Ottawa Sun weighs in on Datsyuk contract talks
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports that Pavel Datsyuk’s agent is seeking between $6 and $7 million per season for the center. Detroit is believed to have offered roughly $5 million per season.
While indications are the Wings offered him a deal that would have paid him more than $5 million a season to make him a centrepiece of the organization, Datsyuk thumbed his nose at it.
The word is Datsyuk is seeking between $6 million and $7 million a year on a new contract, so Holland decided to call off any further talks until after the season.
This is where the decision might hurt Datsyuk. Through the first quarter of the season, he is on pace for about 50 points and that means the big payday he is seeking might not come to fruition.
This actually reminds me quite a bit of Sergei Federov’s last contract negotiation with Detroit. The Wings intially offered Federov a deal worth $10 million per season, obviously before the salary cap was put into place. The Wings actually lowered their offer after that initial rejection. Fedorov switched agents and tried to get that $10 million deal again but the Wings wouldn’t budge.
Federov eventually signed with Anaheim for much less money. Even if he would have re-signed with Detroit that contract would have been rolled back or bought out. I just think that Garrioch is correct that Datsyuk may regret not taking a guaranteed long term contract at $5 million per season. There will probably be a much better crop of UFA this offseason, so the possibility of Datsyuk getting $7 million are probably slim. Top free agents like Ryan Smyth could get that kind of offer.
Last year Marc Savard was probably the UFA that was closest to Datsyuk in terms of production. He’s roughly the same age and put up 97 points in Atlanta last season. Datsyuk had a breakout year last season, putting up 87 points. Neither player had broken the 70 point plateau prior to last season. Savard is on pace to put up another 97 points this season for the Bs. Datsyuk is on pace to put up 61 points.
Savard signed with the Bruins for $5 million per season. And that was widely viewed as an overpayment as Savard’s 2005-06 production was viewed as being inflated due to him playing with Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa. He has proven his production that season wasn’t a fluke. But the main reason he was able to get such a lucrative contract was because he was one of the better forwards available in a free agent class that was heavy on defensemen.
Datsyuk will likely be competing with Chris Drury and/or Daniel Briere, Scott Gomez, Ladislav Nagy, Mats Sundin (team option), Michal Handzus, Joe Sakic and Michael Nylander - just to name a handful of comparable players. Some of these players could very well sign with their current team, but it just goes to show how deep the forward free agent group will be in general and centers in particular.
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