I know some have discussed him already. I don't think he's all that Buffalo needs at RW (he doesn't play to his size yet), but on the potential vs production scale, he has Stafford beat in both categories. I highly doubt that his arbitration meeting tomorrow will result in a fair contract, and Boston may very well have to walk away.

In the event that Wheeler becomes a UFA before the end of the week, he'll be worth a look, but probably not worth what the arbitrator awards him. My bigger question is - can Wheeler turn around and accept a lower offer if he wants to play with his pal Vanek? If he gets say, a 3.5 mil contract and Boston walks away, can he then take a 3.0 mil contract from Buffalo as a UFA or does that somehow violate the CBA?

No it doesn't. If a team walks away from a ruling, the arbitrator's ruling becomes null and void.

_________________
mechaphil

Thanks, Phil.

I'm not going to suggest that Wheeler is playing harball in order to make Boston walk away from him and give him UFA status, but it sure would be down and dirty if Wheeler ended up signing with Buffalo (with the idea of playing as Vanek's RW) for less than what Boston was offereing. For the sake of interesting options, it could be a big decision for Sabres fans tomorrow.

Haha honestly, if he signed here for significantly less to play with Vanek the day after Boston walks from his arbitration ruling, I'd lol.

_________________
mechaphil

I'd laugh too.

_________________

Waiting to see what he was awarded. His hearing was today.

_________________
mechaphil

OH yeah, I'd love to add him to the team! I'd give him 3.5.

_________________
"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

Apparently today's arbitration results are super double secret. I've scoured the world wide interweb net and found absolutely nothing about Wheeler or Kennedy.

Edit - the results won't be known for a day or two, but Wheeler's agent said he thought the meeting went well. I'll expect a reward of close to 3 mil per.

Uh oh...

_________________
"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

won't be announced for 48 hours.

should be interesting to see how things are about to play out in boston. wheeler should get about 3.5-4 mil. and boston is less than 4.5 million away from the cap. they also only have 5 dmen signed right now.

plus they still have to sign seguin to his contract, and he's more than likely going to receive some sort of bonuses.

seems like they either move savard, which i dont think will happen at this point, or they'll walk away from wheeler. and in that case, how nice would it be to see him in buffalo playing with the guy who i hear named his son after him .

I'm sorry, but are you on crack or something?

Blake Wheeler has 83 points in 163 games. He has played two years in the NHL, his highest amount of goals was 21 in his first year, his highest amount of points has been 45, his first year also.

He scored 18 goals and 38 points this year. How does he earn 3.5-4 million? He will be lucky to over 2 million, and Seguin signs his Max rookie contract of 950K for 3 years, and the bonuses won't be that high either, max of 2 million if I recall correctly on rookie contracts.

_________________

Wheeler himself earned over $2M last season in bonuses during his ELC.

_________________
mechaphil

Wheeler's base was around 850k, but with bonuses he made around 2.8 mil which was also his cap hit. He's probably hoping to bring his base up to around 2.5 - 3 mil, but other deals like Mason Raymond's will probably keep it to around 2 - 2.5 mil. I'm not sure what Boston's walking point might be though, but I'm expecting Wheeler to end up with about 2.5 mil. I just want a chance for a player with his potential (I know, just potential) to be available and actually want to play in Buffalo.

Tuukka Rask was the same way, he earn bonuses that made his cap hit last year well over 2 million dollars. But his extension was less then what he earned in bonuses at 1.5 million a year for two years.

He earned the max amount of bonuses, but he's not worth even close to 3 million dollars. If he gets 3 million from an arbitrator, Boston is going to have to walk, they only have 1.7 million in cap space anyways, plus 3 million is WAY overpriced on him. He may be 6'5 but he is not a 50+ point player yet.

If he gets awarded 3+ million, he won't be playing this year if he keeps asking for that pricetag.

_________________

All that matters is what other guys like him make. Jordon Staal puts up similar production and he makes 4m. I don't think 3.5 is far fetched. That's just the business.

_________________
"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

If Buffalo could do a sign and trade with Boston I'd be down.

Trade stafford for Wheelers rights; Vanek would get a RW he loves to play with, and Stafford's cap hit would come off the books, and we'd really only be adding what, 1.1M toward our cap, and add a guy who is kinda strong away from the puck, and possibly would be revitalized after moving to play on a team with a couple close friends in Leopold and Vanek.

_________________
"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

Funny thing is, despite all three being Golden Gophers alum, none of them have ever played together.

_________________
mechaphil

Yeah, but Vanek has been doing summer training there for the past 5 off seasons, and I'm fairly certain thats where he made the connection to the two players.

_________________
"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

Oh for sure, they also apparently keep in touch, too. That and Wheeler idolized Vanek.

_________________
mechaphil

All I got to say is Blake Wheeler right now is not any better then Stafford, he gets the SAME type of contract, say a 2 year deal at 1.5 or 1.75.

If he gets anything over 2 million, it's a sham.

And Jordan Staal is capable right now of scoring 30 goals and 60 points, plays a huge penalty kill and is way better than Blake Wheeler. He had 49 points the last two years anyways.

_________________