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Shea Weber

Snapshots: Weber, Fleury, Forbort

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Prized off-season acquisition Shea Weber is in Montreal to get acquainted with his new city. Weber took part in a workout, photoshoot, and on-ice session in his new jersey, which includes an “A” sewn on the front. In a feature on Habs TV, Weber told his new fans that he feels very fortunate to be a part of a tight-knit family. He called Montreal the Mecca of hockey, adding it gives him “chills” to be a member of the Canadiens. Weber told Habs TV that “three or four people came up to me [in the airport] and welcomed me to Montreal”.

Here’s some other news from around the NHL:

  • After Matt Murray backstopped the Penguins to their fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history, Marc-Andre Fleury is in tough to win back his old job, despite posting career-best numbers. However, as Jared Clinton of The Hockey News writes, it may be impossible for Fleury to regain the starting role thanks to his age, injury history, and next summer’s expansion draft. Because Fleury has a no-trade clause, he has to be protected. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Penguins keep Fleury and allow Murray to be selected by Las Vegas.
  • According to LA Kings Insider Jon Rosen, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Derek Forbort will be healthy for training camp after undergoing surgery in late June. The 15th overall pick in 2010 needs to have a big camp to make the Kings, as he’s one of six defenseman who will be battling for three NHL jobs this fall. Forbort is waiver-eligible, so if the club wants to assign him to their AHL affiliate Ontario, he’ll need to clear waivers first. Forbort appeared in 14 games with the big club last year, scoring a goal and adding 2 assists.

Salary Cap Report: Atlantic Division

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As the hockey world takes its collective breath before the World Cup, training camps, and the regular season begins, most teams have checked off their boxes and marked their ledgers. There are some teams not finished, as trades or financial meandering will be necessary due to cap crunches. Others have plenty of room.

We’ll start with the Atlantic Division, which houses the team with the greatest amount of red ink in terms of cap space–the Detroit Red Wings. Some interesting notes:

The specifics are below:

Subban “Head-Over-Heels Excited” To Play In Nashville

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The Nashville Predators unveiled newly-acquired superstar defenseman P.K. Subban to their fans and local media on Monday. According to the Canadian Press, Subban had lunch with new teammates Mike Fisher and Ryan Ellis as part of his tour of the city prior to the press conference, where he sang Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”.

Subban told reporters he will always have fond memories of and connections to Montreal, but that he’s ready to move on, saying “coming here [Nashville] is not a popularity contest. Coming here is about helping this team to win and win a championship”.

Predators General Manager David Poile called his new acquisition a “superstar, game-changing defenseman and one of the most electrifying players in the game”. Poile was hopeful that the trade would help his team score more goals and spend less time in the defensive zone.

The Predators paid a big price to acquire the former Norris trophy winner, trading their captain Shea Weber to Montreal in a rare one-for-one trade. The June 29 trade is still a highly controversial topic; the Canadiens recently let go analytics consultant Matt Pfeffer after he submitted a “passionate” report in defence of Subban prior to the trade, in which he reportedly called Weber an “average player”. Earlier this afternoon, Pfeffer tweeted some context to the “average” remark, saying it was specifically with regards to one advanced stat category.

Subban and Weber each put up 51 points last season, however Weber scored more goals (20-6) in 10 more games (78-68). However, Subban has outscored Weber by 22 points (202-180) since 2012-13. Subban drives the play more than Weber, who is a more steady defensive defenseman. According to an analysis by Jonathan Willis, Weber relied on partner Roman Josi to make outlet passes, something that Subban excels at. Subban is also four year younger than Weber and just reaching the prime of his career.

Contract-wise, Subban is the highest-paid defenseman in the NHL. He earns an average of $9MM per year until 2022, while Weber’s cap hit is slightly lower at $7.86MM but doesn’t expire until 2026. Subban will be just 32 when his deal is up, only two years older than Weber is today. Weber will be 41 when his contract expires, which could lead to some nasty cap-recapture penalties for Nashville if he retires before then. Poile obviously feels the risk is worth it to acquire Subban, giving them possibly the best top four defense in the league with Subban, Josi, Ellis, and Mattias Ekholm.

The Richest Contracts In NHL History

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Friday was a very busy day for Jamie Benn.  First, he underwent surgery to repair an injured core muscle that leaves his availability for Team Canada at the World Cup in question.  Then the good news for him came in the form of an eight year, $76MM extension that makes him the highest paid player in team history.  It’s one of the richest deals in league history but falls just short of the top-10 of all time, at least in part.  Here’s a closer look at the priciest NHL deals ever.

1) Alex Ovechkin (13 years, $124MM) – Following his entry-level deal, Ovechkin essentially signed a two-pronged extension, one for six years at $9MM per season and then another at seven years and $10MM per year.  While you can’t call his contract a bargain, he has been one of the NHL’s top players for many years and is expected to continue to do so for a long time to come.

2) Shea Weber (14 years, $110MM) – Offer sheets have been few and far between in recent years but Weber was the most prominent to receive one as the Flyers inked him to a heavily frontloaded one in the summer of 2012.  Interestingly enough, offer sheets cannot contain any trade restrictions which likely played a role in Weber’s trade to the Canadiens last month.

3) Sidney Crosby (12 years, $104.4MM) – Prior to the current CBA which set a term limit of eight years on any contract, Crosby inked a highly frontloaded deal to stay with the Penguins until he’s 38.  The extra money up front was enough to keep Crosby at an $8.7MM cap hit, matching his sweater number.

4) Ilya Kovalchuk (15 years, $100MM) – New Jersey’s second attempt at a Kovalchuk deal in the summer in 2010 was enough to avoid another cap circumvention penalty.  That’s really the only good news that came from it as just three years later, Kovalchuk ‘retired’ to return to play in the KHL.  The Devils are dealing with a salary cap recapture penalty of $250K until 2024-25.

5) Alexei Yashin (10 years, $87.5MM) – This was an outright disaster for the Islanders, who inked Yashin to this deal back in 2001. He failed to come close to expectations and wound up being bought out with four years left on the deal at a cost of over $17.6MM.  On top of that, the Isles traded Zdeno Chara and the draft pick that yielded Jason Spezza as part of the package to land Yashin.

6) Vincent Lecavalier (11 years, $85MM) – Tampa Bay was hoping they had a fair deal with their franchise player at the time when they signed him to this deal back in 2009.  However, like Yashin, he struggled under the weight of the new deal while injuries took a toll as well.  The Lightning bought him out in 2013 and are in the midst of paying him over $32.6MM not to play for them through 2026-27.  Lecavalier retired earlier this offseason.

7/8) Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews (8 years, $84MM) – Chicago inked their two superstars to identical contracts two years ago, a year before each were eligible for unrestricted free agency.  The Blackhawks continue to find ways to stay under the cap for now but that could become more of a challenge if the salary cap continues to stay close to where it is now as the years progress.

9) Anze Kopitar (8 years, $80MM) – Back in January, the Kings reached this deal with their new captain to avoid the risk of losing him to free agency this summer.  Kopitar has been Los Angeles’ most consistent forward for many years now and should remain their franchise forward for many years to come.

10) Jaromir Jagr (7 years, $77MM) – Washington signed Jagr back in 2001 to what was the richest deal in league history at that time.  However, the lockout in 2004-05 introduced a 24% rollback just two years into the contract which cost Jagr over $21.5MM in salary.  Jagr, now 44, is still going strong in the NHL and signed a one year, $4MM guaranteed deal with Florida in May.  He could also earn another $1.515M in games played and award bonuses.

If you take Jagr’s deal off because of the subsequent rollback, Benn’s new $76MM contract as well as Evgeni Malkin’s current identical pact with the Penguins become tenth on the all-time list.

Canadiens Owner Confident Subban Trade Is Good For Team

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The Montreal Canadiens will be better off for trading P.K. Subban, according to the team’s owner and president Geoff Molson. Molson spoke about the controversial trade at Monday’s press conference announcing the relocation of the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate from St. John’s to Laval.

The Canadian Press quoted Molson as saying he supports GM Marc Bergevin “100 per cent”, however he’s “not surprised how the fans reacted” because they “love him and still will love him”.

Subban has been a larger-than-life superstar for the Canadiens since his debut in 2009-10, amassing 63 goals and 278 points 434 regular season games. He’s added 38 points in 55 post-season games. The Toronto-native also donated $10MM to the Montreal Children’s Hospital last year, where he spends time visiting with patients.

Bergevin has been busy this summer, trading Subban, Lars Eller, and a pair of 2nd round picks picks for Shea Weber, Andrew Shaw, and two different 2nd round picks. He’s also signed highly-skilled, controversial-in-his-own-right Russian winger Alex Radulov to boost the offence, depth defenceman Zach Redmond, and Al Montoya to create competition in goal.

The Canadiens finished missed the playoffs last year, due in large part to Carey Price’s injury which limited him to just 12 games. Price is healthy and is expected start for Canada at the World Cup this September.

Molson said he and Subban have spoken since the trade, and Subban will continue his work with the Montreal Children’s Hospital. The Predators’ only visit to Montreal next season is March 2, a date Molson said he’s looking forward to.

 

Snapshots: Stamkos And Subban

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The Steven Stamkos bidding war was ended very quickly by the player re-signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Stamkos was pitched by just three teams (Montreal, Buffalo, Toronto) before ending the process. That may be because of the Maple Leafs’ pitch, according to Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun.

While teams bringing in big names to woo players isn’t uncommon (Oilers legends Paul Coffey and Wayne Gretzky were famously involved in the Oilers acquiring Justin Schultz), the Maple Leafs may have gone overboard. Back in June, Simmons reported team president Brendan Shanahan, GM Lou Lamoriello, Toronto mayor John Tory, and Canadian Tire CEO Michael B. Medine all met with Stamkos to sell the Maple Leafs, Toronto, and potential endorsement opportunities. Simmons reported Sunday that after the meeting, Stamkos told his agent that he didn’t want any more meetings and he wanted to speak with Lightning GM Steve Yzerman. He was officially re-signed two days after his meeting in Toronto.

Other notes from around the league:

  • It was reported shortly after the P.K. Subban/ Shea Weber trade on June 29 that Nashville Predators would not honor Subban’s no-trade clause (NTC). Vice Sports columnist Sean McIndoe explored the bizarre rule that allowed the Predators to nix the clause one day before it was supposed to come into effect. Essentially, the CBA rules state that those clauses are binding to the acquiring team, unless the clause hasn’t come into effect yet. An NTC is often a hard-fought-for part of a contract, with players sometimes taking concessions on salary or term in order to get it. However, its doubtful that Subban made any concessions to get one, considering he will make $9MM per year until 2022. And while its also unlikely that the Predators will trade their new superstar, Subban would have no say if they decided to move him out before the end of his contract. Our Mike Furlano has previously explained no-trade and no-move clauses in more depth.
  • Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin told NHL.com that he has stayed away from reading media reports about the Subban trade, saying fans and media are guessing at what goes on behind the scenes. The Canadiens GM says he wants to “unplug” after a tough season. Bergevin also spoke about comparisons between the Patrick Roy trade and the Subban one, saying Roy won “two Stanley Cups … I’ve always believed that winning a Stanley Cup changes everything”.

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