Oilers Sign RNH - 7 Year Deal

[30ranfordfan]

I agree about Subban. He has proved how good he is, and he will get paid accordingly. Fantastic player.

I only brought him into the discussion, becuase he is the best (recent) one to compare. Could have signed him long term, and for less money than he will now (rightfully) ask for.

It is a tough call, and I can't say for sure which one is better..... becuase you're right, it's all potential. As an Oiler fan, I'm happy Hopkins is locked up, and I think the deal will look very good, very soon.


Other big thing, as Wickabee pointed out, is the staggering deal. The Oilers will (most likely) have Ebelre, Hall, Hopkins, and Yakupv all expire one year after each other. Makes it much easier to manage.

All great points for discussion Mr. Ranford, all I know is Subban has provbed that he is the best on ice and not potentially the best. When Subban get's paid Gionta and Markov will have moved on and Subbang! There's your cash for Subban. By that time our next young great Galchenyuk and Gallagher will be up for their bridge and when their time is up for the payday, Price ( i hope not) will have moved on. The ever ending cycle of cash flow in the NHL. But for me, no kid gets paid on potential....ever. Your last line is impossible to say. Not impossible as an Oilers fan though. :)

[sholi2000]

Trust me, if I were an Oilers fan I would be super excited. 5 young stars on one team is another........I'm sorry what is it called when you win a few cups in a row and people look back and say that's a ___________? I've had 9 concussions, my memory is horrible. Such a simple word too. Sigh.

[RGM81]

Part of the reason that the Habs sought and fought so hard for PK's bridge contract is because the current cap situation is a bit tight due to the previous administration handing out/taking on big money, long term deals. They had to get out from the Gomez situation--they didn't know during the course of the Subban negotiations that they would be able to get an accelerated cap compliance buyout on Gomez--and they are still under big-dollar deals for guys like Gionta & Markov.

By getting the two-year reduced rate now on Subban, they were no doubt aware that if he played up to his potential that he would be getting a much larger payday after the bridge deal than had they given him the long-term deal right off his entry-level. And chances are, and I share the view, they're quite OK with that. The Habs cap situation improves dramatically after this season and Bergevin will have pretty much free rein to re-shape and re-mold this team as he sees fit. Most of the core players (Price, Gorges, Pacioretty) are locked up long-term and they will be able to do that with P.K. in a much more free-spending cap environment.

It was a stroke of genius to be able to get Subban at $2.8M per in years where the cap is $70.4M and $64.3M, respectively--starting next year when it's at a proper rate (one not artificially depressed by the NHL Board Of Governors) it's much easier to give him $7M+ per when you're not giving out a combined $10.75M to Gionta & Markov.

For the Oilers it's a slightly different scenario. Those three young guns of theirs are all going to be having their $6M per deals kicking in at the same time--obviously you want your best players to command the largest portion of your cap space--but it's going to limit what's left for everybody else. Right now they've got 10 guys under contract for next year and are already at $41M, and there aren't any "steals" on the payroll for them because even Yakupov on the last year of his ELC still counts for almost $3.8M on the cap. They could end like Pittsburgh where they have a lot of top-end (and high payroll) guys but not really anybody in the middle of the road due to cap constraints.

Of course, if the analysts are right and we have an $80M cap limit by the end of the decade, there won't be too hand wringing going on by anybody.