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Questioning The Ohlund Contract
by Paul on 07/05/09 at 01:12 PM ET
Comments (7)
from Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province,
He’ll be 33 by the time training camp finishes this fall and when his agent began with an opening salvo of $5 million per for five years, Vancouver quickly determined he was too rich for their blood. It wasn’t fair to everyone else on his own team to pay that much.
But not Tampa. Not a team that sells $10 tickets and each year begs for NHL revenue sharing so that Vancouver fans, who so generously contribute to the fund, can shell out for such a team to take their better players. And take them at numbers which are so staggering, you’re left wondering about this league and the fairness of the collective bargaining agreement.
Ohlund’s deal begins with him making $4 million in the first two years, which is great, perhaps just about bang on where he should be, although the $2 million paid in signing bonus seems a bit over the top.
But then it turns into a pyramid, and Matty is mighty grateful to the Egyptians for conceiving of such a structure. At age 35, he’ll begin the third year at a cool $5.5 million and follow that up at 36 with another $5 million....
But here’s the kicker. How the hell do you agree to a contract structured so bizarrely 15 minutes into free agency without any tampering going on?
Filed in: NHL Teams, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Mattias+Ohlund,
Comments
Everyone knows this type of behaviour goes on, but most agents and teams at least have the courtesy to cover their tracks a little better than this. After all, why the rush to announce it?
That’s how it works. Agents approach teams before the start of free agency and inform them that they have player X at price/term Y, and they ask whether the GM’s are interested. If they’re speaking hypothetically, anyway, the GM’s can give a “Yes” or “No” answer, or say, “I might be at price/term Z.” That’s why so many players get signed within the first few hours of the free agent period.
Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 07/05/09 at 01:28 PM ET
Amen, brother Gallagher.
Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 07/05/09 at 02:18 PM ET
Can’t say I disagree with the “Our franchise contributes more so that your franchise can sell $10 tickets and steal players” angle . No doubt every team has dedicated fans, but some have more than others, and they contribute more so the others can flounder and benefit from it.
Posted by Flyerz from Philly on 07/05/09 at 04:39 PM ET
Ohlund was never going to be resigned by Vancouver so this article is garbage. The contract is relatively modest, so by the argument made here, Tampa can never sign a free agent? They get handouts from the league so it isn’t fair?
So was it fair when American teams supported Canadian franchises with the dollar support program? Why didn’t the Canadian teams just charge more money to offset the dollar difference?
This Vancouver writer and many fans forget it was an American that bailed out the franchise, by building a new arena and buying the team. TheY averaged around 13000 fans at the time so was this a bad franchise?
The point being if you chose to judge a franchise when it is at a low point you would argue it should move or be folded. Revenue sharing allows franchises to compete with the Toronto’s, NY’s, Detroit’s and Philly’s? Of course the fans of these teams hate it, but the other 26 cities seem to think it works pretty well.
Posted by Tero from Tacoma on 07/05/09 at 11:45 PM ET
@ Tero -
The other teams actually don’t think the revenue-sharing system works well, as they can’t make profits even with the lowest payroll permitted and getting money from other teasm - they are in some cases STILL losing millions per year.
And he is suspicious that the contract was signed so quickly, indicating that there may have been some conversation before the free agency period began - which is against the rules in the very same CBA you love so much. That’s all.
What a shill.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/06/09 at 06:35 AM ET
Baroque, good point! u stole my words that’s plagurism. JK
Posted by Oilers Rock from Edmonton, Alberta on 07/06/09 at 07:39 AM ET
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Has anyone else noticed that Gallagher has been very, very bitter about everything lately? Not to say that he doesn’t have a point or two, but… jeez. Take a vacation, buddy.
Posted by JG on 07/05/09 at 01:06 PM ET