Gabriel Landeskog will earn $3.75 million this season. Then, his new deal will kick in next season.
Here's the tale of the tape on the Landeskog's new contract:
2014-15 and 2015-16: $4.5 million
2016-17: $5.5 million
2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20: $6 million per season
2020-2021: $6.5 million
The contract is a fairly decent $5.57M AAV.
The NHL salary cap will decrease by $6 million this season, however it will grow in future years. Some experts have the NHL cap exceeding $81 million per season by 2016. If the projections are true, a stud player like Landeskog will be a tremendous value at a $5.6M AAV. No more Kovalchuk contracts in this CBA.
Gets me to thinking if this is the type of deal that Sabres center Cody Hodgson and Leafs center Nazem Kadri are looking for. Its hard for Hodgson, Kadri, Stepan and Henrique to accept a bridge contract when Landeskog signs a monster 7 year extension.
Look at Landeskog's NHL production. 31 goals and 38 assists in 118 career NHL games. No NHL playoff games, yet.
In 139 career NHL games, Hodgson has scored 35 goals and has added 42 assists for 77 points. he's played in 12 NHL playoff games.
Hodgson has been more productive in his NHL career than Landeskog has been. Both players have yet to hit their peak stride in terms of offensive production.
Would you feel comfortable with Darcy Regier committing years and $39 million to Cody Hodgson? It may seem like a ton of money now, especially with the cap dropping to $64.3 million this season, however, a $5.6 million annual cap hit for a budding star like Hodgson would look great against a salary cap of $80M-$85M in the very near future. It would be a true win-win for CoHo and the Sabres. Buffalo would have their #1 center locked up until age 30. He would have the financial security that all players seek. The team will benefit from the cap-friendly salary.
For a comparison, use Derek Roy's 6 year, $24 million deal.
Sure seemed like a lot of money when he signed it, didn't it?
Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic know a great young player when they see one. That's why they have extended their captain, Gabriel Landeskog's contract by 7 years.
The Avs are going to score a ton of goals and will dominate the NHL Network highlight video packs this season with Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Duchene, Stastny, O'Reilly, Tanguay, Parentau and their skilled forwards scoring goals at will.
Their patchwork D will be Patrick Roy's Achilles Heel if he doesn't trade for a bonafide D man or two in the next three weeks. The jury is still out on the goaltending tandem of Varlamov-Giguere. The Avs still have cap space to the tune of $10 million to work with in order to bolster their D.
For now, Roy and Sakic are on the offensive. Defense and goaltending will have to wait.
The Avs released this statement to announce the Landeskog contract extension:
"Gabe is and will continue to be a large part of the foundation of this hockey team for many years to come," said Avalanche Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Joe Sakic. “Signing our captain to a long-term extension demonstrates the commitment of Stan and Josh Kroenke to this franchise and to our fan base. In just two seasons, Gabe has already proven to be a great asset to our organization both on and off the ice. The fact that he has agreed to a long-term deal shows that he believes in this team, his teammates and the direction of this franchise moving forward."
The second overall selection in the 2011 NHL Draft, Landeskog won the 2011-12 Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year. He followed that up by being named team captain of the Avalanche on Sept. 4, 2012, becoming the youngest captain in NHL history (19 years, 286 days). He was 11 days younger than Sidney Crosby, who was 19 years, 297 days when he was named captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins on May 31, 2007.
"I would like to thank the Kroenke family and the entire Avalanche organization for their trust and belief in me,” Landeskog said. “I love Colorado and I love being a part of this wonderful community. There is no other place I’d rather be than in Denver wearing the Avalanche logo. I am looking forward to training camp and the upcoming season.”
Landeskog has totaled 31 goals and 38 assists for 69 points in 118 career games. As a rookie in 2011-12, he finished tied for first among all freshmen with 52 points (22g/30a) in 82 games. The Stockholm, Sweden native was awarded the rookie scoring title in a tie-breaker over Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (18g/34a) on the basis of more goals. Landeskog led all rookies in shots (270) and takeaways (58), while ranking second in goals (20), plus/minus (+20), game-winning goals (5), power-play goals (6-tied) and hits (219). He was the second NHL rookie to ever surpass 20 goals and 200 hits in a season, joining Dion Phaneuf in 2005-06. Gabriel led the Avalanche in games, goals, plus/minus, shots, hits and game winners.
This past season, Landeskog recorded nine goals and eight assists for 17 points in 36 games. He led Colorado with three short-handed goals, the most by an Avs player since 2006-07 (Brad Richardson, 3). Following the 2012-13 season, Gabriel helped Sweden capture the gold medal at the 2013 IIHF World Championship in Stockholm and Helsinki. He appeared in all 10 games at the tournament, tallying three goals and one assist with a +4 rating. The left winger served as an alternate captain for Team Sweden at the 2012 IIHF World Championship, and was also an alternate captain for Sweden at the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Prior to turning pro, Landeskog captained the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League in 2010-11, becoming the first European captain in the 48-year history of the Rangers franchise. He was named captain at the age of 17 on Oct. 24, 2010, becoming the youngest player in 30 years to be named captain of the Rangers.
***
I was asked by a Twitter follower to give an update on former Sabres captain Jason Pominville.
Pommer is in the same boat as Thomas Vanek, Ryan Miller, Steve Ott, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi, and dozens of soon-to-be-UFAs. No new tale to tell right now. While the players are left to sit and ponder their futures , their current GMs are busy subtracting dollars in order to become salary cap compliant for the 2013-14 season.
Here's the lasts from the ubiquitous, Mike Russo, of the Star Tribune:
Fletcher says he has had one preliminary conversation with the agent of Pominville regarding a contract extension.
Pominville can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, 2014, if unsigned.
Fletcher says there’s no rush and he would even be willing to talk once the season starts if Pominville isn’t extended beforehand. Fletcher says his preference is to re-sign Pominville, but the number and fit needs to make sense.
Pominville sustained a concussion against Los Angeles in April and missed the first two games of the playoffs. When he returned, he still wasn’t himself. Pominville says he has felt 100 percent for awhile.
Translation: Fletcher like Pominville as a player, however, he has younger, cheaper players champing at the bit to play RW in Minny's top six.
I don't see Pominville commanding north of $5 million per season for multiple years in his next contract.
****
Its been a very quite summer for Vanek. The draft and and free agency period have come and gone, and the veteran winger wasn't traded by the team. Vanek is still a Buffalo Sabre. He will report to training camp, business as usual.
I reached out to his agent on Wednesday to ask if there has been any change to Vanek's plans, and to get an update on any new developments.
"No, no news", I was told by Vanek's agent.
****
Sabres fans are voting with their wallets! What re-build?
2013-14 SEASON TICKET RENEWALS REACH 97%
Season-ticket holder base increased to approximately 16,000 accounts;
Mini-Packs go on sale Sept. 5
The Buffalo Sabres today announced that 97% of season tickets have been renewed for the upcoming 2013-14 season and the number of season tickets has been capped at approximately 16,000 tickets. The new season-ticket holder base represents an increase of about 600 additional season tickets from last year’s capped total of 15,400 tickets. This is the third straight year the number of season-ticket holders has increased. The 600 additional season-ticket holders were moved from the team’s official waiting list, the Blue & Gold Club, which continues to grow and includes more than 2,500 names.
“We again wanted to continue to try and reach the demand that exists for Sabres season tickets,” said team president Ted Black.
“There have been thousands of very loyal and very patient fans in our Blue & Gold Club that have been waiting for years to be eligible to purchase season tickets. We wanted to reward that loyalty by continuing to transition people from that waiting list to our ever-growing base of season-ticket holders. Our fans remain among the most dedicated in the league and we continue to be appreciative of their support.”
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