One Thing Leads To Another

One thing always leads to another. This may be a revelation for the Habs green GM who reportedly just offered a contract of 2 years for $5.5 million to PK Subban.

Subban rejected that. You don't say.

Teams make their own market with internal strategy. For years, the Canadiens were quite adept at this, rewarding tenure and performance with the longest and most lucrative contracts. While Koivu was at the head of things, there wasn't much case for a 23 year-old to be turning down $3 million a year.

Times have changed, though, and since Markov's well-earned contract, others have been getting hefty raises just because their contracts have expired.

The cap has risen, so this is more than fine. But don't turn around and offer your best player of the past two seasons a slap in the face rate about 2/3 of what rare offensive contributor Josh Gorges makes, or a salary just topping the 8 goal-ceiling man you just brought in from NYR.

You live with the salary structure you make. If you want to overpay for a fighter, be prepared not to save big bucks on a stud young defenceman.

Subban will sign, but he's right to wait for a fair offer.



NHL situation
It's been decidedly quiet on the NHL news front.

Since the NHL's show-stopping offer to the players, the news has been thin. What to think?

Well if the league is serious about that offer, Id think negotiations might go beyond the September 15th mark. The players weren't prepared for this, thus their delay here, and they'll need to gather themselves if they want to take this on in serious fashion.

Once September 15th passes, then what? Missed games? Missed months? Who knows really. We have to see.

From a Habs fan perspective, this comes at a good time. The Habs are not a contending team and more likely than not would subject us to a season like the one we just witnessed or worse. Almost better to get that high draft pick while speding some time outdoors skiing than watching loss after loss.

I don't think the NHL can afford to do that though (miss another season), so more than likely things are about to get heated in August at this negoatiation.