I’m not the hardest guy in the world to stump. The daily “Jumble” in the comics section usually has me pounding my fist in frustration after a while, and unless they have categories such as “Top KISS songs” or “Great Red Sox pinch hitters of the 1970s,” I don’t usually do too well at “Jeopardy.”
Imagine how confused I’ve been, therefore, over the lack of any meaningful negotiations so far between the Avalanche and its best player, Paul Stastny, toward a contract extension.
You would think a team that nearly lost Joe Sakic to a predatory NHL competitor in 1997 would be a better student of history.
Sakic, you’ll recall, was allowed by the Avs to test the open market that year. He wasn’t an unrestricted free agent, though, and the unwritten rule back then was that teams left other teams’ restricted guys alone. The New York Rangers, though, jumped in with a three-year, $21 million offer, which included a staggering $15 million as an upfront signing bonus. The Avs had to scramble to come up with the money, eventually selling a slice of the Pepsi Center to Liberty Media to raise some cash.
The same kind of thing could happen with Stastny next summer, only the price tag this time could be well over twice as much. Stastny can be a Group II free agent, meaning the Avs would receive draft picks as compensation if he signs with another team. Sakic was one of the few restricted free agents who received an offer sheet under the old NHL collective bargaining agreement, but teams have shown less bashfulness in making them under the new one.
Anaheim lost a good young player, Dustin Penner, to Edmonton prior to last season in a Group II situation. That started a feud between the teams that continues today. Edmonton also offered Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek a seven-year, $50 million Group II deal. The Sabres matched it, but have been forced to part with some other talent to afford him.
That’s why the new trend has been teams signing their best young players to long contract extensions. Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Dion Phaneuf and, last week, Anze Kopitar, are just a few of the players who have signed long-term deals.
But the Avs don’t seem to be in any rush to sign Stastny, widely viewed as one of the NHL’s top young talents. His agent wants at least as much as the $47.6 million over seven years given to Kopitar, and the better Stastny plays, the more he’s probably going to want.
If the Avs delay too long, they’ll have more than just a stumped reporter on their hands. They’ll have thousands of angry fans.
