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Pomorie

How much is too much?

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With money flying around at all the free agents, the question needs to be asked. How much is too much.

The terms for money and years seems to all be trending in same direction.

Every year we are hopeful to get one or two guys that go to free agency. However, what they get paid is always surprising everyone.

My best guess is as follows and please feel free to post yours as well since mine may be off.

Fourth line forward - 1.5 million +

Third line forward - 3.5 +

Second line forward - 5 +

First line forward - 6.5 +

I only tried forwards.

If that is accurate to you, how do we grade these players?

Me personally I don't believe any player even your best should go past 10% of your cap in order to stay competitive unless you have other players getting paid below their estimated value.

Edited by Pomorie

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With money flying around at all the free agents, the question needs to be asked. How much is too much.

The terms for money and years seems to all be trending in same direction.

Every year we are hopeful to get one or two guys that go to free agency. However, what they get paid is always surprising everyone.

My best guess is as follows and please feel free to post yours as well since mine may be off.

Fourth line forward - 1.5 million +

Third line forward - 3.5 +

Second line forward - 5 +

First line forward - 6.5 +

I only tried forwards.

If that is accurate to you, how do we grade these players?

Me personally I don't believe any player even your best should go past 10% of your cap in order to stay competitive unless you have other players getting paid below their estimated value.

Looking at this from a players point of view it is very easy to answer:

Supply + demand

UFA classes are thanks to the damn cap short and the few remaining top UFAs want a big-day. GMs aren't allowed to use creative contracts anymore, because the league is more a dictationship than anything else so what are they expected to do?

Answer is easy, their annual caphits have to rise and thats why guys like Bozak, Clarkson...can command such high salarie are they worth it? Debatable but if teams want them, thats the price they have to pay.

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Guest Johnz96

With money flying around at all the free agents, the question needs to be asked. How much is too much.

The terms for money and years seems to all be trending in same direction.

Every year we are hopeful to get one or two guys that go to free agency. However, what they get paid is always surprising everyone.

My best guess is as follows and please feel free to post yours as well since mine may be off.

Fourth line forward - 1.5 million +

Third line forward - 3.5 +

Second line forward - 5 +

First line forward - 6.5 +

I only tried forwards.

If that is accurate to you, how do we grade these players?

Me personally I don't believe any player even your best should go past 10% of your cap in order to stay competitive unless you have other players getting paid below their estimated value.

That would leave about $15m(without the +s) for 6 d-men and 2 goalies so it's gotta be a little lower on average

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That would leave about $15m(without the +s) for 6 d-men and 2 goalies so it's gotta be a little lower on average

I thought about mentioning that too. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I think the OP was referring to UFAs signing at those positions rather than every roster player..?

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Guest The Axe

My answer is based on the single question "How much is too much?"

1. Flip's wanted paycheque is too much

2. Sammy's never ending injury protecting him from a buyout is too much

3. Burning Holland at the stakes for not signing Lecavalier is too much

Agreed on all 3.

But Jesus. Sammy is just a cancer. Get rid of him already.

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UFA's will be inherently over priced because demand is high and supply is low. They will ruin the salary structure of your team, and quite possibly the attitude of the room.

We all know that Holland and Illitch understood after the '05 CBA that prices for UFA's would be waaaay hyper inflated and therefore went to a philosophy of building a team through the draft.

As you see, Wings fans are having a difficult time living on a budget when we never had to before. We can't handle not buying every Lecavalier and Horton that we see become available, like the good ole days of buying up a Lucky Luc and having no room for him except on the 4rth line.

That is one reason winning the Calder Cup was so significant.

Edited by T.Low

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Its not just the price, its the term that is being asked for by these guys. Its one thing offering a guy like Clarkson a 3 year $18M contract, if he doesn't live up to it, you're not stuck with it for very long. But a 7 year $42M contract? If he reverts back to being a 15 goal scorer, you're stuck with him till 2020!. You can't trade him, cos no-one wants his contract, and you can't bury him in the minors like before.

As I've been saying for a while, there's always a desperate GM ready to make a desperate signing and "over-pay." I'm sure someone out there has already given Flip's agent the nod that he'll give him a ginagerous contract, hence his desire to hit FA.

Holmgren is desperate to keep his job. If Vinny doesn't work out, and Philly are stuck with him, what does Holmgren care? He won't be there, its someone else's problem.

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UFA's will be inherently over priced because demand is high and supply is low. They will ruin the salary structure of your team, and quite possibly the attitude of the room.

We all know that Holland and Illitch understood after the '05 CBA that prices for UFA's would be waaaay hyper inflated and therefore went to a philosophy of building a team through the draft.

As you see, Wings fans are having a difficult time living on a budget when we never had to before. We can't handle not buying every Lecavalier and Horton that we see become available, like the good ole days of buying up a Lucky Luc and having no room for him except on the 4rth line.

That is one reason winning the Calder Cup was so significant.

Sorry but it means nothing. Winning the championship in the minors has zero connection with winning at the NHL level. Add in that the main reason the griffins won was, we loaded up their roster with guys that played all or most of the year with the RW's. The majority of the griffins talent was already up: Smith, Nyquist, lashoff, and Andersson.

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Guest Johnz96

Sorry but it means nothing. Winning the championship in the minors has zero connection with winning at the NHL level. Add in that the main reason the griffins won was, we loaded up their roster with guys that played all or most of the year with the RW's. The majority of the griffins talent was already up: Smith, Nyquist, lashoff, and Andersson.

Winning the championship in the minors was an excellent experience for the Wings' prospects. It also shows that they are better than other teams prospects. The Griffs were also one of the youngest teams in the AHL.

Every other team also had players from their NHL teams, the Crunch were fortunate enough to have them for the whole Calder Cup playoffs because the Lightning didn't make to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

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The question for me is not how much is to much but how much for what length is to much. Better pay a decent player one or two Million more for a foreseeable period of time than stuck with this player and his cap hit for years. Some GMs are just insane if they sign players with big cap hits till their late 30s/ early 40s. See Luongo, Richards, Brzy and many others.

The question how much is about how it fits in your system. If you're the Flyers and you have holes in you D and a shakey Backup as starter than I would see 4.5 Mil for a declining LeCavalier as too much. If you are the Red Wings on the other hand and you are looking for a decent second line center then this sounds like a good deal. (With the exeption of the length, see my point above)

The average numbers from the threadstarter look reasonable but they don't answer the question if, for example, Alexander Ovechkins 9 Mil. are to much or Abbys 1.4 Mil are a good deal.

Edited by derblaueClaus

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A lot of people would say Quincey's $3.75mil a season is a gross overpayment but when we re-signed him there really wasn't much for Defensemen on the market and we were hurting in that area. Like someone said earlier, supply and demand plays into it a lot. Next year, players might not be getting as much money because the market is flooded with talent.

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Sorry but it means nothing. Winning the championship in the minors has zero connection with winning at the NHL level. Add in that the main reason the griffins won was, we loaded up their roster with guys that played all or most of the year with the RW's. The majority of the griffins talent was already up: Smith, Nyquist, lashoff, and Andersson.

So what you are saying is that the griffins got to the championship basically with no help from the aforementioned players, and that when they came back they did indeed help the griffins win but also they mostly did it without those guys. That being said winning the calder cup is significant, it shows that despite not getting any high picks over the last 20 years our farm team is still excellent and better than any other ahl farm team. That leaves us in a really good spot to replace players as others retire

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I thought about mentioning that too. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I think the OP was referring to UFAs signing at those positions rather than every roster player..?

That's what I meant. The free agents are priced too high. I didn't try pricing out an entire team but rather what the asking and most likely going rate for current free agent forwards will be.

Thinking about it from that standpoint makes me realize why Holland hasn't been able to get top free agents. The supply and demand for 2nd and 3rd tier players being the only free agents available is just too high. I was upset about Lecavelier because 4.5 million is good but 5 years is too long. Imagine someone like Tatar or Nyquist becoming great players and we can not pay them because of Lecavelier.

With Holland's loyalty I think that is a position that he would not want to be in.

It's hard to figure out what he is going to do but I personally can't fault him if he doesn't do much. I'm holding out hope for a big trade or something to go down.

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"Competitive monopoly" is a rather unique situation that appears in sports more so than other areas of the marketplace. I haven't seen anyone post about it yet, but it's really a big reason on why UFA prices can be so ridiculous.

For example; While there may be five 2C's that are capable of 25 goals 35 assists per year, there is only one Vinny Lecavalier.

If you want a Vinny Lecavalier on your team, the local Sporting goods store does not have five Vinny Lecavaliers on the shelf. There is only one in all of the world.

You could buy a Weiss or a Filp instead, but its not the same as a Vinny. Vinny Lecavalier has a monopoly on Vinny Lecavalier's. If you want one, you are going to have to bid against everyone else that wants one too.

When you have a monopoly on something,you are a price maker, not a price taker.

The salary cap was meant to level the playing field in regards to acquisition powers. It has proven to be kryptonite to Illitches checkbook and has taken the Mickey out of Hollands off-season. He has chosen not to overpay during UFA season. And I can't blame him. There is only so much pie to slice up for your team.

Edited by T.Low

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So ... are there any opportunities that look promising in terms of next year's free agents? I have my doubts as to whether anything really gets done this off-season. Does anyone think these overpayments to free agents will eventually slow down in the coming years? I look at the salaries that they are commanding and I have to remind myself that this is not the NBA. If we try to get any type of forward to play on the top two lines, I only see it happening through a trade where we will have to give up some of our valuable assets. I've seen a lot of people complaining about the high prices for players. While I will agree with you that the prices are somewhat exorbitant, this is the current reality of NHL free agency. The only way we *might* be able to get players to sign less expensive contracts is if we draft them, develop them, and so on. At the same time, I feel that there has to be a point where we have to bring in new blood, even if it means overpaying. If the organization cannot evolve with the changing dynamics of the business, it is looking like it will be a topsy-turvy decade, with everyone (hypothetically) biting their nails and wondering if Kenny will actually re-sign Tatar and "player X" to the $6-9+million that they could be asking for in the coming years ... I know it might sound silly, but that is what I see. I think we will certainly make the playoff for each of the next four years, I just want the organization to make sure that we are continuously bridging the gap, willing to bring in young guns, but also willing to bring in veterans that can help take us to the next level. I don't know if I have made any sense. I probably just sound like everyone else. Meanwhile, life goes on...

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Guest DeGraa55

UFA's will be inherently over priced because demand is high and supply is low. They will ruin the salary structure of your team, and quite possibly the attitude of the room.

We all know that Holland and Illitch understood after the '05 CBA that prices for UFA's would be waaaay hyper inflated and therefore went to a philosophy of building a team through the draft.

As you see, Wings fans are having a difficult time living on a budget when we never had to before. We can't handle not buying every Lecavalier and Horton that we see become available, like the good ole days of buying up a Lucky Luc and having no room for him except on the 4rth line.

That is one reason winning the Calder Cup was so significant.

You contradict yourself. Vinny for 4.5 is a really good deal when looking at the market. You look at Horton clarkson and Vinny. Vinny is the best deal by far. Also Weiss wants 4m someone said? That's a huge overpayment as he Is not that good.

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Paying too much isn't the issue, paying too much to players who KH overvalues is. We could have had two dynamic players inserted in our offense if we wanted to...easily.

Samuelsson ($3M) + Cleary ($3M) = Clarkson

Tootoo ($1.9M) + Bertuzzi (2.07M) +Eaves ($1.2M) = Lecavalier

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You contradict yourself. Vinny for 4.5 is a really good deal when looking at the market. You look at Horton clarkson and Vinny. Vinny is the best deal by far. Also Weiss wants 4m someone said? That's a huge overpayment as he Is not that good.

Ken Holland and Jim Nill didn't think so.

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