Friday, April 11, 2008
Oilers Sign Gilbert Gilbert
"The Edmonton Oilers have signed defenceman Tom Gilbert to a six-year, $24-million US contract. The deal puts him in elite company. In 2006, Ales Hemsky signed a contract that will take him through to the 2011-12 campaign, the club's longest contract since Wayne Gretzky was an Oiler."
I'm late to the party on this one, but what an interesting signing. Quite the pay raise. $4 million per seems a bit much, doesn't it? The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw this was, "what will Pitkanen want now?" Does this signing mean Lowe will be moving Pitkanen before the draft, as Robin Brownlee has suggested? I'll have to take a look at the cap numbers again now, too, see how much this eats up. Is this deal actually $4 million per, or is that just the average? Anyone know?
I guess we can also mark April 11th, 2008 down as the beginning of the Daryl Katz era. Seems to me Lowe would have had to get the nod from Mr. Katz to do this deal.
Other Takes
• Covered in Oil
• Black Dog Hates Skunks
• Punjabi Oil
• The Cult of Hockey
• Robin Brownlee
--Joanne Ireland, Edmonton Journal
I'm late to the party on this one, but what an interesting signing. Quite the pay raise. $4 million per seems a bit much, doesn't it? The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw this was, "what will Pitkanen want now?" Does this signing mean Lowe will be moving Pitkanen before the draft, as Robin Brownlee has suggested? I'll have to take a look at the cap numbers again now, too, see how much this eats up. Is this deal actually $4 million per, or is that just the average? Anyone know?
I guess we can also mark April 11th, 2008 down as the beginning of the Daryl Katz era. Seems to me Lowe would have had to get the nod from Mr. Katz to do this deal.
Other Takes
• Covered in Oil
• Black Dog Hates Skunks
• Punjabi Oil
• The Cult of Hockey
• Robin Brownlee
# posted by andy grabia @ 2:07 pm 
Comments:
I like the length of the deal. I don't think people could argue convincingly that Gilbert would be signed for less than $3 million, perhaps even to an arbitrator. Not with the money puck-moving defencemen are getting these days.
I think a lot of people had Gilbert down as a $3.5 million guy, but Lowe may have saved himself more trouble in two years by either moving Gilbert or losing him as a UFA.
The question is whether Gilbert improves, making this a true value contract. It's a gamble.
But at least a sane gamble for once.
Meanwhile, Lowe has some options with Pitkanen, either by trade or shaving off some of the dead-wood salary on the roster. It's not impossible.
I either love this contract or hate it. I can't decide. The length is excellent, and we've got the guy sewn up right through the prime of his career. If he progresses as he did this year, it's going to be a whale of a deal.
But $4 million per? Can any of us convincingly argue that Gilbert is going to be a top-pairing defenseman in his career? That's a lot of cake for a second-pairing/second PP guy.
Well, it ain't Sheldon Superstar money, that's for sure. But it's more than you'd give Steve Staios/Jason Smith/the guys in that mould. It is, I'd say, 'pairing 1b' money. Eric Brewer is an excellent comp that some obscure blogger or another mentioned.
Also, if (as seems increasingly likely) Pitkanen takes the pipe to pay for this deal, I may just go to Edmonton and disembowel K-Lowe with an eyeglass screwdriver.
TSN's now reporting that Nilsson has been re-signed as well - $5.5/3 yrs.
nothing on OilHQ yet, though...
Unrelated, but between his constant pimping of his own stupid error stat and the dredging up of ancient Cam Cole missives from long ago playoff series, Staples’ blog is now officially unreadable.
I think Gilbert is number 1 material. The way he defends is incredible. He does it so cleanly and rarely makes mistakes.
Then theres the offence...
I like the deal.
-doug
Another take, if you're allowing submissions:
http://coppernblue.blogspot.com/2008/04/tom-gilbert-6yrs-24-million.html
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I like the length of the deal. I don't think people could argue convincingly that Gilbert would be signed for less than $3 million, perhaps even to an arbitrator. Not with the money puck-moving defencemen are getting these days.
I think a lot of people had Gilbert down as a $3.5 million guy, but Lowe may have saved himself more trouble in two years by either moving Gilbert or losing him as a UFA.
The question is whether Gilbert improves, making this a true value contract. It's a gamble.
But at least a sane gamble for once.
Meanwhile, Lowe has some options with Pitkanen, either by trade or shaving off some of the dead-wood salary on the roster. It's not impossible.
I either love this contract or hate it. I can't decide. The length is excellent, and we've got the guy sewn up right through the prime of his career. If he progresses as he did this year, it's going to be a whale of a deal.
But $4 million per? Can any of us convincingly argue that Gilbert is going to be a top-pairing defenseman in his career? That's a lot of cake for a second-pairing/second PP guy.
Well, it ain't Sheldon Superstar money, that's for sure. But it's more than you'd give Steve Staios/Jason Smith/the guys in that mould. It is, I'd say, 'pairing 1b' money. Eric Brewer is an excellent comp that some obscure blogger or another mentioned.
Also, if (as seems increasingly likely) Pitkanen takes the pipe to pay for this deal, I may just go to Edmonton and disembowel K-Lowe with an eyeglass screwdriver.
TSN's now reporting that Nilsson has been re-signed as well - $5.5/3 yrs.
nothing on OilHQ yet, though...
Unrelated, but between his constant pimping of his own stupid error stat and the dredging up of ancient Cam Cole missives from long ago playoff series, Staples’ blog is now officially unreadable.
I think Gilbert is number 1 material. The way he defends is incredible. He does it so cleanly and rarely makes mistakes.
Then theres the offence...
I like the deal.
-doug
# posted by 
: April 11, 2008 4:36 pm
: April 11, 2008 4:36 pm Another take, if you're allowing submissions:
http://coppernblue.blogspot.com/2008/04/tom-gilbert-6yrs-24-million.html
Post a Comment
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