Bridge Over Troubled Waters

This is a guest blog from Oilers Rig part timer Troy Martinson, he’s written many a great blog here at the Rig and also at OilonWhyte.com . You can follow him (and you should) on twitter @heavyoilcountry

Enjoy

On August 2, 2014, Pernell Karl Subban signed the most lucrative deal in Montreal Canadiens history. When you think of the Canadiens, it’s rather odd to imagine this deal playing out like it did. A brash, cocky, yet uber talented African Canadien kid (see what I did there?) from Toronto now will wait until September 15 when he will receive his first of 208, certified, NHL cheques, every 2 weeks for a cool average of $346,153.84 per paycheque. Just let that sink in for a bit. There was a lot of mixed feelings by fans & media alike as the they got closer to arbitration. The payee offering over $3 million less than what their employee wanted & at the end of the day, ended up paying him a cool $500,000 more than what what he was asking, strange brew.

How does this connect with the Oilers, well it doesn’t. What it does is show us the strength of the bridge deal. When Subban held out & received a 2yr bridge deal during the shortened lockout season in 2013 it benefited both sides as follows.

The Player: By accepting a bridge deal, the player knew that if he had a strong season & a half, he’d be able to stay with the team he enjoys playing for (P.K & Price are obviosly best of friends) to cash in on a max type deal with all signs pointing to a rising cap, all the while staying where he loves to play for 12 consecutive years.

The Team: By offering a bridge deal, the team saves money in the short term without having to pay big dollars for an egregious amount of performance by the player as well as maintaining the rights to sign the player to a long term, max deal. In essence, the Canadiens will have paid P.K Subban $77.75 million dollars (not including the $13 million dollars in signing bonuses)over 10 years & in a world of average salaries, that’s a pretty nice deal for both sides. P.K Subban as a Canadien for 12yrs of his life, until the age of 33 is a great thing for Canadiens hockey.

Now, back to the Oilers. Steve Tambellini did a lot of dumb things as Oilers GM, most of which was from doing nothing at all, but in the summer of 2012, Tambellini was widely applauded for giving 6 year extensions for $36 million each to both Eberle & Hall. At the time, it seemed like a great deal for the Oilers who were in essence, buying UFA years from their young stars. Tambellini was subsequently fired & MacTavish was quick to replace him & extended Nugent-Hopkins to an identical deal but with an extra year added. Many marvelled at MacT for one upping his predecessor by buying an extra year but looking back, all three deals should’ve been bridged.

In just 5 years from now, Taylor Hall will be a 27 year old UFA, Jordan Eberle will be a 29 year old UFA & in 6 years, RNH will also be a 27 year old UFA. The potential for the Oilers to lose their star players, yet again in their prime is a very good possibility. Now I know hindsight is 20/20 but was there really any panic in signing Eberle & Hall to extensions on the eve of a new CBA that we all knew would benefit everyone 50/50? Looking back, there wasn’t & it was the only thing Tambellini did that seemed positive at the time. Had the Oilers negotiated a bridge deal, we’d currently be preparing to sign Hall/Eberle this upcoming summer to massive 8 year deals, thus keeping them both here until they were 31 & 33 years old respectively. Add RNH to that bridge type of deal & the Oilers would’ve kept their star players, 4 years past their primes, which in Oil Country, rarely happens.