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Nashville Needs a Capologist
by Alanah McGinley on 05/13/08 at 09:31 PM ET
Comments (8)
From TSN,
Martin Erat’s new seven-year, $31.5 contract with the Nashville Predators has been rejected by the NHL.
All that means is that it is likely to be re-jigged to conform to the CBA and re-submitted for approval. Erat’s contract was rejected because it violates a clause in the CBA that regulates year to year fluctuations in salary.
For example, if you take the first two years of contract, the higher salary in those two years can’t be more than double of the lower salary. After that, the salary can’t fluctuate up by more than 100% of the lower salary and can’t fluctuate downward by more than 50% of lower salary.
On that basis, Erat’s contract doesn’t cut it on a number of levels.
The contract is expected to be approved after some changes, but geez, Nashville—probably a good idea to get that sort of thing figured out before releasing the details.
Update 11:38am May 14: John Glennon in The Tennessean reports the problem appears to be nearly resolved --
The Predators and forward Martin Erat have shifted some of the terms in Erat’s seven-year contract to conform to the standards of the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement. Both sides have signed the new deal and are now awaiting its approval by the NHL.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Nashville Predators | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: cba, martin+erat,
Comments
Nah, Detroit just signs injured players to four year, 16.4 million dollar, uninsured contracts. Then suspend the player and send a PI after his ex-wife after the guy goes dog sledding. While its not exactly on the same level, Detroit has made gaffes and poor decisions with contracts in the past.
Still, pretty embarrassing mistake by Nashville.
Posted by Django on 05/13/08 at 09:53 PM ET
Django, Not really sure why you bring Detroit into this topic?
Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 05/14/08 at 06:18 AM ET
Its embarrassing not just for the Preds, but for Erat’s Agent...but hey, why hate
Posted by bsalamon on 05/14/08 at 06:34 AM ET
I wonder exactly what crazy monetary fluctuations they were planning in the initial contract for it to be rejected.
And I suppose this nixes the idea of “sign him for $10 million dollars a year for two years, then $500,000 a year for the next thirty years to reduce the cap hit” contracts!
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 05/14/08 at 07:12 AM ET
We can bring up how someone traded their top prospect, a 1st rounder, and other stuff for a certain INJURED player that played 20 to 30 games give or take, then bolted out of town. Erat is a good player, but if they wanted to keep the guy this is what happens. The Dumont deal kinda lifted the bar so to speak. Im curious as to what Weber, Radulov and oh yeah the guy who kept Bubba around , Dan Ellis.
Posted by Yzerman19 from Nashville on 05/14/08 at 08:23 AM ET
Paul, the only reason I mentioned Detroit was the previous poster who mentioned them. While this is an embarrassing mistake on Nashville’s part, I don’t see the need to knock on Nashville in order to pump Detroit as the Wings have also made embarrassing contract decisions in the past.
I’m also not exactly shocked that a team made an error within the context of this backassward CBA (particularly one with the ownership and finance turmoil that Nashville has had) but I do agree with Alanah that the Preds probably should have figured this thing out before they released the details.
Posted by Django on 05/14/08 at 09:38 AM ET
Django, Yep, I realized that after someone else pointed it out to me. My mistake…
Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 05/14/08 at 09:40 AM ET
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Pure incompetence. How does this happen? You have lawyers and other team officials all working out the details of a contract. Somebody in the room should know the rules.
At least this is the caliber of organization the Red Wings are dealing with. You would never see the Wings make this kind of gaffe.
Posted by PRS from Lansdale, PA on 05/13/08 at 08:56 PM ET