CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

“We’re just going about business,” Neil Smith said, “trying to help our team.”

The New York GM said this in 1997, after he had just offered Colorado’s – Restricted Free Agent – Joe Sakic $17 million for the 1997-98 season (This was structured as a $15 million signing bonus, along with a $2 million salary.).

The New York Times wrote: “[There is] … the belief in some places that the Rangers acted as predators to victimize a smaller-market team with what at the time appeared to be a cash-flow problem.”

The Avalanche had lost $8 million the previous season, largely because of their archaic arena.

And Smith had lost Mark Messier to the Vancouver Canucks, who had signed him to a three year $20 million deal.

Exactly ten years after the Sakic sheet, Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe offered Anaheim’s Dustin Penner a $21.5 million five year contract.

But, whereas Pierre LaCroix had matched Smith’s offer, Burke refused, taking Edmonton’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round compensation picks last June.

At his first press conference, following the Penner sheet, Burke stated:

“Offer sheets are a part of the CBA and I have no problem with that. If you can identify a player and pay him appropriately and make him an offer, that’s fine. At some point, the deals you make, the offers you extend, whether the team matches it or not, impacts all 30 teams, including your own.”

This would be the tamest of Burke’s comments, concerning Kevin Lowe and the Oilers.

During the late 1980s, the Major League Baseball Players’ Association filed collusion charges, arguing that Commissioner Peter Ueberroth and team owners had violated the collective bargaining agreement during the 1985-1987 seasons. The MLBPA won each case, and over $280 million in owner fines.

Hockey owners weren’t colluding, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. They were trying to scoop their rival’s Restricted Free Agents.

In August, 1986, Chicago offered Toronto’s Gary Nylund a three year – plus an option – contract, worth $620,000 (And as a footnote, Harold Ballard refused to match the offer and ended up paying his compensation players, Ken Yaremchuk and Dupont more than Nylund was receiving.).

The Nylund offer was made during the time when Brian Burke was practicing law in Boston, and representing professional hockey players.

He would next join the Canucks the following year, as Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations. He left the Canucks in 1992 to become the General Manager of the Hartford Whalers.

During his time as the Canucks’ VP, New York presented offer sheets to Geoff Courtnall and Adam Graves, St. Louis gave sheets to Dave Christian and Michel Goulet, and Boston sheeted Glen Featherstone and Dave Thomlinson. And not to be left out, Washington gave a sheet to Dave Manson.

The most interesting offers at this time, directly and indirectly, concerned Scott Stevens.

In July, 1990, the Blues offered the Scott Stevens a four year $5.1 million contract. Washington didn’t match the sheet, and were given five first round draft picks as compensation.

Was Stevens being paid “appropriately,” as Burke would term it?

Well, his salary was only behind Wayne Gretzky’s, Mario Lemieux’s and Steve Yzerman’s, and ahead of Ray Bourque’s and Brett Hall’s.

And, from 1990 until 1996, Ray Bourque was a first team All-Star five times and a second team selection once, whereas Scott Stevens was only a second and first team selection once.

Then, one year later, St. Louis presented an offer sheet to New Jersey’s Brendan Shanahan, and Scott Stevens was given to the Devils as compensation.

(And, never to give up, St. Louis gave a second offer sheet to Stevens three years later. It was $17 million for four years, but the Devils matched it. This put him behind only Gretzky and Messier, and ahead of Lemieux and Bure. Once again, it can be argued that he had been paid an “inappropriate” salary.).

Calgary’s offer to Winnipeg’s Teemu Selanne was definitely not “appropriate.” They offered him $2.7 million, in 1992, which Winnipeg then matched.

This was a higher salary than Lemieux’s and Messier’s, but less than Gretzky’s and Eric Lindros’s.

Brian Burke joined the NHL’s front office as Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations, in September of 1993. He served as the chief disciplinarian, and worked closely with Commissioner Gary Bettman on league direction, including collective bargaining matters.

During Burke’s time in New York, and until 1998, there were some out of control offer sheets – sheets that tried to victimize rival’s financial situations.

In 1995, for example, Bob Pulford offered Winnipeg’s Keith Tkachuk over $6 million a year. This put him behind Gretzky and Messier, and ahead of Lemieux and Bure.

The Sakic salary would average out to $7 million per season, which made him the highest-paid player in the National Hockey League. Smith said the wage “[is] commensurate with Joe’s standing in the league … [and] I don’t think it is out of line in this marketplace.”

Sakic was being paid 10% more than Wayne Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier, and company.

Next, in February, 1998, Carolina offered Sergei Fedorov a six year contract for $38 million. And, they front loaded it, hoping that the Wings wouldn’t want to pay out a large chunk all at once.

The offer broke down into: $14 million for signing, $2 million for 21 regular season games, and $12 million for the team reaching conference finals.

$28 million for 43 total games in 1997-98 is the largest single season amount ever paid to an NHL athlete.

“Carolina could never get a player like that just by signing him and think we would take five No. 1 draft picks,” Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman grumbled. “I don’t know what they were thinking. They should be out trying to make trades.”

Detroit had planned to match all offers, anyways.

“What difference does it make?” shrugged Wings VP Jim Devellano. “We’re going to match.”

Jimmy D was responding to the rumour that the Islanders might be putting together an Offer Sheet for the young Russian.

Was Detroit unhappy with Carolina’s offer?

“I think there’s hard feelings,” general manager Ken Holland later said. “Anytime somebody puts in an offer sheet for somebody else’s player, I think the team that’s receiving the offer sheet is never very pleased.”

A couple of the more “inappropriate” offers, during this time, impacted Burke’s old mentor and friend, Pat Quinn.

St. Louis’ Ron Caron signed Canucks’ dissident, Petr Nedved to a three year, $12 million contract.

This was more than Lindros, Yzerman, Lemieux, Gretzky and Patrick Roy were taking home.

Quinn’s comments, at the time, were as heated as Burke’s tirades a decade and some later: “[This has] involved some dirty tricks that were certainly not very savoury … We have some real questions about what transpired.”

The Canucks didn’t match the offer, but did when they were targeted again a few years later.

Toronto’s Acting GM, Bill Watters offered Swedish defenseman, Mattias Ohlund, a five-year, $10 million-U.S. deal, reasoning that the Canucks might be strapped after signing Messier.

The mistake Watters made, however, was he didn’t front load the contract, and Quinn signed the player, who had yet to play in the NHL.

Like Smith, Watters rationalized that he was trying to improve his team.

“I know the Canucks aren’t happy with what we did,” Watters said. “…We want to improve out team.”

Quinn was as frustrated as he had been with the Nedved offer.

“For the life of me,” he said, “I can’t rationally understand what Toronto was trying to accomplish. I guess I’m dismayed and disappointed. I was surprised somebody did it. In fact, it amazes me. I didn’t think any other club would take this step. The whole thing seems ludicrous.”

During Burke’s tenure as the Canucks’ GM, no offer sheets were presented. The Fedorov offer was the last sheet for some eight years.

Then Bobby Clarke, who had drastically overpaid Chris Gratton, made Ryan Kessler an offer in September of 2006.

“I’m trying to make my team better,” Clarke snapped, repeating a refrain. “There’s a rule that says we can put out offer sheets. So I did it.”

Burke’s successor, Dave Nonis wasn’t as fiery as Burke, even though matching the Kessler offer, pushed him near his salary cap.

“Philadelphia didn’t do anything wrong in this process,” the GM said. “Bob Clarke is free to do whatever he wants in signing free-agent players. He didn’t break any rules, as he’s told the world.”

But then he would add, what Burke would echo:
“But I don’t understand it. To sign a player to a deal, at far more than what he would normally sign to, knowing full well we were going to match the offer … To me that doesn’t make any sense.”

Bobby Clarke believes that Offer Sheets are part of a larger problem.

“Everyone says [Offer Sheets are] … causing salaries to go up. That’s crap. We’ve all got salary caps and if it is true it drives up salaries, well, doesn’t Boston signing (Zdeno) Chara to a $7 million deal or Chicago signing (Martin) Havlat to a $6 million deal drive up salaries, too? Give me a break.”

What we can summarize, is that GMs aren’t playing by some code when they present Offer Sheets. They are trying to take advantage of another team’s weakness. Otherwise, the sheet will be quickly matched.

There is no higher good that is guiding teams that are presenting Offer Sheets.

The common refrain, is that General Managers are trying to improve their teams.

What is also apparent, is that fans and GMs take Offer Sheets personally – more so than losing Unrestricted Free Agents.

Perhaps, General Managers need to emulate Pierre LaCroix, who seemed on a Rocky Mountain high, after matching the Sakic offer.

“The dance is open. The Rangers were very active on the free-agent galaxy. The way they are going, the way they are acting, I’m sure they are going to be the first team to sign an alien and to have an alien to play for their team.

I just hope the planet of the alien will have a chance to match.”

And if they don’t, then Burkie will make sure that they do.