not one to argue with Holland but this is stupid.

[heretic69 10]

I'm seriously like LOOOOOL at everyone who were ragging on people for questioning Kenny.

At three 'n' a quarter he better start playing like he doesn't put paint chips on his wheaties.

[Weezer 2]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

So I'm guessing Ericsson is slotted into the #4 spot by default. I don't think he's as bad as everyone here tries to make him out, but even I think that's a big step up based on his performance last season. Fortunately it'll likely only mean another minute or so of ice time. Maybe not any depending on who's on the bottom two.

That's what makes this even scarier. Kindl didn't look ready to step in for a full season last year, but now I guess he has to be. And Holland will hopefully go out and find an experience bottom pairing guy who also plays on the PK, to help distribute the minutes more evenly.

I'm definitely worried about the Wings blueline. For those who were always bitching about Rafalski being overpaid, well, you got your wish.

[tcwing 2]

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.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

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.

Well said, especially the bolded part. I think this contract is overpayment, but I can see the circumstances that led to it.

I can understand Rafalski keeping his decision private because he didn't want to make the season about him, but at the same time, I really wish he had given Holland a heads up as soon as he was certain about retiring.

[Wings3:16 318]

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.

Edited July 1, 2011 by Wings3:16