he won't even average 5 million over his 9 yrs with the Whalers, for a 3rd overall, that is pretty bad. Cole was 15th overall and he will make 60+ Million over 8 yrs.
Around The League - 2024-25 Regular Season
- Thread starter GGpX
- Start date
GrandWazoo
Well-known member
People are paid for performance, not draft position. How much did Yakupov made in his career?
lecoqsportif
Well-known member
Kotkaniemi is producing.
So Bergevin is the dumb one.
So Bergevin is the dumb one.
GrandWazoo
Well-known member
At that point of his career, it was a risky contract for both sides, but it’s life changing money. What if he never became more than a 40 points player.? He would have kicked himself for not taking that money. Maybe he could have made 50 or 60M over that period by gambling on himself, but he took security and I can’t blame him for that. Careers can be fickle and injuries happen.
had the dummy taken a 3 yr deal, if he is able to maintain it (doubtful) he could be looking at 6-7 a year but he didn't bet on himself because even he didn't believe in himself
dumb for drafting him
GGpX
Well-known member
Sure, but this is the NHL, not the NFL. The NHL isn't littered with unfulfilled careers due to injury. Kotkaniemi's only missed 28 games in his career due to injury. It's not like he had a bunch of serious injuries like Josh Norris or Max Pacioretty. If he had a long injury history, that would be one thing. He didn't, though.
He took that contract and it told the world what he thought of himself.
GrandWazoo
Well-known member
Look at Drouin, he took a 6 years 5M deal with all the confidence in the world and it looked terrible 3 years into that contract. I can’t blame players for taking security when offered to them. He’s set for life.
GGpX
Well-known member
I don't think Drouin is the best example to strengthen your argument.
Drouin didn't take a discounted deal. As a matter of fact, he was paid very handsomely based on his career production to that point. He took a deal that paid him a comparable amount to other players at his age group & when he had inferior production. https://www.capfriendly.com/comparables/jonathan-drouin-7656
Jonathan Drouin is actually the anti-KK. Both of them had the teams by the balls due to what they gave up to acquire those players, but one maximized his potential earnings while the other settled for security.
GrandWazoo
Well-known member
How did KK took a discounted contract? He was coming off a 29 points season and never scored more than 12 goals in a season. He was nowhere close to be worth a 5M contract. Drouin in comparison was coming off a 52 points season.
I totally get the not gambling on yourself argument but it was a really generous contract given his accomplishments at this point of his career.
I totally get the not gambling on yourself argument but it was a really generous contract given his accomplishments at this point of his career.
Oh it wasn't a bad contract from Dumbdon's perspective as it is eminently buriable in the minors. It's a bad contract from Mole's perspective as no matter how productive might become, he is stuck at that salary for 6 more years. He basically admitted in his view he will never be anything more than a 3rd liner.
worm
Well-known member
Or that he wants to win.
GGpX
Well-known member
By giving up potential money for security. This isn't a first round pick that was placed on waivers & picked up by another team. Another team gave up real assets to obtain him.
Correct. However, KK could have just as easily taken a bridge contract like Alexis Lafrenière just did. When the bridge contract is up, the hope on the player's end is that they've improved to the point he can maximize his value.
Baseball has a few examples of teams that will give out a long term contract to a prospect that they have high hopes for, despite those prospects not having much (if any) MLB experience. This is somewhat similar, but it's a much bigger gamble for both the player & the team in baseball because they don't know how good the player actually is. Might be an all-star, might be a bust.
It's actually not all that generous when you know the inner-workings of the contract & CBA. It's an incredibly team-friendly deal and not all that great for the player, beyond just the $$ aspect.
Despite, as you mentioned earlier, only getting 12 goals in his best season and coming off a 29 point season in his first season in Carolina, why do you think Carolina was so interested in giving him an eight year deal to lock him up during his prime years? Probably because they see him a player with upside, or a player that can grow or a player that can [insert reason here]. Whatever the reason may be, they see something in him.
That contract also has an escape clause for the team had Kotkaniemi not panned out, and that's still TBD.
Players who are less than 26 years old and under contract can be bought out at 1/3 of the cost spread out over twice the amount of remaining years instead of the 2/3 of the cost over twice the remaining years.
So if KK ended up not being worth it, Carolina has until July 2026 to buy him out at a meager caphit of $850k or $470k (depending on the years) for twice the remaining years. If he is worth it, they keep him.
It gives Carolina the best of both worlds: They gamble on a player during his prime and if the gamble pays off, they have a player under market value. If it doesn't pay off, they always have the option of buying him out at a small fraction of the cost.
GrandWazoo
Well-known member
Interesting, I didn’t know that buy-out clauses works differently depending on the age. It also closely match his NTC kicking in 2026.
How do buy out clauses works for players? Do they still get all the money or do they only get the buy out money?
How do buy out clauses works for players? Do they still get all the money or do they only get the buy out money?
GGpX
Well-known member
They get the buy out money only. What protects contracts from being bought out (Price, Lucic are notable examples) are signing bonuses. Signing bonuses are paid out regardless of whether the contract is bought out or not, and the signing bonuses will still effect the caphit.
If we buy out Price this summer, it would give us two years of dead cap at $9.1M and two years at $880k.
It's one of the things that I thought the NHL was going to rail against in the last CBA to avoid having contracts like Price & Matthews where the vast majority of the salary is paid out in signing bonuses on July 1st.
If we buy out Price this summer, it would give us two years of dead cap at $9.1M and two years at $880k.
It's one of the things that I thought the NHL was going to rail against in the last CBA to avoid having contracts like Price & Matthews where the vast majority of the salary is paid out in signing bonuses on July 1st.
GrandWazoo
Well-known member
Thanks for the clarification.
38.5 mil by 30 ....where do I sign