The Minnesota Wild made a significant contract signing on
Friday, one that not only keeps a talented young forward on their roster
long-term but could also have an impact upon their efforts to retain their best
forward.
Winger Pierre-Marc Bouchard signed a five-year, $20.4
million contract with the Wild and avoided going to arbitration. He was
eligible for unrestricted free agent status next summer but took considerably
less than what he might’ve made next summer as a UFA to remain with the Wild.
Reports also indicate that, while he didn’t get a “no-trade”
clause in his contract, he received a promise from Wild GM Doug Risebrough that
he won’t be traded in his first two years.
That’s important for Bouchard, who was reportedly offered up
to the Florida Panthers in June for center Olli Jokinen. It was speculated that
would have a negative impact upon the Wild’s attempt to re-sign him long-term
but Bouchard evidently wanted to stay in Minnesota.
This move could also have a potentially positive impact upon
the Wild’s efforts to retain star forward Marian Gaborik, who is also eligible
for UFA status next summer and would be among the most prized free agents
available.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune reporter Michael Russo suggests it
could take around $8.5 million to lock up Gaborik long-term, which is probably
less than what he could make on the open market but given the club’s commitment
in recent years to retaining their best young players might be enough to keep
Gaborik in the fold.
Keeping the slick playmaker Bouchard could help the Wild
sway Gaborik’s decision in their favor.
The deadline for
Club-Elected Salary Arbitration notification is July 6, 2008 at 5 p.m.
ET. Hearings will be held in Toronto from
July 20 to August 4, 2008."
More significant is the fact that these players are now ineligible to receive offer sheets from rival teams.
With the NHL trade deadline now past the next notable round of player movement won’t occur until June, 2008, and most of it will be free agents signing with new teams.
While the focus as always will be on unrestricted free agents, this summer the threat of offer sheets is now a very real one, thus hockey fans will be nervously watching the contract talks of their favorite restricted free agent players as July 1st approaches.
Many teams haven’t wasted time this season, locking up their best RFA players to lengthy, long-term contracts now rather than risk another club either setting the price or plucking them away.
As a result, the list of the top RFA players has shrunk considerably since the start of the season, but there still remains some quality talent who, if unsigned by July 1st, could be tempting targets for offer sheets. It’ll be interesting to see how many of the following are re-upped by the end of June:
Anaheim: Corey Perry.
Columbus: Pascal LeClaire.
Detroit: Valtteri Filppula
Edmonton: Tom Gilbert and Joni Pitkanen.
Florida: Jay Bouwmeester.
Minnesota: Pierre-Marc Bouchard.
Montreal: Andrei Kostitsyn.
Nashville: Martin Erat, Shea Weber and Ryan Suter.
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.
