October 30, 2006
Dave Nonis Blasts League In Vancouver Speech
By now, I'm sure most of you have read about the speech Canucks GM Dave Nonis gave in Vancouver today:
The age for free agents in the NHL "is a joke" and could result in the Pittsburgh Penguins losing Sidney Crosby when he's just entering his prime, Vancouver Canucks general manager Dave Nonis said Monday.
"Pittsburgh is going to put seven years of development money into him and he can leave when he's 25," Nonis told a B.C. Chamber of Commerce meeting.
[...]
Under the collective bargaining agreement, a player aged 29, with eight seasons in the league, became a free agent for the 2006-07 season. In 2008-09, a player aged 27, or one with seven seasons in the league, becomes an unrestricted free agent.
I don't know about the rest of the world, but I was cackling pretty loud when I first read those words.
Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that the NHL's new free agency rules are going to play havoc with the lives of plenty of league GMs. Combined with the salary cap, I'm sure things are going to be especially miserable for executives who don't learn to become as deft at balancing budgets as they are with talent evaluation.
Then again, asking players to delay free agency for a period longer than seven years after being drafted seems excessive to me. Think about having to wait seven years before getting a shot to choose your employer and negotiate the best deal you can make.
I don't know about anybody else, but it makes me sick. Seven years is long enough.
And does anybody else find it the least bit ironic that a GM in a league that regularly plucks the top talent from Russia is talking this way? Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with the way the NHL is dealing with teams in the former Soviet Union. But to hear an NHL GM exclaim at the unfairness of only being able to hold onto a player for seven years in light of the manner in which players are leaving Russia these days is almost too precious for words.
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And it's not like young talent is desperately lacking in the NHL. Yes, younger free agents will drive up salaries a bit, but every team will have its shot if they plan well.
Compare the NHL to the two situational extremes: the NBA has players in starting lineups straight out of college (i.e., no development time) and lets them leave after what, three years? That's very fair. And MLB, where top draft picks are signed for lots of money but very often never make it to the big leagues (long development time with no payoff)--are there any rules on early career free agency?
Posted by:
at October 31, 2006 09:23 AM
Sounds like Dave's been taking talking points from Tom Benjamin
Posted by:
at October 31, 2006 10:31 AM
Yikes..."Pittsburgh is going to put seven years of development money into him and he can leave when he's 25" - that's a little precious, no?
Posted by:
at October 31, 2006 02:10 PM
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