Saturday, April 19, 2008
Aaack
While we have no way of knowing if the [Tom] Gilbert signing was in any way motivated by the threat of a potential offer sheet this summer, we do know that thanks to the large increase in the average league salary (ALS), it will be easier for teams to make offer sheets without risking as much compensation.
That's from a piece at The Hockey News Dot Com, poking at one of my biggest pet peeves.
The paragraphs that follow that one give correct details as to how the CBA works; the problem is the word "easier", and the headline for the piece, which is
Signing RFAs will cost teams less this summer
What an utterly silly way to look at things. Because the ALS has gone up a bunch, then yes, offering an RFA a $2M/yr contract will not cost as much in draft pick compensation. But $2M/yr doesn't buy you the same quality of player as it used to. Why? Because the freakin' ALS has gone up a bunch.
An offer sheet (one that could plausibly be accepted) to a superstar will still cost four 1st-rounders; one to a 2nd-line centre will still cost what it did three years ago; etc. etc. down the line. When draft choice compensation is indexed to player salaries, it can't be any other way.
The kicker to all this is that the piece was written by player agent Rand Simon, who I believe is nominally Don Meehan's lieutenant at Newport Sports Management. The headline isn't his fault, but the gist of his piece -- where he says that the relative price (draft choice compensation) of offersheets is going down, when in fact it is staying the same by design and definition -- certainly is. I don't know if he's unclear on the concept, or actively trying to mislead readers for his own reasons, but whatever. -1 to you, Rand.
# posted by Matt @ 11:59 am 
Comments:
[bangs head against wall, sobs softly] It sure does. So does the amount of money it takes to sign the player you want.
i think this proves something a lot of us already knew. being considered a genius amongst hockey circles is some what similar to being considered the richest resident in the trailer park.
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[bangs head against wall, sobs softly] It sure does. So does the amount of money it takes to sign the player you want.
i think this proves something a lot of us already knew. being considered a genius amongst hockey circles is some what similar to being considered the richest resident in the trailer park.
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