Hmmm....a guy of similar age and history as Booth (Booth has better career stats) making the same money. Jones even managed to get himself scratched last year a few times if I recall.

As I've said numerous times...$4 mil doesn't get you a true impact player these days. It's also why I won't be shocked when the Canucks qualify Raymond (if they don't trade him at the draft), because $2.5 mil will get you even less than $4 mil.

Which pretty much confirms that he was the back-up plan had Gillis chosen to pull the plug on AV. No reason for him to stick around anymore.

I say this sucks a little, only because continuity is theoretically a good thing when it comes to developing players in your minor league system. Also by all the reports I read, MacTavish did a solid job in Chi-town.

tantalum wrote:As I've said numerous times...$4 mil doesn't get you a true impact player these days. It's also why I won't be shocked when the Canucks qualify Raymond (if they don't trade him at the draft), because $2.5 mil will get you even less than $4 mil.

It's the new salary breakdowns. Teams can't afford star players at a $12-14 million dollar cap hits and star players know they can't take that much to be on a competitive team. The money we used to see going to those guys know trickles down the lineup so that 20ish goal scorers are getting 3.5m-4.5m a year. Good third line players are getting $2.5-3 mil.

It's why Raymond is likely to be qualified if they can't move him. His $2.5 mil salary is right where it should be for a guy that in his last two years that many will call poor averaged a 16 goal 39 point 82 game pace....while battling injuries and coming back from a broken back mid-season. When you tack on he's a good PKer and can move the puck I find it hard to believe the kid doesn't have reasonable trade value. Not everybody is looking for big bodied players. I don't see him as simply a throw in on a deal.

tantalum wrote:It's why Raymond is likely to be qualified if they can't move him. His $2.5 mil salary is right where it should be for a guy that in his last two years that many will call poor averaged a 16 goal 39 point 82 game pace....while battling injuries and coming back from a broken back mid-season. When you tack on he's a good PKer and can move the puck I find it hard to believe the kid doesn't have reasonable trade value. Not everybody is looking for big bodied players. I don't see him as simply a throw in on a deal.

The Canucks should try to do a 2-year deal with Raymond at a lower cap hit.

The problem with qualifying him at 2.5 is if he doesn't bounce back the Canucks get burned, if he does bounce back he's going to get 3 to 4 as a free agent.

Potatoe1 wrote:The Canucks should try to do a 2-year deal with Raymond at a lower cap hit.

The problem with qualifying him at 2.5 is if he doesn't bounce back the Canucks get burned, if he does bounce back he's going to get 3 to 4 as a free agent.

A 2 year deal at 1.75 to 2, gives both sides some security.

Sure that would be nice as it is good for the canucks and seems like security for Raymond. But I don't believe he signs a deal like that as it simply makes him more attractive trade bait leading up to free agency and during the summer. Something he likely doesn't want and if he does want that he's already let Gillis know to move him.

The deal you outline pays him a total of 3.5-4 mil. If he signs his qualifier he gets $2.5 mil in his pocket at a minimum and if he has another poor year someone will still take a flyer on him for at least a mil the following season. He makes the same amount of money. If he has a good year he makes more.

The only reasons I see Raymond signing such a two year deal are loyalty and because given the injury he received he wants to be guaranteed that extra mil on top of the the $2.5 mil right off the bat.

I still like Raymond as a player if he's playing like he should be able to but Higgins and Hansen bring much of the same to the table with some other intangibles he doesn't have. I still think he is a good candidate to be put into the goaltender deal. Whatever goaltender that is.

tantalum wrote:but Higgins and Hansen bring much of the same to the table with some other intangibles he doesn't have. I still think he is a good candidate to be put into the goaltender deal. Whatever goaltender that is.

Journeyman Higgins sucks. He was a complete no show in the playoffs. When it counts ya just can't count on Higgy.

"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? - Plastics." - The Graduate

Arbitration gives us a 1 year deal at probably $2.5 mil, and burns his last RFA. It's kinda a lose-lose for both sides. I'd like to see a 2-3 year deal in the $2.2 mil range. That might be low-balling MayRay, but with his injuries, it might fly.

Arbitration gives us a 1 year deal at probably $2.5 mil, and burns his last RFA. It's kinda a lose-lose for both sides. I'd like to see a 2-3 year deal in the $2.2 mil range. That might be low-balling MayRay, but with his injuries, it might fly.

Low-balling? He wasn't hurt last year until the SCF, and he was brutal. There was really no change in his play from last season pre-injury to this season post-injury. Anything over $1.5M is an overpayment for the role he will play on this team.

So I just took a look at New Jersey's RFA/UFA situation going forward here.....shocking!

The Devils have 13 players signed through next season, but after that they only have 5 players signed to anything beyond 2012-13.....I couldn't believe it.

When I look at who is UFA/RFA this year on that team, I can't help but wonder if some of the players aren't thinking that greener pastures are just around the corner. And, for some of said players, I have to ask whether or not "greener" just means playing somewhere that Ilya Kovaluchuk is not. He's loaded with talent, but nobody who claims to have watched the SCF this year can say he actually put in more than a token effort. If I'm a guy like Parise I'm looking at how long this guy is signed in Jersey and thinking, that's a helluvalot of years to have to play next to a guy who makes HUGE money but doesn't seem to care on the ice when the chips are down and you have to dig deep. Zubrus can be lumped in with Kovalchuk too. I know that I'd be looking anywhere other than the Devils after playing 4 rounds on a team that is so financially committed to a lazy Russian.