ummm 8.7 is a stretch but the cap is higher than when Crosby signed his deal and you got the Wild signing decent 2nd line centers to 6.8/season so...why not? I'm sure somebody will pay that.

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"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

Richards' cap hit is currently 7.8M

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Yeah but I don't think you're guaranteed to get at least what you made before. And of course there are still those 10 year deals that pay more over the long term and allow your team cap flexibility in the short term. He might go for 60m over 10.

I don't think Vanek's next deal will be as high as the one he has now.

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"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

Vaneks deal should not have been as high as he got anyways. But thats overwith and done.

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Based on what?

His production compares evenly to other players that earn roughly the same pay. Based on what teams around the league have assessed to be worth around a $7M contract, Vanek is making about what he should.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I lost brain cells reading this comment.

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

I think it's a well established league-wide opinion that when Vanek got his deal, it was an over-inflated offer to pry him away by jackass Lowe. Vanek shoulda/woulda gotten about a 4.5 mil per type of deal if Lowe hadn't intervened. Just because other players are currently over paid doesn't mean that Vanek's deal is somehow fair after the fact. It wasn't, everyone knows and understands why, and the only person to blame in the entire scenario is Kevin Lowe.

As for Richards, he shouldn't be getting more than 8 mil per with his new deal, but as the far-and-away best UFA center he'll get whatever he wants, so I won't be surprised if/when he gets close to 9 mil per. I expect what ex-Pens described though - a long term cap friendly contract that's top heavy until he's 35, and then tails off with lower (but guaranteed) salary. Buffalo could be a contender with that type of deal, but it's totally up to Richards as to where he plays. As usual, Pegula or not, Buffalo won't be on the short list when every eastern big market will take him.

I think Vanek would have gotten $5.5-6M had Lowe not intervened. He was coming off a season in which he had 43g and 41a in 81 games. I don't think there's any way we could have lowballed him at 4.5 and gotten away with it.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I guess the phrasing wasn't that good.

Player value isn't set by random fan assumptions, impressions, whatever, it's set by what teams want to pay for a certain level of production. If you look at forwards around the league that make around the same amount of money as Vanek (6.5-7.5M), you'll find that they also produce around the same in the way of points as Vanek.



Granted Skyline said the price was too high at that period in time which could very well be true, even if Vanek's current cap hit jives with what other teams have judged to be worth $7M. If someone wants to look back and see what 40 goal scorers were making when Vanek signed his contract to see if he was in fact overpaid for what teams around the league were judging worth $7M at the time, that would be interesting to look at.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Probably the best guy to look at would be Hossa when he signed with Atlanta. He was coming off a few very promising seasons and was still young at the time, much like Vanek was in 06-07. Couldn't find any contract history though and don't feel like digging any deeper.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

If Vanek was a UFA Buffalo would've had to pay full market value. As an RFA coming off of ONE very good season Buffalo could've signed him in the 4 mil range. It's not like Vanek wanted to leave or jack the Sabres up, he wanted to stay, and a 4-5 mil type deal for 2-3 years would've been fair for both sides, allowing a more certain contract later on based on several consistent seasons. If he was a UFA last summer he'd probably have a 6-6.5 mil cap hit right now, but not over 7 mil.

6 mill is what Vanek is worth right now, IMHO.

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

Yea vanek would have probably been signed close to 4 million for maybe three years then gotten a raise after this year or last year had Lowe not intervened.

It's whatever now because if vanek plays the same as he did at the end of the year and into next year. He is well worth the contract he has and he's still not that old still.

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Dustin Penner signed a longer contract worth 4.25M that same year after a 29-16-45 season and a 4-3-7 (19gp) season.

Marco Sturm signed a longer contract worth 3.5M per after a series of 20g, 40 pt seasons.

Nathan Horton signed a longer contract worth 4M per that same year after 14-8-22 (55gp), 28-19-47, and 31-31-62.

I don't think there's any fucking way Vanek would have been had for "close to 4M" coming off 43-41-84 and 25-23-48 regardless of how bad he wanted to stay in Buffalo (unless you still consider 5+ close to 4M).

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I do agree that given his production in recent years the team would be able to snag him at 6.5M.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Why is everyone acting like players get paid based on points alone? Until this last year Vanek had been pretty much a points only player...no hitting, no leading, not much defense in his game etc. Recently Vanek has been better all around but more is factored into what a player makes aside from points. The other guys on CV's list are (mostly) game changers. You get a guy like Heatly, Iginla, Lacavalier, Datsyuk, Nash etc on your team they bring a lot more to the table than assists or goals and deserve more money. Vanek is over paid at the end of the day. I love him, want him to be our captain and would love to keep him, but he's over paid IMO.

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I don't see why this is such a big deal still. He's a great player with a contract that is probably a couple hundred thousand over what he could have gotten without some idiot GM trying to pull a fast one on us. I know I'm a Vanek homer, but I honestly cannot find his contract as being a problem to the team.

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.

Dustin Penner got 45 pts in his first full season as a 6-4 235 lb power forward prototype. He was Lowe's next choice to overpay, but still had more promise than just 45 pts. That all ended by going to Edmonton.

Sturm had already shown consistency for 7 seasons in SJ as a 30+ and then 40+ pts producer. In his last season before Boston's big offer, he actually had 29-30-59 between SJ and Boston. 3.5 mil was about right.

Horton had shown two consistent productive seasons as again, a prototype power forward. As the only established quality forward on Florida's roster after Jokinen, it's no surprise with all the cap room the Panthers always keep that they paid out for Horton.

Like DP said, it's not about stats alone...far from it. It's not even just about stats and all the intagibles DP listed either. Every team's cap situation is different and they are going to overpay players for various reasons. That doesn't justify Vanek's salary after the fact. Everyone in the entire hockey world gasped at Lowe's jackass move and the extent he was willing to overpay Vanek. This isn't a debate. The one silver lining is that due to the length of the contract and the salary cap going up every season, Vanek's deal is going to look closer to reasonable by the time it's over. I like him and I hope he can get back to a 40-40-80 level with a top ten center ASAP, but he'll never be able to produce up to the total contract value, and it's not his fault.

Pretty much every price I said for a UFA or resignings last year it was close to what they got, especially our FAs when everyone hear way overpriced them.

I base everything on how they have performed in previous years too.

I don't even get why people think Stafford will get over 3 million as a RFA. He's had one good year, you don't base a contract on one year alone, look at his previous years and he warrants at best 2.5 million.

Vanek was still young, and I'm sure you throw 4.5 million at him after two years in the league for 3 years he accepts, even after his 84 point season. You have to understand he would still have been a RFA then and had he went to arbitration, he probably would have been awarded 4-5 million.

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It's funny, because discussing things with opposing fans and perusing their boards, a ton of them say the same thing about Vanek. (Ask Tampa fans how much they fear Vanek.) And as good as the other guys on their list, they have plenty of fans saying the same things that some Sabres fans say about Vanek.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual