April 12, 2009 · 6:18 PM
↓ Jump to Comments

The Great Debate: Are the Red Wings Manipulating the System?

UPI POY 2008 - Sports

CBC brought up the idea the Detroit Red Wings could be manipulating the salary cap. The signing of Johan Franzen to an 11 year deal might be what drives them to think this. I am not a capologist but I also believe if a player is willing to spend his entire career here takes some guts.

Why would the management team which includes the likes of Ken Holland, Jim Nill and Steve Yzerman take the risks with not ONE but TWO maybe THREE players? I am still trying to figure this out.

I am glad Franzen has a five year NO TRADE Clause and the buy out if he goes sour is slim. This is a great thing! Just in case something bad happens. I am happy he wants to play his entire career here.

What I do not understand is the length of the contract? I think it is way too long and with them signing two players this duration maybe some players might expect a long term contract.

What I don’t understand about the contracts is why is it considered manipulation of the system by signing these players to this duration? I don’t think it is because there is a HIGH risk and HIGH reward if it works.

Who knows what is going to happen a decade from now? Will the team even be good? Will the fans still be around?

I guess Hossa would like to sign here as well. So who knows what the next season will bring. Do you consider the Red Wings manipulating the system? Would you bring in players for the crazy length of time? Let me know your thoughts.

3 Comments

Filed under News

Tagged as ,

  • http://www.saucerpass.com Schrembs

    The Mule is a work horse. A worthwhile investment if you ask me. The Wings have a nice core of players long term, so it will be nice to see Dats, Zetts and Franzen be able to develop some chemistry over the next several years.

    The only problem heading into 2009-2010 is that Hossa needs a contract. He's worth 5+ without a doubt, however, that puts them dangerously close to the cap, and with players like Hudler (who should get a serious pay raise), Samuelsson and Kopecky needing contracts, something is certainly going to have to give.

    Do the Wings decline to offer Chelios another 1 year contract in order to try and make it all come together? A lot of what if it seems like that can be answered in the playoffs:

    1. If Detroit repeats, Hossa has what he came to the wings for and will likely demand an amount that is not-feasible for the Wings to match. Hudler, Samuelsson and Kopecky resigned, maybe Chelios.
    2. If Detroit misses the cup, Hossa knows the that he is in the best possible place to get there again in '09-'10, so he takes a pay cut (maybe) so the team can lock up Hudler + 1 and bring up Ericsson to replace Chelios.

    Hossa is hunting for a cup. If he gets it, he very well could move on, allowing Detroit to lock up some nice long term options in Hudler and Kopecky.

  • http://hockeytweets.thehockeyzen.com Adrian Nadeau

    Great debate and question for sure! I'm a little confused by the long term signings these teams are making but it starts to make a little more sense when you see the low buyout options, etc. You can see it already backfire a little in New York for the Islanders where Rick DiPietro has been injured a lot since signing the long term deal there. Tampa Bay has also locked up Vinny Lecavalier and he had to undergo wrist surgery at the end of this season.

    IMO I think it's still too much of a risk to sign a player to along term deal. I believe Johan Franzen will be 39 or 40 when the deal ends (if he makes it that far even) and I think it's way to unpredictable to try and judge how big of an asset he will be at that time. I guess with the low buyout option in their back pocket they are protected. I really don't see how this is manipulating the system, especially if a few other teams have done this before them (NYI, TB, etc). I guess over the next 10 years we'll see how all these deals pan out :) If someone else can shed some light on why this is manipulating the system, I'd be all ears.

    Adrian

  • http://jamiefavreau.wordpress.com Jamie Favreau

    Adrian,
    As the folks at CBC I think it was the Hot Stove segment where they were saying Detroit could be manipulating the system. They didn't like these long term contracts to secure the players. They were saying how it was manipulation of the cap space.