Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Pens Extend Crosby

Five years, $43.5 million.

Kinda sets the market, doesn't it?

Oh, and lets get one thing straight - Sid's "hometown discount" of just over a million dollars per year is negligible and he is only giving up one year of unrestricted free agency rather than signing an "I want to be a Penguin for my entire career" contract. But I'm sure he'll be hailed for not squeezing every last nickel out of the team. He is, after all, the Golden Boy.

Update: As a point of reference, that $1.36 million per year that Sid left on the table is the same amount for which the Habs just signed Tom Kostopoulus to a one-year deal.

Update: Allan Muir chimes in with similar points.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

For everyone but Kevin Lowe, ha ha.

JP said...

Personally, I'd like to see a longer contract for the Caps' marquee RFA-to-be.

Anonymous said...

Maybe he can afford to move out of Mario's house now. ;)

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Time to get busy George! Don't pull a Regier and wait for another team to set the market price for AO
2) The Vanek deal is already paying dividends. This past winter published reports had the Pens and Crosby working on an extension that was going to be in the 6 mil range.
3) Not that anyone on this board is going to have a sympathy party for the Pens, this does make a trade of one of thier other star players much more likely. No way can they retain Crosby./malkin/Staal/Fleury/Whitney, etc. The New NHL!

FAUX RUMORS said...

!1) Should have said a trade down the road, NOT imminently

NS said...

J.Staal > Malkin me thinks. That kid is going to be phenomenal

Pat said...

I agree NS. I thought Staal had a phenomenal rookie campaign. I can't wait to see how good that kid is in a couple years. I was disappointed (though certainly not surprised) that he didn't get more votes in the Calder race. He already is playing such a complete game. And last time I checked, the game was played on both ends of the ice.

Unknown said...

Faux,

There is no way in hell that Sid would sign for just $6mil a season. The Vanek deal had nothing to do with Sidney's negotiations. Perhaps the recent Gomez-type deals did, but not Vanek's.

Ovechkin is probably going to demand at least $9mil and go for the max. I doubt he'll take much of a 'discount'

Unknown said...

PS: Crosby is much better defensively than Ovechkin.

Anonymous said...

Faux, Vanek didn't set the market for Crosby. Without that offersheet, Crosby still would have signed the exact same deal.

JP, I think the hometown discount was over-played by fans and media. Still, a longterm contract is a good commitment for a young player to make. What were you expecting, a DiPietro-esque contract? That wouldn't be very prudent if the cap is at $60 million in 5 years and market value is $12 million.

Vinny Lecavalier at $6.6 million seemed high a while ago but sure looks like a bargain now, compared to other marquee players. I suspect Crosby at $8.7 will too in a couple years.

I'd be interested to see what and if any Ovechkin talks are in the works now.

JP said...

I think it's a great deal for Sid. Borderline phenomenal. He gives up ~$1m per year and gets unrestricted free agency 1 year later than he might possibly have had it.

I don't think it's a great deal for the Pens - I'm sure they'd have given him that extra $1m in exchange for another three or four years on the contract.

Anonymous said...

sid isnt MUCH better than AO at ANYTHING, ms. mullet

Abhinav said...

McPhee said on the radio today that something WILL get done before he hits RFA. But also said, "I don't like to publicly comment on player contracts [or anything else]."

It was on the Doc Walker show. the podcast should be up later.

Abhinav said...

Here you go:
http://tinyurl.com/3a7mb5
(tinyurl.com'd to make it easier, it should work).

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Its both true that its a HUGE sum for a 20 year old, BUT at the same time is a bargain for the player.
2) By the time the contract is up and Sid is UFA eligible, he will probably be due a slight raise to about 12-15+ mil/year. By the time he retires he'll probably have made enough to buy a few teams!
3) As someone mentioned, look for Ovechkin's deal to be finalized before the season starts! GMGM isn't Kevin Lowe/Darcy Regier!
4) Its naivity to think the Vanek offer sheet didn't influence this deal!

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) BTW, apparently AO agrees with our view that the Vanek deal affected the Crosby deal. Go to:
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/07/10/ovechkin-reacts-to-crosby-contract-news/
2) Quoting Ovechkin: "I think Pittsburgh wasted no time offering Crosby the deal because of what Edmonton did trying to sign a restricted free agent.|"