There's been a lot of talk about the deal. I'd like to highlight one major point $124M/13 seasons is equivalent to $7.3M/season (in todays dollars) not $9.5M/season, due to escalating costs of salaries (assuming 4% growth). That $7.3M figure is the one the GM of Washington is looking at, of course he still has to deal with that wonderful $9.5M cap hit when the contract starts.
What I find interesting, is that Ovechkin has done nothing to improve Washington. Here's a guy 250 points in 206 games and -11. That's a lot of goals for, but also a lot of goals against [Ranked 4th worst in 06-07 total even strength minuses.]. Ovechkin is up there again this season, on pace for another dazzling -70 goals against at even strength. What sort of value does he really provide?
Ovechkin is part of a small group of players who in fact average over 5 shots per game, and it's a big reason for his success. The quality of his shots are lacking and so his percentages are low, but with all those shots you get quite a few goals (but you also loose the puck a lot).
The fact of the matter is Washington hasn't gone anywhere with Ovechkin, so this could be a long 13 years ahead of them as they got no defense to build on.
I'm glad my team didn't sign that contract.
4 comments:
Yzerman was a player who, for years, the pundits said couldn't make his team "a winner". Over time, the Wings added several quality/all-star players & voila! They win the Cup.
(I have the beginnings of an analysis that proves that Stevie didn't become an 'amazing 2-way player' & therefore caused the Wings to win the Cup... his 150 pt pre-Cup season was far better than his 85 pt Cup years.)
Since Stevie Y joined Detroit they missed the playoffs twice! (Before he was there they missed it 12 times out of 13 opportunities.
Washington has been 2nd last in the East two seasons in a row. And their in the easiest division in the NHL.
I remember these rumours:
"In 1989, Yzerman scored a career-best 65 goals, but Detroit was upset in the first round by the Chicago Blackhawks. The following season Yzerman netted 62 goals, but the team missed the playoffs for what turned out to be the last time to date. Rumors spread that maybe "Stevie Wonder" should be traded." - wikipedia
Then along come Fedorov, Lidstrom & several other good/great players & suddenly Yzerman is a great leader & winner.
The point is that there is no way that Ovechkin makes the Caps worse than they'd be without him... & if several good/above-avg/excellent players joined the Caps, criticism of Ovechkin would likely cease.
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