Where's My Money, Man?
Quite a surprising announcement from Causeway St. this afternoon that the Bruins signed Milan Lucic to a three-year extension through the end of the 2012-23 season. As I said in the brief post earlier, not a shock in a sense that Lucic isn’t worth keeping around, but in the fact that there wasn’t much – if any – mention of negotiations between the two sides.
Of course, there were some more high-profile negotiations with Phil Kessel going on over the summer, so it is not a shock that this slipped under the radar a bit. Kessel was the goal-scoring wonderkid and his petulant negotiations are a much sexier news story than the apparent quick and painless ones with Looch.
There was no hiding the fact that the Bruins were going to be in a tough situation next summer with Lucic, Marc Savard, Blake Wheeler, Mark Stuart and Tuukka Rask all major players in various forms of free agency. It was clear when they traded Kessel that the brain trust made a decision that that $5-plus million was better suited going to those players in some form.
The rumored numbers for Milan’s contract are $4 million for 2010-11 and 2011-12 and $4.25 for 2012-13 including a $1 million signing bonus. Total estimated worth is $12.25 million.
As of right now, with Savard unsigned, Lucic becomes the second-highest paid forward under contract next season. Only Patrice Bergeron at $4.75 million is higher. Michael Ryder is also a $4 mil while David Krejci is $3.75 million for next year. To put things in comparison, other players slated for a $4,000,000 cap hit in 2010-11 are the likes of Brad Boyes, Jason Blake, J.P. Dumont, Michal Handzus, Jordan Staal, Nathan Horton, Ryan Whitney and Joni Pitkanen. Detroit’s Johan Franzen is just below at $3.95 mil. Boston’s willingness to commit this level of money and cap space to Lucic shows that they value his complete game at a level worthy of what boils down to the top-100 players in the league (104 players will make more than his $4,000,000 next season as of right now). Wacky math with retirements, new contracts, etc. leads to my assumption.
Some experts (ahem, Sports Guy), saw the trade of Phil Kessel as management’s unwillingness to pay young players money. Today’s deal is a clear indication that Chiarelli, Sweeney, Benning, Neely, etc. are more than willing to dole out the cash. It just has to be the right amount for the right player. Faced with paying an injury-prone, finicky, one-dimensional player upwards of $5.5 million a year or investing in a player of the same age who plays the style of game demanded in Boston, the decision appears to have been easy for the Bruins.
Before the numbers were out there on the deal, my thoughts were more on the $3-3.5 million a year side. Lucic hasn’t reached 20 goals in a season yet and his high in points is 42. Of course, he has only played two years, but those are the numbers. An almost 400% jump in salary just seemed like a big number to me. However, let’s all remember that I am not the Harvard-educated decision makers in the war room on Causeway, so I have very little clue on matters such as these. This contract is clearly a bet by Boston that those numbers will reach somewhere in the 25-30/60-70 range. Make no mistake, Lucic is a very good player and brings a lot to the table in his role for the Bruins. But, to be a $4,000,000 player in this league, you need to be more than what he is at this moment. Not saying he can’t or won’t reach that level, just stating facts.
At the end of the day, this is an easy move to support if you are a Bruins fan. The most popular player on the team is locked up for the next three years. He is not costing a ridiculous amount on the cap. Most people around hockey project him to reach those totals mentioned in the previous graph. If he does that, this is a great deal for Boston. If he shoots the moon and becomes the “Full-Neely”, well the Bruins have committed highway robbery. Between the commitments to Lucic, Krejci and Tim Thomas, it is evident that the Bruins are making serious decisions on who/what is important to the long-term life of this organization.
The way this deal went down says a lot about Looch as well. He is in the final year of his entry-level deal and makes about $700,000 a year. He is playing on the first line and is a target of every tough guy in the league. At the same time, he is charged with becoming a big-time goal scorer while playing policeman as needed. He never once publicly campaigned for a new deal, griped about fourth-lowest paid player on the team or questioned his lot in life. He let his play on the ice and maturity off it do the talking and is being rewarded. The best part? I am willing to bet the $12 million he was just handed that the Serbian Nightmare will go the extra mile to prove that he is worth the fortune he has been given. If ever there was a player who will feel he owes it to his teammates, the organization and the city he plays for to earn his salary, Lucic is that player.
As Chad Finn quotes one NHL GM as saying in his blog on Boston.com about the signing, Lucic “brings intangibles far beyond his numbers.” Also, how telling is it that one of his teammates, Blake Wheeler, publicly congratulated him on the team’s Twitter feed? Every guy in the dressing room appreciates Lucic and is happy for him on many levels today. That joyous feeling also is spreading through the Hub of Hockey.
boardsandblades
Boards and Blades 