Hockey Night in Canada's Scott Morrison delivers his insights into the world of hockey, on and off the ice.
Burke gets Getzlaf deal done on own terms
Comments (10)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 | 05:01 PM ET
By Scott Morrison
Well, there's one more name off Kevin Lowe's summer shopping list.
Probably the Toronto Maple Leafs and a few others, as well.
On Tuesday, the Anaheim Ducks quietly signed talented forward Ryan Getzlaf, who could have become a restricted free agent this summer (can you say Dustin Penner?) to a five-year deal reportedly worth slightly more than $26 million US, averaging $5.3 million annually towards the cap, which is a healthy increase from his $700,000-plus entry level salary.
But the signing is a wise one by the Ducks.
Needless to say, they are avoiding what happened last summer when the Edmonton Oilers offered a handsome, lucrative offer sheet to restricted free agent Penner, after they had done the same with Buffalo Sabres forward Tomas Vanek. We all know how that played out with Lowe and Ducks general manager Brian Burke.
Obviously, a lot of teams are signing up their good, young, pending restricted free agents to long-term contracts to avoid such occurrences, such as Los Angeles with Dustin Brown and Ottawa with Jason Spezza. It's good managing, especially when you are convinced the player is the real deal. Time may prove that for Penner and the Oilers, but it seems given the 22-year-old Getzlaf's play last year and so far this year that he is a safe, smart signing. He is leading the team in points this year and had 58, including 25 goals, last year. He was also a key contributor to the Stanley Cup win and, like we said, he is just 22 so there is plenty of upside over the next five years.
And by not being forced to match another team's offer, the Ducks get the deal done comfortably on their terms, not those dictated and possibly inflated by another team, thus avoiding an anxious summer in the process.
The next big challenge for the Ducks will be signing of Corey Perry, another pending restricted free agent, and managing their salary cap and budget to do it. But the good general managers, and Burke is one of them, find a way to keep the best players long-term and make the rest of the parts fit in cost-smart fashion.
And being cost-smart, as it pertains to his team, is what Burke was when he declined to match the Oilers offer to Penner.
Depending on how things shake down, too, Burke could be a really happy man this summer. He will have his best young player, Getzlaf, about to begin a long-term deal and he quite likely will have one of the top first-round picks in the entry draft, that courtesy of the Oilers as compensation for signing Penner.
It is an interesting game indeed in this cap world.
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About the Author
Scott Morrison, the recipient of the Hockey Hall of Fameís 2006 Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, has been covering hockey for 25 years. The Toronto native began his career at the Toronto Sun in 1979. After spending more than 11 years as a hockey writer and columnist at the paper, Morrison became Sports Editor in 1991 and led the section to being named one of North America's top-ten sports sections in 1999 - the first sports section in Canada to receive the AP Sports Editors North American Award. Scott, a former two-term president of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, joined Rogers Sportsnet in 2001 as Managing Editor, Hockey, and is currently both a commentator on Hockey Night in Canada and a columnist for CBC.ca.
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Comments (10)
Dan
Calgary
The vast majority of players have their most productive seasons in their mid-twenties. Trying to build through UFA's won't work, because the market is built on what a player has done in the past, rather than what he will do for you in the present and future.
Locking up Getzlaf is a no-brainer, and getting what is likely a top 10 pick (along with a 2nd and a 3rd) for Penner is an even bigger no-brainer. Too bad Burke has such a poor draft record...Nonis is finally starting to compile some young talent on the Moose.
Posted November 26, 2007 11:26 AM
Ted
Edmonton
The real story is that Brian Birke did something 'quietly'.
Posted November 25, 2007 10:34 PM
DJD
I see we're starting to creep back to the bad old pre-cap days where GM's are giving out high dollar,long term contracts rather than deal with RFA's.My problem with doing this is that no one can see into the future and there is a huge potential to get burned.I think Edmonton,among others,will find that out.It is not like the Draft where rookies now have limits,which is good.If all contracts were no more than,say,2yrs. and an option,there would be a vast improvement in overall play and a lot less floating through the middle years of the contract.As it stands now,how many guys do you see sleep-walking out there until their option year...
Posted November 24, 2007 09:54 AM
Brad
Edmonton
I guess they don't believe in proper punctuation in Newcastle. Oiler fans might be offended if Maple's argument wasn't written so pathetically.
As if Lowe had any choice in the matter in the Pronger trade.
The Oilers are definately rebuilding and have plenty of future talent in Gange, Cogliano, and Nilsson. Burke has done the right thing in getting his players signed early and it has nothing to do with the Oilers and everything to do with GMs utilizing the choices available to them within the rules.
Posted November 23, 2007 05:10 PM
larry
alberta
So burke learned from a past mistake over Penner, its toobad edmonton got him since he hasn't done much for his sky high salary.I think lowe did him a favor, Burke should send Lowe a thankyou card instead of complaining about the penner mishap.One season with afew goals does not warrant a mega million dollar raise. Wish I along with other hard working people could get results like that for or lifetime of doing alot more than they do to keep things going. They are over paid and spoiled. I blame it on over marketing and arrogance on player and managements part
Posted November 23, 2007 05:07 PM
Danny
Vancouver
I applaud Burke for his quiet but timely move. Signing your players early to contract extensions shows good faith and goes a long way to encouraging fan base stability.
Posted November 23, 2007 10:24 AM
Ken
Germany
I love how people like Scott here make subtle comments about Lowe signing Penner as being a bad thing. Where does it say that there should be some sort of honour code between NHL managers? To me this kind of comment smacks of everything we hated about old school NHL and management. It's a business, not some sort of boys club.
I agree that signing the good young talent is key to long term success of a team. Perry and Getzlaff are crucial to building a solid core towards that. But there are other tools such as signings of RFAs using offer sheets. If you were the Manager of the Edmonton Oilersand had to deal with all the negative fallout from the Prongers and others who don't want to play in a real hockey town (and believe you me Edm is one of the few), then what do you do as a Manager - sit back and hope a new fancy dressing room will attract the wives/girlfriends, oops I mean players?
Posted November 22, 2007 08:06 AM
Maple
newcastle
edmonton "screwed" itself further into the oil drum because the signing of penner was lame and basically robbed them of future tallent kinda like the pronger trade....................................
Posted November 22, 2007 12:47 AM
bruce
vancouver
Yes,smart moves,Brian can we get you back here?
Posted November 21, 2007 03:36 PM
Jason
Belleville
If the cap world is all about good, young talent..the Maple Leafs aren't going anywhere for a long time. The Leafs do not possess one young prospect on either the Marlies or the current roster, with even a glimmer of hope of being an 80-100 point/season guy...not one! There best hope is Wellwood, who already is becoming a health concern. Even healthy, I doubt very much that he is able to consistently achieve more than 70 points a season. Time to blow this thing up and start again through the 'draft and develop' process.
Posted November 21, 2007 03:06 PM