When was the last time...

[lockedge]

You heard of an NHL player taking a huge pay cut in salary, or settling for something incredibly low, in order to help him team sign the greedier(but better at point production) players?

Seriously. There are so many players nowadays who go into contract disputes talking about how it\'s too bad the GM couldn\'t sign him, and how he really wanted to stay and help the team progress in the future......but don\'t even consider the option of taking less.
Athletes make a lot of money, and they work hard for that money, but once your salary hits over a million, it\'s pretty much all the same. What\'s another million going to get you? A gold plated boat? A fifth summer cottage?

If there are so many loyal team players out there, why don\'t they start with themselves to make the team better? I\'m not saying per se a player of Marian gaborik\'s ability should take 850k, but say your GM wants to sign a top of the line goalie and is about a million dollars off, and you\'re in negotiations as well asking for 4.6.
Why not help the team out and drop that price down to 3.5?

There are players in sports who do this. In baseball, I remember some Cleveland player(I think, could be the wrong team) taking a pay cut a few years back so that other members currently on the team could be re-signed. I\'ve seen it in (US)football. I\'m not sure about soccer/football as I don\'t watch it, but I would think teams that focus on winning so intensely as they do would have players who are desperate to win on that team, and would take cuts.

Seriously. Why so much greed? If you want to win the Stanley Cup so bad, why not help your team afford the players it feels it needs to accomplish that?

[Guy Incognito]

Martin Brodeur has been underpaid for years for that reason... he was willing to take less to always have a competitive team around him. The result: 3 Cups and a record streak of 40-win seasons.

You\'re right though - examples like that are pretty rare.

[narduch]

Andrew Ference took the home team discount, and Calgary thanked him by trading him to Boston. hmy:

[Orrfan]

Narduch... hit the nail on the head..it has to work both ways and the players know it does not.
Look at Ryan Smyth he did it a couple of times and when it finally came time for him to collect Lowe says uh uh and trades his ass to NYI. I heard he told his agent to firmly deliver that message to Lowe NO MORE HOMETOWN DISCOUNTS.
So the ever loyal Lowe fragged him.
In Brodeur\'s case he has the golden net waitng for him when he\'s done. The Devils organization will almost certainly give him a prime job with the team. The discount don\'t look so bad then, huh!
Most other players land up selling cars or such.
Our local hometown hero after a long NHL career pissed it all away, became a carpenter. Then he let his substance abuse get out of control and bounced in and out of court till he got himself a nice little sentence. So tragic.

[Zorro]

Orrfan I give you a thumbs up no matter what you say because of the name \"orr\",you da man. But I would have to comment on Smyth yes he has given the Oilers a bit of a discount but not really,he will get his cash from Edmonton and Kevin Lowe as soon as JULY 1st comes around. He will get his,but whats next T.Holmstrom starts asking for $5 mill a season. I know Smyth is a leader and a catalyst for those Oilers but come on $6 million per.Damn thats some good cash for taking a few beatings in front of the net and scoring most of his goals a foot out. Smyth could use a wrong handed stick and still do what he does.

I agree with the Broduer\'s comments,he is an unbelievable person/player to take the money he did in NJ.He could demand the world on the open market, he is happy and why not he is winning consistently..

Have a great day all!!
Zorro..

[lanky522]

I think there\'s a difference between giving your franchise a \"discount\" and having them try to take you to the cleaners. As soon as players start making a habit of taking discounts, they will be abused (brodeur is a unique case).

If you are willing to work for less than you should to help your company (in ANY profession), sooner or later, you\'ll be taken advantage of.

I mean seriously, lots of players would love to stay with their home teams, but they are treated like crap (like they owe the team something). Take Luongo for example. He wanted to stay in florida, and help them build a championship program. It was completely reasonable for him to want 6 mil a year. Why didn\'t florida just pay him? They didn\'t give him 6 mil because they thought that they were entitled to keeping luongo for less than he (and everyone else) knew he was worth.

In order for the tide to change and for players to take less, GM\'s and teams in general need to start treating their franchise players a little bit better in every regard (salary related and otherwise).

[Thieving Giraffe]

Marcus Naslund gave Vancouver a break back when he was one of the best players in the league. Same with Ray Bourque in Boston during the 90\'s. If anything, I\'d say it happens more in hockey than in some other sports. Which isn\'t a lot, I\'ll grant you.

Lanky makes a good point in the \'break\' distinction. My understanding of the Bourque situation, for instance, is that Jacobs was a cheap bastard and it was just that important to #77 to stay in Beantown, so he took less to make it happen. The distinction, I suppose, is whether the player says \"use the extra money well\" or the franchise says \"take this or walk.\" Clearly we all know what the most frequent scenario was in Boston. Unless your name is Marty Lapointe, then you get $5 million. Oy, what was that about?

P.S. Speaking of Lanky... what\'s up with your karma, buddy? It seems to go up or down five points every day!

Post edited by: Thieving Giraffe, at: 2007/03/18 17:25

[Dobber]

Great post Lockedge - couldn\'t agree more. It should be prevalent in teams that are on the cusp - i.e. when Crosby is 25 and Malkin is 26 and Staal is 24...they should get together and come up with an amount each that will keep the dynasty together. They can then go to management with their arrangement - say for three more years. After they win a few more cups they can then go whore themselves out for some big time money.

Richards is another example - he knew TB had Lecavalier and St.Louis locked up for big money and that if he signed for $7 mill TB\'s hands would be tied and the team would never win. He should have swallowed his pride and taken $6 mill - not a huge sacrifice, but that extra million would have gone a long way to making this team better.

It\'s the \"I\'m better than him so I should make more\" mentality. If that\'s the way they want to think, then all players should just compare their salary to Pavel Kubina\'s!!!:lol:

[HabsFan]

I understand your point but we have to understand that if the teams are willing to pay them that amount there is no doubt they will jump on it without thinking about the cup but more so about there future lifestyle.. Now what if your own employer would offer you the big bucks but to win best buisness of the year title it would help if you do not take the money to help your employer higher more professinals to help the cause.. What would you do? I go for the money cause my lifestyles is more important then the bosses pocket ,, heck ther are other jobs out there ,, so what do players think nowadays.. Lifestyle not the cup anymore (witch kind of sucks) And if the team ain\'t paying well there just might be 1 out of the other 29 who will!.. Just my tought..

[Dobber]

If my company offered me $5 million to win \"best business\" award, and \"best business\" award was my childhood dream, then I would take that money rather than go to another company for $6 million.
I get your point...but I just don\'t understand where players lose their way...

[doulos]

Didn\'t Paul Kariya take a small amount of money in Colorado for a shot at the cup?

Also there\'s also the story of Hasek refusing to be paid his wage.

Hopefully my failing mind is not incorrect on either of these though it\'s certainly possible.

I would also very strongly dispute that Ryan Smyth ever took a hometown discount, even though he may have thought he did.

[Dobber]

You\'re bang on. Although in Kariya\'s case he took the small amount in order to be under the league average and become a UFA.
The Ducks didn\'t qualify him because it would have cost them $10 million, so he became an UFA. However, wherever he signed he would belong to them if they qualified him the following summer...so by signing below the league average (and playing 10 years), he would guarantee himself UFA status once again.

[doulos]

Very interesting, them hockey players can be sneaky at times.

[Orrfan]

You guys should give last weeks The Hockey News a read.
On pge 10 there\'s an article by Al Strachan on the Ryan Smyth deal.
I think you\'ll like it.