Mike Richards signs with Philly for...........???

Question

TWELVE years. Thoughts?

Personally, I think it is great to lock this guy up for such a long period.

Looks like their future captain will be a Flyer for life. I have always maintained that we will see more teams go the route of the Dipietro contract in the future. I think this could just be the beginning of seeing more deals like this. Some other teams should take a lesson from this (Buffalo) and avoid letting your upcoming Restricted Free Agents get judged by other team's offers or worse yet, lose them altogether.
It will be VERY interesting to see the numbers. I am going to guess that it has to average out to over 6 million per season, perhaps 7, maybe something like 6,6,7,7,8,8, 7,7,6,6,3,3........just a guess. Interesting to see how off I am.

Jeff- What is your fear?

Gam-good points. I will point out that if Richards suffered a major injury keeping him out for an extended period, there is always the Long Term IR, which does not count against the cap.
As for your point about locking up young talent prior to letting it get too far, it is a very valid point. The more sucessful teams in the NFL, evaluate talent early and lock them up long term before they become superstars getting maximum money. It is a must for cap controlled leagues, identify those future guys and lock them up. In the long run, you save and you don't lose run the chance of losing them.

Jeff- I see your point but that is what makes this kid captain material, he doesn't take a shift off, let alone a night or a year.

Also, I think it is a great benefit as far as cap issues.

TBL- There is some risk, that is where you have to rely on your talent evaluators. He is 22, is he going to continue an upward trend? They are confident that he will. Hell, even if he plays at this year's level for the contract duration, it is still a steal.
I always have laughed at people who make fun of DiPietro's contract, I know I am in the minority but Garth Snow, being a former goalie, had some idea of what a good up and comer looks like. DiPietro will be a top 5 or 10 goalie over the next 10 years and he will get paid (can't remember 4.5 million I think) 4 or 5 million while the others in the top 5 or 10 will be getting much more-conceivably twice that much in another 5 years. Therefore, maybe by that point a Ray Emery is getting 8 million while here is DiPietro getting his pedestrian 4.5.

Lubers- GREAT POINT. Richards will probably lose out on alot of money but I think when guys ink these deals they are thinking about long term security and showing a committment to winning. In the future, especially in 5 or 6 years time, it should give the Flyers some good cap flexibilty. Richards is a team guy, has said he wants to play his whole career in Philly and win. How much money does a person need really. 70 million probably should keep him, his children, his grandchildren and so on happy.
Also, Philly may have sweetened the pot by front-loading it, we will have to wait and see.
I agree though, if I was a player, I "might" want my kick at the can with free agency where teams will over-pay for you.

LUBERS- Agreed AGAIN. It is not totally out of the realm of possibilities that in 5 years BACK-UP goalies are 4 million dollar guys. Hell, some are close now-look at Ottawa-they have basically a 4 million dollar goalie and a 3 million dollar goalie NOW.
You are right, even if Dipietro isn't quite as good as expected, he still won't be considered a horrid salary.

CDN fan- Saw Koisitsyn and he looks good indeed. The Flyers have had trouble with the Habs recently and I don't have a good feeling about this one. Although the Habs have been struggling-esp their special teams.
Congrats to you because it is said that Niitymakki will be in tonight-that nay help.

Cdn Fan - good memory, I had actually forgotten about that, the Flyers really OWNED the Habs for a long period prior to a few seasons ago.

Wow. 69 million, I was pretty close.

Answer 1

Great move by the Flyers. I wonder about the players agreeing to these contracts a little though. I don't think the salary cap is going to continue to increase at the rate it has been forever, but if I am a player, I would at least want to see where it will start to level off at. At 22, Richards just set his earning potential for the majority of his career and is signed beyond his peak earning years. Many people are taking shots at the teams for signing these guys for so long but it really is beneficial to the teams.

At the average salary they are getting these players for, it is a great deal for the teams. If the player gets seriously injured, the money comes off the cap and they are going to buy insurance on the contract. It's almost a no lose for the team in my opinion.

As a Flyers fan, I couldn't be happier. They have the future of the team locked down for just about his entire career.

Jeff and TBL: The risk on these contracts if the player under performs goes down every time the salary cap goes up. I will use DiPietro as the example since they haven't released all the details on the Richards deal yet. DiPietro counts as $4.5M on the cap over the life of the deal. In 5 years, if DiPietro drops off but the cap continues at the rate is has so far, that's not a bad number for a second tier goaltender. Top tier players will be making somewhere in the range of $15M.

The only real risk is if the cap number goes down in a season. The risks there are that the player may be overpaid and you will not be able to move them because of their salary. With the players' salaries tied to the league's profits, even that is not as great of a risk.

If someone with a more thorough understanding of the cap could correct, clarify or confirm what I just said I would appreciate it. I read through the CBA when it was signed but I don't speak lawyer and it was as exciting as reading stereo instructions for me.

Answer 2

Wow, I was just reading that on TSN and thinking.......":what does Bob think"

This will go down as either the best move Philly has ever made or the second worst... Lindros was the worst.

It may be a great move, like the Islanders and the 15 yr contract that is starting to look good as it is well below market.

Not sure what dollars are involved in this one yet? The reward is you may have signed a franchise player for the best part of his career. As Lubers stated longterm injury is not a risk.

The risk is if he does not live up to expectations or this year. If his performance falls off significantly you will be stuck with that albatross around your neck for a long time. He won't be tradeable.

Wow I expected shorter contracts in the new NHL but this is getting scary. I like Richards and think he will only get better but 10-12 years would scare me if I was a Flyers fans.

Bob, my hapless Habs vs. your Flyers tonight. I have my office X-mas party and will miss the game. I don't have much in the way of expectations so I should congratulate you now.
Watch Sergi Kostysin- the younger brother, he has been called up. He was the best skater most nights in the preseason games I saw him in.

Answer 3

Wow, I guess it is great to lock up such a talented guy for that long. But I always have fears of that long of a contract, both for the team and the player.
It sort of reminds me of the Dipietro contract.

Bob as for my fear - I guess I worry about a player not really performing to his fullest potential - especially with such a long contract. We all know of guys who take games off, but when you have such a long contract what about taking a couple of years off. I would hope this would not happen, especially in a case like Richards as he seems to be a really good kid. Also with the salary cap and the way the league can move it up or down, I wonder if a long term contract could cause a problem down the road.

Answer 4

The way the salary cap era has handicapped teams from holding onto their talented veteran free agents -- a deal like this rewards Phillie for its drafting ability and its management foresight. No deal is without risk, of course -- and the length of the term adds to the risk -- but Richards is worth it in my opinion, even at a high price. He is young, talented, aggressive and a good hitter and he is defensively sound. If his career arc progresses the way it is expected, he will look like a great deal by year 3 or 4.
If Richards is injured in a manner that affects his production, of course, we will all look at this deal very differently. Somehow I doubt that will happen though.
As Duhatschek pointed out today in the Globe and Mail, suddenly everyone is looking at the 15 year deal that Wang gave DiPietro very differently ...
These kind of deals are only going to proliferate. Successful NHL management teams are going to be the ones that are prospective rather than reactive. Players who have had career seasons are, in all likelihood, on the downward arc of their careers. The trick is to get them locked in affordably while they're still relatively inexperienced and with their career ahead of them.

Answer 5

Signing ANY player for that amount of time a is risk-reward deal.

I'm not a big fan of signing players to long (and I mean LONG) term deals. What if this guy drops off in the next 2-3 years? This team is then stuck with a player that is falling for the next 8 or so years.

If he doesn't fall off at all during his career, then signing him to twelve years is great! You've just locked a key part of your team.

Singing players for ten years or more is a move, If I were a GM, would never make. It's one thing to sign this guy for five years or so and let him know that you intend to keep him around, but twelve years is far to much.

So this is the twenty-four year old's reward for having ONE breakout year? I don't buy it.

Answer 6

Great move by the Flyers. I've seen him play last season and I thought, man what a bust. But when I watched him play the Avs this season, even though they lost, he played a great game. He seems to have good defensive skills as well. And the game against the Pens, well that speaks for itself. He also is a pretty hard nosed player. I've seen him dish out hits. I like that aggressiveness in a player, he can take them and he can give them out. Very wisely done by Philly.

Answer 7

I don't have time for my usual novel, or to read anyone else's novel (haha) but I agree: GREAT MOVE.

I was trying to convince my Flyers fan friend that Mike Richards is future captain material (agreed about him being a great player though). If the cap rises and rises, imagine how sweet this deal will be, if he meets or beats expectations.

Answer 8

Short and sweet- Good move, although multi-year contracts in this day don't seem sensible.

Answer 9

Yeah, man. Lock that guy up.

Answer 10

GREAT.Future captain of this team.