The fear of the offer sheet has once again resulted in another potential restricted free agent being re-signed well before the summer of 2008.
This time it's center Mike Richards, who today has reportedly re-signed a contract extension with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Reportedly Richards' new contract is for twelve years and $69 million, breaking down to a cap hit of $5.75 million per season, with a "no-trade" clause that begins in the 2011-12 season. It's the second-longest contract in the NHL, behind the fifteen-year deal of the NY Islanders' Rick DiPietro.
It's not surprising that Holmgren made this move. Richards is enjoying a breakout season, leading the Flyers in goals, assists and points, but he's also perhaps their best defensive forward, with a+10 rating and is the only player on the team to score shorthanded this season, having done it three times.
Flyers GM Paul Holmgren had earlier stated his intent to re-sign his key RFAs like Richards, including forwards Jeff Carter and RJ Umberber, and we can likely expect more re-signing by Holmgren as the season progresses.
He obviously has no intention of allowing contract negotiations with his best RFAs to drag into next summer when those players could become potential offer sheet targets.
A number of talented young players are eligible for restricted free agent status next summer, including Washington's Alexander Ovechkin, Calgary's Dion Phaneuf, Florida's Jay Bouwmeester, Nashville's Shea Weber, Ottawa's Andrej Meszaros and St. Louis' Brad Boyes
But that list has been slowly but steadily shrinking, and most if not all of the aforementioned will likely re-sign with their current teams well before July 1, 2008.
**UPDATE** James Mirtle has a very interesting take on this signing on his blog, specifically the dangers lurking behind such lengthy contracts, citing Jose Theodore, Jim Carey and Sergei Samsonov to make the case. Even NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman privately doesn't believe they're a good idea under this CBA as it offers no opportunity for re-negotiation.
I concur with Mirtle and Bettman on this. While I understand the rationale behind these contracts, the length is fraught with peril, and if the player signed to that deal ends up a spent force midway through, it's a lot of precious cap space per season tied up in one player. Even demoting said player to the minors or buying them out is still a costly experienced for a team, even if it doesn't count against their cap space.
Richards appears to be developing into a team leader and future Selke winner, but a 12 year contract? Wow! Holmgren must really like the kid's character. Future captain? I'm interested in reading Ze German's thoughts on this.
Maybe 70 mil/12 years is too much considering, but from day 1 Richards was viewed at a potiental leader of the team and this year he's certainally breaking out proving to the world that he can do it. GM Holmgren HAD to get this deal done, simple as that and Mike Richards loves Philadelphia and being a fan, I love to have him locked down for a prolonged period of time. He's going to develop into one hell of player and in my opinion, get it done now....good job from Holmgren. Bobby probably would have traded him.
Who would have thought Brad Boyes would be a key player on a team. I mean, seriously, how can you blame the Bruins management for trading him before the deadline last season. How, I ask you. How.
Interesting move, but I will say I’m impressed. Obviously, we have two striking elements to the contract: Dollars & Years. What it comes down to is that I really think Richards could be the second coming of Joe Sakic/Stevie Y. Should that be true, this kid is going to be exceptional for years to come. At 12 years, the contract will take him until he's 36 years old which is through his prime. The only concern is that he gets injured and is no longer able to play at his current effective level. Even if he does endure a significant injury, the Flyers have been deft at convincing players in such situations to basically sit out, meaning the franchise will pay them the entirety of their contract (Primeau, Rathje, Hackett), but the organization can place them on the long-term injury list, thus freeing the cap space.
Currently, the cap is at $51 million. I do expect the cap to be raised to $53 million next year and it may go up to $55 - $60 over the three following years. However, I think the cap will plateau around the $57-60 million mark as I don’t see much additional room for it to grow unless a mega TV deal (ESPN or TBS/TNT) is signed which I do not forsee. So after it plateaus at around $57-60 million, the only thing that will drive the cap up is inflation. Should teams be limited to $57 million, salaries are not going to jump like they have in the past.
Last edited by HermanZeGerman on December 13th at 1:33 PM.
I think that Richards’ salary (which is likely to be an ever increasing then decreasing deal making roughly 2.2 next season, probably being at 8 million when he's 30 and then decreasing) will be comparable to fair market value. But when averaged out, this is probably the best that Homer could have done. Makes sense to get the kid for 5.75 per year as opposed to giving him a few shorter termed deals where likely the value will only increase, thus applying more pressure to the cap.
Initially, I thought Homer would look to doll out 2 year deals and then wait to see how his UFA signings/trades had panned out and make deals based on each player’s vector and where he saw team needs to be. Perhaps he’ll still do that, with Richards being the one exception.
In short, if this kid is who Homer thinks he is, then Homer has the steal of the century.
Last edited by HermanZeGerman on December 13th at 1:35 PM.
I would have to say this is more high risk than high reward at this time. Is he truly proven? He is improving from year to year, but where is he really going to peak? Plus, is he done growing. 5'11 195 lbs may or may not last in the NHL. One injury that hurts him not to the point where he will have to retire can handcuff the Flyers to a $5.5 mil 3rd line center for years.
Plus, isn't the point of long contracts to get the average (cap hit) into a reasonable amount. $5.5 mil stills seems a lot.
I guess really only time will time. If he finishs this season with a 1+ ppga, and continues like this for the next 6 to 8 years, it will probably be worth it. Pretty big IF though.
I think this is the right move. Richards was expected to be a pretty complete player from day one, and if he burns out a little early by that time 6-8 million a year wont be nearly as nasty of a hit to pay up as it is now.
Well, the twelve year deal doesn't seem that bad, figuring Kevin Lowe would have made it a 20 year deal (backloaded). I bet if Richards plays a couple of solid seasons the Leafs might have a go at him in 2019!
Wow. This many years to a relatively unproven young player. You cannot offer this kind of contract unless you are DEAD certain of the character this player possesses. Other players such as Yashin play for the money and once the contracts set they can coast. The only time they flourish again is a contract year, which is needed to produce the next overly priced deal.
I don't like this deal... 4-5 years offers almost the same kind of security with more room for negotiability. Sure if Richard's plays up to his potential with the 12 year deal one saves maybe 1.5 million in salary. Is that really worth the risk?
They way the cap is rising every year you can expect to see this happening more and more. If players stuck to 1-3 year contracts I'm sure 40% of the players would be making league minimum by now.
But the NHL does need some new GM's. Winning isn't everything. There's also the state of the league and a great deal of the GM's in the NHL today aren't educated enough to run a multimillion dollar company. The money means nothing to a lot of them because it isn't coming out of their pocket.
They think it's ok to sign people to retarded ammounts of money just because their owner(who's even dumber) approves of it.
What % of the Gm's in hockey today have their job because of their hockey experience and not their Education? I think that it should be mandatory for GM's to have both. Heck they could do a 1% rollback on salaries and spend that money to Educate the GM's NOW.
Richards at $5.75, if he continues to evolve at his current pace is a bargain. Gomez and Drury over $7 million? Smyth at $6.75M? In another 5 years those type of players will probably be able to get close to, if not break, $8M.
Not every player is a Yashin. Some players at Sakic's, Yzerman's or Gilmore's.
It's a risk, but like I said, one that I think GM's need to take in a salary cap league. The GM's that make the best (or luckiest) long term deals will be revered as great front office men.
I also noticed he will be at the magic age of 35 in the last year of this deal. Assuming there is no crazy "no-movement" type of clause, I am intrigued by this/these deals.
I don't expect to see a lot of 10-15 year deals in the future though, it takes a certain kind of player to be trust that much.
1) So should we expect a ton of apologies to the Islanders and Charles Wang? Wasn't it a little over a year ago that the entire NHL(including the Flyers GM Bob Clark) were deriding the Islanders move to lock up their franchise player for a double digit length deal?
2) We wonder if the sanity of Mr. Snyder and Holmgren will be questioned like it was Snow/Wang only a year earlier
Last edited by fauxrumors5 on December 14th at 6:48 AM.
I have to say I am skeptical of this deal. 12 years is a long time for a player that has not really proven himself. Sure he is playing great hockey this season, but I remember a season where Steve Heinze potted 30 or so goals for the bruins. Doesn't mean he can do it year in, year out. Obviously this guy has talent and leadership, but I am not sure I ama fan of a contract that long. Time will tell I guess. I do think it is hilarious all the post I have been reading on other sites, obviously from flyers fans, saying they would taker this guy over Sid Crosby. They need to stop drinking the local water because it is tainted.
Too much money and too long a deal. The challenge of the new CBA will result in less and less player movement. Everyone wants to sign up their best prospects, but it will get to the point where trades become non-existent because who wants to take my guy that has 3 years left at $5.5M when the player no longer is motivated to produce or play for that next contract.
I'm not saying this is the case with Richards necessarily, but if Burke is having trouble making a trade now. Wait 3 years and it will be impossible with all the young players locked in.
I think the money is about right for Richards, but in my mind 12 years is just lunacy. 6 years would be excessive, but 12, especially for a player who is in his breakout year, and could still go downhill. A Huge risk that could pay big dividends for the Flyers or could make Paul Holmgren come up looking like a Rejean Houle (bad for those non-habs fans).
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
