Shane Doan left $9 million Pegula dollars on the table. thanks. No thanks. The UFA is staying in Phoenix. He signs a 4 year deal for $21.2 million. He will get $2 million up front as a signing bonus. Sabres fans that follow me here and on twitter are ecstatic that Doan opted to stay in the desert. The rationale: Sabres don't need a 36 year old winger making $7.5 million times four seasons. What the Sabres need is a #1 centre. Now, they'll have the money to trade for one.
Shortly after 5pm EDT, Doan's agent, Terry Bross, was kind enough to email me a confirmation of term and dollars of the Doan deal.
alex Burrows has signed a 4 year, $18 million extension with the Canucks. $4.5 million times four seasons. Extension kicks in 7//13. Burrows will earn $2 million this season, if there is one.
Interesting to note that Shane Doan's agent, terry Bross and I have exchanged emails. I asked Bross last night if Doan would be signing a deal by 8pm Pacific time today 9/14 in order to have the contract registered with the NHL before the midnight lockout on Saturday.
"Yes" Bross emailed me back.
Doan wants a heavy signing bonus from the team that he signs with. pegula signs fat up-front money checks, just ask Myers and Ehrhoff.
Now that Burrows' deal is done in Couver, that canucks have only $2.43 million left on their cap this season.
Where will Doan sign?
Phoenix? No new lease terms yet. Clock tocking...
Nashville? They'll have to pay him $7.5 x 4 and give him pocket money in the form of a signing bonus.
Buffalo? Pegula's check book is on the desk, ready for action
Stay tuned. More to come....
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The Sabres skated this morning in Amherst. Big turnout on hand for the 90 minute workout.
The Sabres acting team rep for the NHLPA, Jordan Leopold, didn't skate. instead, he organized the boys for a 10 minutes chat at the benches. Presumably to fill his mates in on the goings on in NYC at the NHLPA meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.
After teh skate, Leopold led his tropps to the softball diamond for a great team building session. Hilarity ensued! Lots of boyish banter between the teamates. Some really nice athletic plays as well. Sun, subs, and softball. Good times!
More on that later.
I spoke with RFA Tyler Ennis. He told me that he has been skating all Summer and is ready to sign a contract. When I told him that fellow RFA, Caps D John Carlson, had signed a multi-year extension today, he nodded his head. I asked him if he expects to sign with Buffalo today:
"I have to talk with my agent this afternoon. We'll see"
More to come....
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Thomas Vanek was in NYC with nine of his teammates on Wednesday and Thursday.
Today, he described his experience in his native tongue to his website, thomasvanek.at. Google translated the text for me:
Yesterday I got back from New York. The meeting with about 300 other NHL players was impressive. Normally we fight each other, this time we were all together. Too bad the NHL does not want to take our proposal seriously, I am convinced that in the future so that we could all go very well.
Today I took my last stuff from the FN Center before we are shut out Saturday. It's really frustrating. Seven years ago, the owners have already got everything and now they want even more. We have even proposed to start the season with the old CBA and negotiate during the season continues, but the owners can suddenly no longer live with "their" CBA.
With Don Fehr we are extremely pleased, he is very open and honest, we are involved in all decisions. There are daily e-mails with the latest developments and in all negotiations are players here. This is all not so easy, we are about 750 players in the NHLPA.
But to open up the camps, is still some time and we have not given up hope. It's getting a little weird, when Terry Pegula suddenly can not talk to us. Only on Monday we had our charity golf tournament and since everything was normal, no talk of bad blood. Terry is the best owner, the one can imagine, maybe he can move on the part of some NHL. He will certainly that will soon play again. In the meantime, we are about 15 Sabres players who think they fit together, plus a few AHL player, at the moment that will ever happen.
If the lockout drags on, but surely many players are going to Europe. Then there is of course with a proper training here more difficult. When has done nothing to end of September, I have to also consider whether to get to Europe. Austria is certainly an issue there for me. The biggest problem would be not sure about the content, but the insurance. This is something that is not what is often talked about but when ups - also for the national team - always the most worried. At what club? No idea, we can surprise us.
Interesting, thoughtful points.
Vanek and his team mates adore their oner, Terry Pegula. It must hurt him that he cannot speak with Mr. pegula, otherwise, he would not be writing about it.
Also, playing in Austria during a lockout is a very real option for Vanek. Vets like he, Pominville, Stafford, Ehrhoff and others do not want to sit and wait for the phone to vibrate. they are players, not sitters. They will play, either in NHL or elsewhere.
Ryan Miler didn't back off from these comments that he made about NHL No-Mish, Gary Bettman on Thursday in NYC:
“Our goal all along has been to work out some kind of partnership, as you can see in our proposal,” Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller said. “What it really comes down to for me is Gary’s been running this business for 20 years, and so if he’s operated at a loss for how many of those years, how is he still in a position of leadership, or even have a job?
“This is a squeeze. And it’s got to be more about hockey.”
Miller said he and his PA brothers saw the NFL and NBA players getting squeezed last season that they thought that Bettman and the owners would "take a crack at it".
When asked to elaborate on his comments from Thursday, Miller said:
“I think you’re taking it a little bit further… I was just saying that he’s (Bettman) is always setting up that his league isn’t stable and that he needs assistance from the players to make this league (NHL) stable. Its just seems like its been… what is it going on twenty years now ? So, it’s just kinda tongue in cheek. If he’s doing really doing what he says he’s doing, why do we need to tell the employees? Our case is that he’s doing what the owners want him to do. The league is healthy. The league makes money. There are definitely some teams that need some help and we feel like we came up with a way to assist them in doing that. We want to go down a different path, not the same path as last time (2004-05), and always end up with another situation where they (the owners) want to lock us (the players) out. It can’t be every single time we negotiate: “oh, we’re going to lock the players out”. Ya know, we have to grow the game. We have to have respect for the fans, and,.. its too much. That’s not the way it works usually in business. That’s the way that pro sports is going. Its not about making money for a season, its about the franchise values, and that’s the end-game for the owners. Therefore, they’re gonna look to always lock the players out as the first option.
Look for Miller to fly home to Los Angeles in the days to come. He'll train there during a lockout.
The Sabres have waived forwards Nick Tarnasky and Kevin Porter for the purposes of getti
ng them to Rochester so that they will play there this season.
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