Yardbarker

This actually started as a response to Austin Waldron’s most recent article posted over on ”Too Many Men On The Site”  http://toomanymenonthesite.com/   My diatribe became long and I felt that the work put into it deserved a little more than keeping it as just a comment. I respect your article Austin, but have a slightly different-and more realistic view of the Kovalchuk scenario and how it will pan out.

I apologize in advance for continuing to beat up a subject that most of us are entirely fed up with.

Ilya Kovalchuk is an elite NHL talent, only just entering his prime. Simply put….he’s money in the bank. He plays injured, stands up for himself and stands up for his teammates.  Relative to the rest of the league, he deserves to be paid in the top 3%. That being said, if he ever wants to win a Stanley Cup or at the very least, play for a competitive team-he needs to check his competitive ego at the door and accept the creative contract LA is undoubtedly offering him. This version of the CBA has a huge loophole that is threatening to be an ugly sticking point in negotiation for the next one. Look no further than Chris Pronger, Henrik Zetterberg and Roberto Luongo to see how Kovy’s home run contract will have to be structured. Heavily front end loaded with ridiculously small numbers through the last several years of the contract-years that it’s doubtful that the player will even be playing……but keeping the cap low enough to benefit the team.

Kovy will BE A BARGAIN when the details of his new contract with LA get out, because this loophole is going to be exploited to the nth degree. Good for him…..good for LA….good for hockey fans……bad for the health of the game long term. When this topic comes up in the next CBA, they’ll probably name the new clause after him, and all prima donnas in the future will curse his name.

The simplest of solutions here would be to have the cap hit match the sum of money that a player is paid on a year-to-year basis. This will stop the long term type of deals I’ve just described. It will promote a more fiscally responsible NHL……and the NHLPA will fight tooth and nail against it. This could very well be the point that causes the next NHL work stoppage.

Make no mistake…..the KHL was never much more than a veiled threat to get the ball rolling in Kovy’s NHL contract solicitation. He’s prime time talent with a marketable image. Gatorade and Buicks baby.

When players of this stature start leaving to play elsewhere, we as North-American hockey fans need to worry. Kovalchuk in the KHL would lend credibility to a league currently in need of it. We don’t want that. We want hockey’s most exciting players right here on our rinks, and our TV sets…..and besides, Kovalchuk knows that coming back to the NHL after an absence of three years or so would damage his marketability beyond repair.

From my perspective, Lombardi and his team recognized early on that Kovalchuk and his wife had their minds set on LA and would be willing to be creative to make a partnership work. It’s nice to see a GM stick to his guns and actually manage a team. Bold prediction and you heard it here first……if Kovalchuk ends up in LA, with a cap hit small enough to allow Lombardi to keep his nucleus intact, the Kings contend for both the President’s Trophy and the Cup. I’m not an LA fan, but isn’t it a frightening proposition to imagine Kovalchuk taking breakout passes from Drew Doughty…….throw Kopitar into the mix on the #1 PP unit and I challenge you to find me a team not from Washington that can touch that kinda talent and fearsomeness. Pray for an announcement soon.

That’s what I have for now. Cheers hockey fans

Artamus R

Back in the saddle after a couple weeks of unfulfilling holidays. We kinda ran outta gas on the UFA signings and even the RFA signings have slowed to a near stop.

Where and when is K-Chuk gonna sign….so we can stop talking about it? We all pretend it’s a big mystery but COME ON! The guys gonna sign in LA and I must say that for the first time in years I’ve been impressed with how a GM is handling a contract negotiation with a prima donna player. Kudos Mr. Lombardi for what you’re doing. Damn straight Kovie wants to play in LA and not Newark. Stick to your guns and don’t offer him anything that results in a cap hit of 7M+. He’ll bite just as soon as he realizes his other options are the dumpsters in Newark and the empty, pitiful seats of Siberia……..Hollywood Hills or ummm…Dumpsters…….California Sun or luke warm borscht……yeeeeea….I’m thinkin’ swimmin’ pools and movie stars baby, and hey, settling for 7M bones per ain’t so bad either unless you’re Lebron James. Pass the sushi.

Let’s see….fantasy relevant news today….

Mikko Koivu signs the home-run contract. Yup. 47 M over 7 years, starting in 2011-12. Makes for a healthy 6.7M cap hit. Congrats to Minnesota GM Chuck Fletcher for getting into the game. “You could argue quite persuasively that he’s the best player to ever play for the Minnesota Wild,” said general manager Chuck Fletcher. Fantastic news for the organization. WOOHOO! Plan the parade……all kidding aside folks, outside of Koivu, Minnesota is a toxic wasteland in the talent department and the future doesn’t look any better…..worse actually. If you’re in a fantasy pool that has even a reasonably tight cap you dont want to own this guy. Unless of course its a really…really deep pool. He was fair value this past season with 71 pts at a 3.7M hit, and he had one of the better plus/minus’ on the team (-2). He holds his own in the PIMs if you use that category. I’d be happy to own him for one more year but if you get the chance, unload his 6.7M dollar asterisk before next season.

Notable non-news : Yeah……let’s make lemonade from the lemons. Non-news is news when it comes to the non-signings of RFA guys like Bobby Ryan, Chris Stewart and Carey frikkin Price. I’m getting that Anaheim and Bobby Ryan aren’t talking anymore. Apparently he turned down a 5 year 25M offer?!….Who does he think he is, Ryan Getzlaf? Corey Perry?…COME ON!….hey Bobby, pass me that silver coaster. I need something to rest my Molson Canadian on. Seriously…how you like they send you to Minnesota?!(deep Sicilian accent)

Chris Stewart….my kinda player. The guy starts the season in the “A”, and by the end of the year he’s on the top line in Colorado scoring buckets of goals. They have a good youth/talent thing  going on over there so dont ruin it Stewie by getting greedy. You might find yourself taking feeds from the pylons in (you guessed it) Minnesota instead of Paul Stastny!….I kid. But sign already would ya!….3M per on a 3-4 year deal is about right for a guy your age scoring 25-30 goals.

Carey frikkin Price……lets see…St. Louis signed Halak at 3.75M per. We ALL know young Carey aint the goalie that Halak is. Pedigree Shmedigree. How about we forget about paying a guy for what he did in junior/AHL and pay him for performance. Unless he gets signed to an offer sheet (which would really piss off Pierre Gauthier), throw 3M bones per at him on a 2-3 year deal. Let him try to live up to his billing. Off the record, my personal belief here is that Price should have been the one dealt. He’s lost his mojo in Montreal and the fans WONT let him recover. One bad game and the fans will be chanting his name (in a bad way).

That’s all for tonight folks. Artamus here promising not to be such a stranger.