Just when you thought marathon Wimbledon matches and Italian choke jobs in the World Cup would keep hockey fans busy all morning, we see this from the San Jose Sharks official website:
San Jose Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson announced today that the club has re-signed Group III un-restricted free agent forward Patrick Marleau and Group II restricted free agent forward Joe Pavelski to four-year contracts. In keeping with club policy, financial terms of the deals was not disclosed. (ed note: Per Gord Miller, Marleau’s contract is 4-years, $6.9 million per season; Pavelski’s is 4-years, $4 million per)
Well that should get hockey fans’ attention, right? Take one of the most desirable unrestricted free agents, add in one of the best restricted free agents, and issue one press release and watch the reaction.
Who’s the biggest loser in the deal? Easily, NHL fans that were looking forward to “the frenzy” on July 1st. After Marleau’s signing, the high-end UFA market dwindled down to a total of 1. On that note, the biggest winner in the entire situation has to be Ilya Kovalchuk. When all of his suitors saw their back-up plan disappear before their eyes, the desperation level to sign him was just turned up to 11. No longer can they go with the excuse, “We can go after Marleau for a lower price tag.”
A perfect example is the Los Angeles Kings. Instead of courting both free agents and being happy with either alternative, they’ll be forced to devote all of their attention towards the Russian sniper. The new Plan B: Umm, Ray Whitney? Exactly. There no long is a Plan B.
The move for the Sharks shows both the commitment to Marleau who has spent his entire 12-year career with the same team; as well as Marleau’s commitment to the team that drafted him. I’d be curious to see if he could have earned more than $6.9 million per year on the open market, but I’m old-school and like when an athlete chooses to stay with the team he’s been with for his entire career.
Then again, I like it even more when he signs with my team.
Matt Reitz
Matt Reitz is an NHL Writer for ProHockeyTalk on NBCSports and the Editor-In-Chief here at ViewFromMySeats.com. When he's not shoving a mic in the face of NHLers or explaining why home teams should wear white, he's usually trying to figure out what song to play next on his iPod. It's a never-ending job.
