Two fading NHL power forwards have found new homes for next
season.
On Sunday the Minnesota Wild signed 36-year-old right wing
Owen Nolan to a two-year, $5.5 million contract (worth $2.75 million per
season) and on Monday the Calgary Flames inked 33-year winger Todd Bertuzzi to
a one-year, $1.95 million contract.
Not very long ago these two would’ve commanded top dollar on
the open market. Bertuzzi earned $6.8 million in 2003-04 with the Vancouver
Canucks after coming off a 46-goal, 97-point performance with the Canucks the
previous year.
Last summer Bertuzzi signed a two-year, $8 million contract
with the Anaheim Ducks but cap constraints, a need to re-sign Corey Perry and
Bertuzzi’s 40-point performance in 68 games forced the Ducks to buy out the
remaining year of his contract last month.
Nolan made $6.5 million with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the
2003-04 season but injuries and a contract dispute saw him miss the 2005-06
season, and the last two seasons he played for Phoenix and Calgary earning
$1.225 million and $1.75 million respectively.
His point production over the past two seasons (40 and 32)
suggests the Wild, to put it kindly, overpaid for the aging Nolan and was
likely based on his playoff performance (5 points in 7 games) with the Flames
this spring.
In signing Bertuzzi to replace Nolan the Flames get him at a
reasonable price, although that combined with what he got in his buyout
(approximately $2.6 million) means he’ll actually earn more next season than he
would made had the Ducks not bought him out.
For both players, this could be their last opportunities to
prove themselves still worthwhile NHL forwards.
At 36 Nolan’s NHL career appears to be rapidly winding down
as he’s now more of a checking forward than the high-scoring power forward he
was at the turn of this century, while Bertuzzi still toils under the shadow of
his infamous attack on Steve Moore over four years ago and a recent injury
history that limited him to 83 games over the last two seasons.
A little surprising, but as a flames fan, I'm happy. I honestly think Minnesota overpaid Nolan. Last year when he signed with Calgary, everyone said he was washed up and calgary made a mistake signing him, well he played well and was rewarded...but in my humble opinion, still overpaid. Bertuzzi is 3 years younger, bigger, stronger and in my eyes a better player if on his game. The big thing will be "if he's on his game". If he can get over the issues of his past,combined with playing along side Iggy, he can be a domanint power forward in the league. As for Nolan, I don't want to wish him the best because he'll be a rival, but I don't honestly think he'll be as good as he was in Calgary.
For what he delivered to Anaheim last seson, Todd Bertuzzi was overpaid at $4 million a year, and his signing was a mistake that cost the Ducks Dustin Penner, a younger player with signficantly more upside at this point in both men's careers. Anaheim buying out Bertuzzi a few weeks back only proves both points.
Conversely, spending $1.95 million on Bertuzzi for a one year deal is a relatively low-risk, high-reward signing by the Flames, and a good use of salary dollars.
While I think Calgary went a little to the high side on Curtis Glencross -- a nice kid, but he's now getting paid $1.2 million a season for the next three years essentially based on him having one good month -- they've redeemed themselves with this Bertuzzi deal.
if a has been and a never was power forward can get those kinds of numbers, what does an aging real deal like Shanahan deserve?
my question about shanahan is will his next team let him take the 250-300 shots he generally enjoys per season, now that his goal production is 60% what it used to be or is he willing to embrace the role of third line checking forward and penalty killer? personally, i like shanahan a lot more at 15:30 of ice time per game than at 18:30 per game. i think if he gets an offer from a contending team, it will be in a more limited role than the one to which he has become accustomed.
I'm scratching my head. Doug Risebrough has lost his marbles. He was on the local news being interviewed how he made the biggest coup bringing in a 5 time all star.
D. Risebrough overpaid by 50%. Andrew Brunette who had double the the point totals we got for 2.5 mill a season.
not smart.
I would rather see Shanahan come to the wild. I'd rather risk my money on Forsberg. Dumb move. Heck, i'd rather have bertuzzi for 1.95.
Good to see Bertuzzi land a spot on someone's roster for next season. He's suffered too much criticism for putting Steve Moore in his place.
A four and six zeroes is too much to pay him, per season. Brian Burke is still sportin' the high hard one for Vancouver players. Morrison was signed by Anaheim today, and I'm guessing Brendan will be overpaid. God willing, it's only a one-year deal.
Sorry, Matt. Bertuzzi's signing didn't cause the loss of Dustin Penner. Depending on who you listen to, Big Bert replaced either Selanne or Penner. Dustin was signed to an offer sheet and Burke wisely passed on matching the money. Edmonton now has a young forward that earned $4.25/M this year while being as productive as a $2M/year scorer. Way to go, Kevin Lowe! Penner will likely improve, though.
I'm with ya, True kings fan. Lombardi could screw up a wet dream. Los Angeles needs to name a head coach soon (Tortorella?) and stop trading away core talent like Visnovsky.
Regarding my assertion that the signing of Todd Bertuzzi led to the loss of Dustin Penner, you need to remember the timeline.
Recall that Scott Neidermayer and Teemu Selanne both had cold feet about returning to the Ducks. Proactively, Brian Burke rushed out and signed Mathieu Schnieder and Todd Bertuzzi to big ticket contracts -- to replace Scott and Teemu respectively -- leaving him with only a couple of million dollars (with the Niedermayer contract still on the books) with which to flesh out the remaining three roster spots on the club. That meant getting Dustin Penner AND two more players under contract for roughly $2.4 million.
If Niedermayer had retired and freed up that $6.75 million in cap space, the Ducks could have re-signed Penner (likely at $3 million a year) and still had another $6 million to round out the team.
If the Ducks hadn't signed Bertuzzi at $4 million a year for two seasons -- a signing that at the time I called an overpayment; Bertuzzi was still viewed as damaged goods and I seriously doubt there was a heated bidding war for his services -- they could have re-signed Penner (who would have given them the same scoring punch as Bertuzzi in the lineup with more long-term upside) and still had $3 million left to round out the last two roster spots on the team.
While Niedermayer's turn as Hamlet put the Ducks in a tough position, Bertuzzi was the $4 million domino that put Penner at risk for an offer sheet.
Are you high? Oh wait your an Oiler fan. Lowe went dirty and overpaid for a 3rd line forward knowing the Ducks were at the cap.
You overpaid for Souray as well. You need to overpay for players cause no one wants to go up there for a normal contract.
You guys are Hockey Siberia and a minor league team for the big boys in the league
And the crack Lowe made. "I have multipule cups and Burke has one" Kevin how many have you won as a gm or not riding Gretzkys coattails aaah 0
Lowe is lucky to have a job. If he was in Detroit or Dallas hell even Anaheim and have the exact same record as he has with the Oilers he would be looking in the want adds
I guess as a Wild fan I'm glad to get Nolan. Maybe 2.75M is high, but I'd rather pay Nolan that, then give Demetria the 5M he thinks he's worth. If Vancouver actually ponies up for that deal as rumored, Nolan will look like a steal.
But I agree that our GM has lost his sense of value. If Dougie was proactive with Rolston in the fall he would still be here. For that matter if he was proactive with Brunette before he left for Colorado in the first place he'd still be here. And I know many believe dougie is cheap, but he had no problem overpaying for Kim Johnsson who was goldbricking horribly until the last couple months of the past season.
Sorry got off on a tangent. Point is I'm glad Nolan's coming, it's a flicker of good news in what is set up to be a horrible summer for my Wild.
Oh and Bertuzzi Sucks, I disagree with the previous poster, there is no such thing as too much criticisim for him. I am enjoying the fact he skates like a dead tree and has missed half his games since the incident that should've seen him BANNED.
Hope he cries like the little b**** he is at the X.
Do you even pay attention to what you write anymore?
Yes, good thing Kevin Lowe could ride on Wayne Gretzky's coattails to win those Stanley Cups with Edmonton in 1990 and and the NY Rangers 1994.
Oh, Wayne was playing in Los Angeles at the time? That must have been one heck of a long coat...
By the way, I can't remember: How many Cups did Wayne Gretzky win without Kevin Lowe as a teammate?
You know, if the Kings had traded for Kevin Lowe in 1993, they could have put him on the ice for the last minute of Game 2 and he likely would have blocked Eric Desjardins' point shot. You would have been up 2 games to none and might have even won the series. Then you'd have known what a Stanley Cup looks like up-close without having to drive out to Anaheim 15 years later.
And how is Edmonton signing a player to an offer sheet "dirty"? Was it "clean" all the years previous when it happened to a dozen teams across the league, including the Edmonton Oilers? Or is it only "dirty" when the Oilers do it?
As for Edmonton being a minor league team, I expect you're quite an authority on that subject having watched the Kings for the last decade. You do promise to let me know when your team graduates from the ECHL, won't you?
TKF, I expect that you're a smarter fellow than Brian Burke. Please try to put more thought into your comments than he does.
"Lowe is lucky to have a job. If he was in Detroit or Dallas hell even Anaheim and have the exact same record as he has with the Oilers he would be looking in the want adds"
If he was in any of those cities he would have inherited better teams, much like Burke did. He took a team that was good, then was a genius for allowing Neidermayer and Selanne sign. What did he do to entice them? Oh yeah, he inherited Rob Neidermayer, who Scott wanted to play for before retiring, and he was the GM of the Ducks, who Selanne played for before and wanted to for again before the end of his career. Oh, and he did manage to ge Pronger, who Edmonton had to get rid of because they had a gun to their heads.
How many moves has Burke made that were genius since coming to the Ducks? He signed Bertuzi for too much money, signed Schneider for too much money, allowed Neidermayer and Selanne to waffle for half a year, had to let go of Bryzgalov for nothing, had to get rid of Andy McDonald and ended up paying Bertuzzi over $6M for one season.
He got a cup, then his cup-favourite team was drummed out in the first round.
TKF: Why do you always have to put the Oilers down? Really the Oil are most likely making the playoffs this year, while your Kings don't stand a chance.
We stole the best goalie we've had off of you in a few years. We got one of your best defensemen off of your at a bargain price as well.
So if we're a minor league team, what does that make your team?
Edmonton was expected to be a horrible team last year, but they just barely missed the playoffs. Amazing really when you look at how many games were lost to injury and how many of Edmonton's key players were out long term.
When I think about Edmonton's roster this year and the fact that they're pretty healthy at this point it makes me feel pretty good about my team.
As a Flames fan as well as a Flames fan who dislikes Bertuzzi, I don't really know what to think...
Apparently he and Iginla are buddies of some sort, and I guess if he really wants him on the team then I'm happy.
He's relatively cheap, especially compared to some of the other signings, and if he does his thing, and gets in the way in front of the net, he could actually do alright ..
I am glad Sutter's been adding some younger guys that can actually skate, and maybe have engery the older fellows have lacked in previous years.
By the way .. How does the Wild signing Nolan, and the Flames taking Bertuzzi turn into another excuse to whine about the Penner offer sheet ? They recieved three deadly picks in a deep draft.. Burke would never have been able to trade Penner for those... He has nothing to whine about ..
Our old buddy True_Kings_Fan just likes to throw stones to get attention.
The only real response to TKF's castigation of Kevin Lowe's GM record is simply thus: If Kevin Lowe had exactly the same GM record at the helm of the Los Angeles Kings, TKF would be ecstatic.
This Alternate World TKF would wax poetic about the Snowball in Hell Classic, that outdoor game at the Rose Bowl in 2003 which the Kings played against Detroit. (Jim Fox scored the winning goal in the Alumni game to thrill the fans, but sadly Detroit won the real contest later that night.)
AW-TKF would continually carp about being one period away from a Stanley Cup in 2006 -- Closer than Gretzky and Melrose ever got us in 1993! -- and praise all the trades made by Kevin Lowe that got the Kings that close.
And he'd complain bitterly -- it is TKF, after all, however Alternate World he might be -- about how Chris Pronger's wife turned out to be sensitive to UV radiation and how the Kings were forced to move the all-star defenseman to a snowier climate after only one season in Los Angeles silks.
We could go on further, but I'd thought it best to stop before we get to Alternate World TKF's man crush on Ryan Smyth.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 9th at 10:42 AM.
I am probably too old fashioned, but Bertuzzi should have received a much harsher suspension for his attack on Steve Moore in 2004. 17 games, plus the playoffs, plus a season that was lost to the lockout anyway, is just a joke for what he did. That said, his suspension would have ended now unless it was a lifetime ban, which I'm not in favour of since there was an element of bad luck involved in the incident as well (check out the common law "Thin Skull Rule" in Wikepedia to get a sense of what I'm talking about).
But, as a Flames fan back in 2004, I thought then, with some guilt, that it was a "good" thing he attacked Moore since Bertuzzi wasn't on the ice during the Canucks first round loss to the Flames. If Bertuzzi had played, chances are he would have tipped the scales in favour of Vancouver in what was a very tight series.
Still a Flames fan today, I think he is a big, skilled winger, who, when healthy, can contribute in a major way. (That's obviously the Bertuzzi that Iginla sees.)
However, as a human being, I can't support Bertuzzi even if he is wearing my favourite team's uniform, so this signing gets a thumbs down from me and I won't be cheering as hard as I normally do for the Flames next year.
The timeline is a bit hazy, to me. You're obviously using your head for something other than stopping pucks, Matt.
Regardless of whether the offer sheet to Penner and the Bertuzzi signing happened in a specific chronological order, there was no way in hell Burke was going to match Lowe's offer. I can't blame Dustin for signing the offer sheet. That's a lot of coin for a young player to turn down.
The Bertuzzi contract was a bit of a surprise, though. I thought it a tad expensive, but waited to see how Todd performed. As the season played out, I was disappointed that Bertuzzi didn't always play like the big man he was. Seemed like the Moore Incident was always in the back of his mind... holding him back, not letting him play up to his potential.
ducknut....Bertuzzi suffered too much criticism? He ended the guys career...wow! I can't say whether he even deserved to ever play another nhl game or not but his suspension is over and he is playing so apparently he satisfied the people that count.That being said,no one can deny that he plays power forward as good as anyone when he's healthy.What does surprise me is that neither he nor Nolan were signed by an eastern team. The western teams seem to have a lock on those types of players while the eastern teams definitely lack in that area.
Steve Moore was (and still is) a career "nobody". He inflicted a nasty concussion on Marcus Naslund and then turtled when Bertuzzi told him it was time to pay the piper. There's a code in hockey... you can hit anyone you want, as hard as you like... but, you'd better be prepared to pay your 'bill'. Moore didn't want to pony up, so Todd extracted 'payment'.
I don't endorse cheap shots, but I am not against retaliation. Hockey is a physical and sometimes violent sport. If you clean someone's clock... expect your pumpkin to receive a little extra "lovin".
ducknut...your right about Moore turtling but the retaliation was definitely cheap....I rank it right there with the McSorely hatchet job. I'm a longtime Pens fan and loved McSorely when he played there but he is now and always will be in my opinion,along with Bertuzzi,on the short list of players who commited the most cowardly,selfish acts ever in hockey.
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.
