Fedorov or Forsberg? That’s a no brainer
Forsberg’s been the better player since leaving the Avs
While this is certain to rub a segment of the Red Wings fanbase the wrong way, I’d take Peter Forsberg over Sergei Fedorov this upcoming season in a heartbeat. Red Wings fans have debated adding one of both players this summer. Forsberg would be more straightforward as he’s a free agent and can sign with any team. Fedorov - isn’t this perfect - is a much more complicated acquisition. The Wings, who have loads of cap space right now, couldn’t afford his albatross of a contract at this time. But many Red Wings fans hope he can be acquired via trade if/when the Blue Jackets fall out of playoff contention.
Fortunately Sergei Federov is doing his best Jim Harbaugh impersonation and is still blaming his former team for his own poor decisions. The latest salvo first appeared in this thread over at HF Boards from a poster who translated the comments from a Russian newspaper. George over at MLIVE used the always clunky internet translator. Let’s go with the person who apparently knows Russian.
-Do u think Detroit Red Wings might want u to play for them again?
- I’m not even sure how to answer this question. To be honest, I really didn’t want to leave in the first place. But hockey is not only a game, it’s also [a] business. We…[reached] an agreement with…management about one contract, but when we came the next day to sign it, we saw a totaly different contract. Not too many people know about that. I didn’t talk about it much. But after that…i’ve had…a lot of bad feelings about Detroit (Red Wings).
The story of course is that the Red Wings initially offered him a contract worth $50 million and then when it was rejected offered him a four year contract that averaged out at $10 million per year. He signed a contract with Anaheim for $8 million per season. It was a stupid decision but Federov still isn’t man enough to admit he f’d up big time. Instead he lies about wanting to stay in Detroit. Yeah, he wanted to stay in Detroit until his negotiation tactics cost him $10 million; then he pouted and signed for less money. While I have no problem criticizing him for his poor decision-making I think it’s utterly retarded for Red Wings fans to boo him.
The Red Wings obviously were familiar with Fedorov’s negotiating tactics as he signed an offer sheet with Carolina that included a ridiculous bonus of $12 million if the team he played for made the Conference Finals during the first year of the contract.
The offer broke down as: $14 million [signing bonus], $2 million for 21 regular season games, $12 million for the team reaching conference finals. $28 million for 43 total games in 1997-98 is the largest single season amount paid to an NHL athlete. Fedorov helped the Red Wings win their second consecutive Stanley Cup that year.
If you want a clear sign that collusion doesn’t exist in the NHL it’s that contract. The Red Wings matched the contract but after the lengthy holdout and the subsequent offer sheet that season, and then Federov’s rejection of the initial contract offer for $50 million prior to the 2003-04 season, it would be understandable that they grew tired of negotiating with him.
I’m not saying that Federov didn’t have every right to use whatever he felt was necessary to try and make as much money as possible. He’s certainly entitled to bargain in whatever way he sees fit. It clearly worked for him when he signed the offer sheet with Carolina. But my feeling is he went to the well once too often when he rejected the $50 million contract offer from Detroit. Hey, after you made $28 million over 43 games that contract probably does look like an insult. Detroit penalized him for jerking them around by offering him $10 million per year over four years. He pouted and signed with Anaheim for $8 million per season over five years. So apparently he’s fine with negotiating when he comes out the winner but whines like a little bitch when he loses.
Ultimately with the benefit of hindsight I think Detroit made the right move. So I’d like to see them try to sign Forsberg this season as it would cost nothing other than cap space. If Federov really has any interest in coming back to Detroit - he contradicts himself every time he discusses the topic, so he should either shut up or admit he completely screwed up - the team can offer him a contract when he’s a free agent next summer.
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