According to the Hockey News, "Quietly and without an agent, and precipitated by Sidney Crosby's deal with Pittsburgh, superstar Alex Ovechkin has begun discussing a contract extension. He is dealing directly with GM George McPhee."Of course, like we said last week, don't sweat it, it'll get done - and hopefully before the season starts.
Thanks to JT for passing on the link via Spector's
8 comments:
GMGM could cap off a very successful summer with an AO extension signing. An AO signing would do wonders in the locker room and help attract other top talent if required for a playoff push.
Question for capologists: Are there provisions in the CBA for deferred compensation? How it counts against the cap? Or does the NHL/NHLPA not allow it?
Any contract has an annual cap hit equal to the total compensation divided by the number of years (one-year deals for 35+ year-old guys with incentives work slightly differently).
In other words, if you sign a guy for three years at $2 million, $4 million and $6 million annually b/c you're in a pinch now, it may help you on the books but it won't help you w/r/t the cap - it'll be a $4m hit each year.
Is that the question?
I would not expect an announcement of an AO signing until at least training camp when he is back in the country. I can’t see the Caps completing the deal via fax with an email/web site announcement. I would image that they would want to hold a press conference for such an important signing.
1) Very true Rink Raith. As we've said a few times here a contract extension sooner rather than later for AO is preferred and does a few things:
a) Gives the team apparent stability which is beneficial in attracting future free agents and maintain fan loyalty/support
b) Prevents other teams from setting the terms of a deal(If it got to the offer sheet stage)
c) The salary cap is likely going to increase further next season as will average player salaries, so getting a deal done now will save the Caps money.
d) It eliminates any possible distractions during the season
Kind of, JP. I'm asking less because of the cap implications in this specific case, but because I'm just wondering in general.
Look at Ichiro's new deal in Seattle -- it wouldn't be a surprise if his deferred compensation ends up as part of a package to make him a minority owner of the Mariners someday. Just wondering if that kind of thing could happen in the NHL. (Altho the cap certainly does make that tougher.)
I can't say for certain right now, but I can't imagine there's room for anything in NHL contracts other than cold hard cash. For example, I doubt that AO could sign a deal for $7 million per year plus his own luxury box for the 41 home games (although market value on that can be pretty easily determined, so who knows).
Bottom line is that every bit of compensation in a capped League has to be valued, averaged and counted against the cap, if I'm not mistaken.
I am sure GMGM will get the deal handled, but I would expect the Caps to use the signing as a PR event; they should to generate even more interest and possibly sell more season tickets. Maybe they will wait for the opening of Camp, or possibly Ovie's birthday which is sometime in September as well. It has been a wonderful off season, no doubt, and the signing would top it all off.
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