Crazy NHL Contracts

July 1, 2009May 23, 2010Danny Vinik 3 Comments

The Chicago Blackhawks signed Marian Hossa to a TWELVE YEAR, $62.8 million deal today in what can only be classified as an idiotic contract. It’s not that Hossa is not a great player or that he does not deserve the deal. It’s the length of the contract.

Unlike the NFL and MLB, the NHL (and NBA) has a salary cap, meaning that each team can only spend to a certain, defined amount. For next season, the cap is $56.8 million, a $100,000 increase over the cap last season. Hossa’s contract is worth $5.233 million per year so that means that nearly 10% of the Blackhawks’ money is tied up in Hossa next season. Hossa is just one of twenty plus players that Chicago will have on its roster next season.

Now, that still leaves a large amount of money for Chicago to spend on the rest of their roster. Hossa is a terrific player and he will certainly help the Hawks next season, but next year is not the problem with the contract. Five years from now, what is the cap going to be? Continue reading “Crazy NHL Contracts” →

The Most Brutal Game In Sports

May 17, 2009May 23, 2010Danny Vinik 1 Comment

Want to know why hockey is the most brutal sport? Go watch a game seven in overtime and tell me you’ve ever experienced a more gut-wrenching, hear-pounding situation for a longer time. The Bruins-Hurricanes Game 7 last night ended regulation at 2-2 and headed to overtime where a next-goal-wins period ensued.

That is brutal. For every minute during that time, the teams fought for every loose puck, diving and throwing themselves, but nothing would go in. The fans stand and cheer the entire time, but at every turnover or bouncing puck, a silence falls over the arena at the chance of one team winning. Every shot draws shrieks from every fan in attendance and when a Bruins’ shot just missed, the place with fall back, cringing at a miss opportunity.

Now, in other sports there are certainly situations where this happens. Baseball has that 3-2 pitch in the bottom of the ninth. Football has that final second 45-yard field goal or the Hail Mary bomb. Basketball has the game-winning shot with 0.5 seconds left. Each one of those situations lasts at most for 1 minute. It is basically one gut-wrenching play to decide it all.

Hockey overtime is similar except that feeling lasts the entire time. From the drop of the puck in overtime until the game-winning goal, no one can relax for a moment. There aren’t even timeouts! It is 30 minutes of holding your breath and stomachs in knots. There is absolutely nothing tougher in sports to watch. Continue reading “The Most Brutal Game In Sports” →

Let’s Play Seven

May 13, 2009May 23, 2010Danny Vinik Leave a comment

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are in full swing and the next two games feature three great game sevens. That’s right. Three of the four conference semifinals have gone the distance and that is what makes hockey so great. They should all be great, hard fought games and the most-anticipated game is tonight when the Pittsburgh Penguins head back to Washington to face the Capitals.

This one has the making of one of the greatest games in NHL history. This series has been nothing short of phenomenal. I wrote a post a week ago or so saying that for this series to reach its potential, Evgeni Malkin needed to step up and push the Penguins to a game seven. He did more than that as Pittsburgh actually one three straight games and took a 3-2 lead in the series before falling at home in overtime. Now they have to head back to Washington where the crowd will be loud and ready to propel the Caps to victory.

I expect big games from Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. This is the biggest game of the year so far and this is when stars come out. I’m not sure they can repeat their matching hat tricks from game two, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see each have multi-goal games as beneath winning the series, there is a competition for the best player in hockey. Don’t forgot Malkin either. He’s fighting for best-player-in-the-league honors as well and he could easily swing the game for the Pens. Continue reading “Let’s Play Seven” →