Excellent Read on UFA $$$ Madness
July 2nd, 2007 by murph
Daniel Tolensky has posted an excellent article about yesterday’s UFA signings on the HockeyBuzz.com blogs. He compares yesterday’s spending spree to the July 2002 spending spree which more or less lead to the 2004 lockout. It’s the have and have-nots, all over again.
Will July 1st 2007 be the day that we realize the lockout was a complete waste?
Philadelphia: Briere - $52 mil
NY Rangers: Gomez - $51.5 mil
Philadelphia: Timonen - $37.8 mil
NY Rangers: Drury - $35.25 mil
Colorado: Smyth - $31 mil
Detroit: Rafalski - $30 mil
Philadelphia: Hartnell - $25.2 mil
Toronto: Blake - $20 milSix big market teams spend a combined $282.75 million on eight players.
We missed a whole year of hockey so that Buffalo, New Jersey, Nashville and the Islanders could each lose two players to Philadelphia, Colorado, Detroit, Toronto and the Rangers?
There is also a look at how Briere’s deal is structured vs the salary cap, and a comparison of Blake’s deal with previous 30-something UFA extended contracts.
