Contract Madness

There seems to be a major disconnect between reality and many general managers without even bringing the Islanders into the discussion. Lets take a look at the Hurricanes high salary contracts and relative production compared to some contracts throughout the rest of the league. Here are four of the five top scorers on the Canes, each signing a new contract this off-season after winning the Cup.

Hurricanes

• Eric Staal - 4 million next year, averaging 4.5 million over 3 years.
  45-55-100. 9-19-28 playoffs. Interesting stat: For someone who doesn't see a lot of PK time, he has 4 short handed goals.
• Rod Brind'Amour - 4 million next year, averaging 3.6 over 5 years.
  31-39-70. 12-6-18 playoffs. Interesting stat: Won the most faceoffs in the league.
• Erik Cole - 4 million next year, averaging 4 over 3 years.
  30-29-59 (60 games). 2 playoff games. Interesting stat: Team high +19.
• Justin Williams - 3.5 million averaging 3.5 over 5 years.
  31-45-76. 7-11-18 playoffs. Interesting stat: Led the team in short handed points.

OK, let's examine some of the other contracts:

• Martin Havlat (Chicago) - 3 years, 6 million per. That's a lot of money for someone who only played 18 games last year and has never scored more than 68 points in a season. He gets more than Joe Sakic?
  
• Jay McKee (St. Louis) - 4 years, 4 million per. A defensive defenseman who played for a high scoring Buffalo team, yet was even on plus-minus?
  
• Marian Gaborik (Minnesota) - 3 years, 6.33 million per. I realize he's their "franchise player", but get real - he basically had Erik Cole numbers (a few more games, a few more points).
  
• Patrik Elias (New Jersey) - 7 years, 7.5 per. Both the length and value are mind boggling, especially for a team with serious cap problems. The guy has ability, I'm not denying that, but this is still somewhat ridiculous.
  
• Zdeno Chara (Boston) - 5 years, 7.5 million per. I realize he's huge, but he hasn't actually done anything worthy of this money. He's never been the guy - he's always been able to split the major responsibility with Wade Redden in Ottawa. Now it's his show and we get to see how he handles it.
  
• Pavel Kubina (Toronto) - 4 years, 5 million per. How does Pavel Kubina make more than Tomas Kaberle? How does he make more than Frank Kaberle?
  
• Brad Richards (Tampa) - He had a career high 91 points last year, 9 less than Staal, yet makes 3.5 million more per season? Wow, that's impressive.

My math may be a bit rusty, but there is some serious overpayment going on. Either Rutherford is just that much better of a negotiator than the majority of the league, or there are a lot of really clueless GMs out there. It would be interesting to adjust salaries by cost of living in the respective cities to see who really makes the most - because that may actually be something in the favor of some smaller markets that they could play up.

Rutherford was on 850 the Buzz the other day and was mentioning that he didn't agree with Aaron Ward's decision to go to New York. He offered Ward between 2 and 2.2 million per year and Ward accepted 2.5 million with the Rangers. If you calculate the considerable cost of living difference between New York and Raleigh, I think Aaron is actually coming out on the raw end of that deal. He'll be taking home less at the end of the day. Whatever floats his boat, though. It's not like he doesn't like the area - he's keeping his house here and selling the one he has in Michigan. I just think he needs a better agent.