[Sabre Rattling]God Help Me, I Agree with Bob Clarke

[SabresBeat]

Clarke Unapologetic over Offer Sheet to Kesler

The situation Bob Clarke has put Dave Nonis is one that we in Sabres fandom have worried about since the day the CBA was signed.  We saw a situation where one GM would break the ‘unspoken rule’ not using the RFA offer sheet system whereby they could cripple [...]

 

http://www.sabresreport.com/blogs/?p=263

[Taro T]

Clarke Unapologetic over Offer Sheet to Kesler

The situation Bob Clarke has put Dave Nonis is one that we in Sabres fandom have worried about since the day the CBA was signed.  We saw a situation where one GM would break the ?unspoken rule? not using the RFA offer sheet system whereby they could cripple [...]

 

http://www.sabresreport.com/blogs/?p=263

The Phlyers are at nearly $42MM against the salary cap. Had they signed Kesler, they would have been over $43MM and getting very close to that magic $44MM mark.

 

How many players do you think the Phlyers could have made plays for? Yes, they have more $'s in the bank than other teams do, but they still can only go up to the HARD salary cap.

 

I would LOVE to see the Phlyers waste $2MM on a 4TH LINE PLAYER. Boobby Clarke still doesn't get it. That is a GOOD thing.

 

A couple of other things you are forgetting, in your concerns about people stealing the Sabres roster from out from under them follow.

 

1. IF the leaguewide team average actual salary ends up over ~$36MM (and it sure as heck looks like it will to me) and league revenue comes in where it's expected to be (a very reasonable assumption), then ALL the teams will be getting rebates back from the players and the Sabres ~$40MM salary for the year will end up in reality around $36MM which they should have the revenues to cover. (The players, after all the beans are counted, get 54% of them. Not 52% or 54.6%, but 54.00000000%.) So the Sabres will have a better ability to handle their "exploding" payroll than it appeared 2 months ago.

 

2. Although the "big markets" do have more revenues than the "small markets", they are not allowed to exceed a team payroll of $44MM (in '06-'07). Had the salary cap not been implemented, then yes, your overstated concerns would likely be legitimate. They aren't overly legit in the current situation. A far more legitimate concern would be that the big market teams steal the small market teams' front office and scouting talent. There is no salary cap for front office personnel and the Stangers and Avs will end up with a lot more cake to throw at top talent than the smaller market teams will.

 

The final results of how the new CBA will work in the "new" NHL isn't here yet. The ridiculous offers that Havlat and Richards got prior to arbitration hearings, the results of those hearings, and idiotic contracts awarded post arbitration (DiPietro and Kesler spring to mind immediately) will drive many player's salaries up on paper. However, that will result in several things.

 

1. Young star and near star players will get really long offers at high $'s (see the Richards and Gagne deals, I'm not referring to the DiPietro deal) and those that don't will insist upon arbitration if it's available to them.

 

2. Young midlevel players will see their compensation go down (especially those whose arbitration hearings are toward the back of the line) as they know teams WILL walk away from outrageous deals and they will be afraid of ending up in Dumont's shoes.

 

3. You will see more midlevel players and borderline players (especially those that are European) move to Europe for a year or two (or maybe just stay there).

 

4. Older vets are going to start getting either very short contracts or contracts for much lower $'s as teams spend the bulk of their $'s locking up their young talent.

 

5. Players giving money back to the owners will become a nearly annual ritual, as the on-paper leaguewide actual salaries exceed the 54% (and in future years 55, 56, and 57%) player share of revenue. I actually would not be surprised to see the players request, and the owners agree to it, a modification to the CBA before it expires. That modification being that the payroll band for teams be shrunk to something that is $2-4MM over the midpoint and maybe $7MM below the band (or perhaps keeping that at $8MM). This would almost ensure that players will not have to give money back at the end of the year and oftentimes would actually get "bonus" payments as the owners pony up to the 54% threshold.

 

6. As has always been the case in the NHL, teams that are good at evaluating talent will be near the top of the standings more often than not and those that aren't will still be bad. Although no team will be able to go on a Montreal or NYI style run, the well managed teams should be able to bounce back quicker when they are gutted due to having too many good players. And this is where my biggest concerns about the Sabres new video scouting system lie. It looks like they are cheaping out in the one area that will be absolutely critical to staying competitive - talent evaluation. While idiots like Booby Clarke try to steal other team's bottom tier players, the smart people like Giguerre will steal other team's talent evaluators.

[SabresBeat]

While my blogging partner Tom might agree with Bob Clarke and his RFA stance, however, his philosphy (i.e. he is just playing within the rules) is a very dangerous one (both to his team and the league as a whole).  His offer of 1.9 million, while, as Tom pointed out, was bascially just to maximize his opportunity [...]

 

http://www.sabresreport.com/blogs/?p=264