NHL Antics

by Ashriel

I've been keeping up to date on NHL signings and such, as any hockey fan should. A recent event out of Ottawa has interested me.

Ray Emery has avoided salary arbitration by signing a 3 year, 9.5 million dollar contract. That number fits neatly between comparable goalies Ryan Miller (2.66 mill per year) and Henrik Lundqvist at 4.25 million, and seems a reasonable salary for the young starter. My only problem is he happened to use that clichéd phrase "I don't care about the money". After all, he did opt for arbitration.

How often does a player say this and mean it? The last time I saw a player take a big cut was when Paul Kariya went to Colorado in a quest for the Cup, and to play with long-time teammate Teemu Selanne. Rather than make an amount akin to the 10 million he earned the year before, he settled for 1.2 million for a chance at immortality. Teemu also played for 1 million dollars after the lock-out (granted his previous year in Colorado was awful for the Finnish Flash, who played most of the season on a bad leg) but took a 3.75 million dollar offer after scoring 40 goals. This is a man who doesn't care about the money....much.

Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

879 days ago

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Money (i.e the lack of it) is the reason that amateur sport is so endearing. They do play for the passion of the game - not the money at the end.

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

879 days ago

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And if they didn't care about the money, why not sign a contract worth $50,000 per year - to tie it in with roughly what I imagine is perhaps just above the American average wage?

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Silencer76AAA-er

879 days ago

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lol well for starters, the salary floor cap in the NHL is 34.3 million dollars and I believe the minimum salary as negotiated in the last CBA is at least 400 K a season...therefore rendering your thought of signing for 50 K rather moot. Like it or not, these are still the elite players of the game, and they come to the NHL to showcase their talent and make a decent amount of cash in doing so.

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

879 days ago

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Why does there have to be a "minimum wage"? There aren't enough players of the same quality to make a minimum wage required, surely?

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Silencer76AAA-er

879 days ago

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Do you think a bona fide decent player is going to come to the NHL and play for 50 grand? Players leave the European leagues because of the opportunity to make a good chunk of change playing in the NHL, where they can compete with the best the game has to offer, instead of playing in a league where two or three teams have any talent and the rest are retreads or local players.

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

878 days ago

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You're right the Europeans need that injection of cash to make the trip worthwhile.

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