As Part Five of his six-piece series on Nashville blogger James Mirtle (who visited last February and has written an insightful series that can be found here) posts a recent interview with Predators majority owner David Freeman.
I particularly liked this part of the interview...
Quote:
Q. Since something like that may take, as you say, a decade or more to pay off, should we conclude that you and the ownership group plan on being around to benefit from that plan?
Didn't Freeman once make a pledge that the will stay in the mid range of the cap? Which would be around 44-46M. So the question is: Is the money not available or is Poile just not spending it? 2-4M would really change this team! We could have signed Tanguay for 2.5 like Tampa then 1-1.5 for a veteran D. Equals complete team.
The only times I've heard Freeman discuss payroll he's basically said attendance will determine the amount spent on salary, and before last season he mentioned how the payroll for that particular year would be higher than it had been in the past. I have yet to hear him say anything about remaining near the midway point. That's been talk from Preds fans looking at revenue sharing.
Also I believe that we cannot go above the mid point (finish above?) in order to fully quality for revenue sharing. David Poile is likely to leave room so that callups can be made without going over the mid point.
Of course we won't qualify for revenue sharing due to attendance, but that is another issue.
What are the thoughts on taking a run at Forsberg? He still owns a house in Nashville, he enjoys the guys and we could really use him if he is healthy. Give him 2M and if he returns to form then we can sign him for the typical 4-5M contract after the season.
What are the thoughts on taking a run at Forsberg? He still owns a house in Nashville, he enjoys the guys and we could really use him if he is healthy. Give him 2M and if he returns to form then we can sign him for the typical 4-5M contract after the season.
Pass. Forsberg has a permanent flat tire. It's a shame, too, because he's extraordinarily talented.
I was initially shocked at what we gave up to get him for just a short term rental. But I ended up not minding so much, because it sure was sweet getting to watch him play. Even not at his prime.
Hindsight has me wonder what those draft picks would have turned into for us though. lol
I was initially shocked at what we gave up to get him for just a short term rental. But I ended up not minding so much, because it sure was sweet getting to watch him play. Even not at his prime.
Hindsight has me wonder what those draft picks would have turned into for us though. lol
One of them is Blum, and the other is Phil DeSimone, a wholly unremarkable prospect for the Capitals.
Hindsight has me wonder what those draft picks would have turned into for us though. lol
Well, we got back the 1st rounder (traded rights to Timonen and Hartnell for it) and selected Blum and the 3rd rounder turned into Phillip DeSimone who is playing at UNH. Parent has established himself as a regular defensive defenseman in the NHL and Upshall is now onto Phoenix after becoming a fan favorite in Philadelphia.
Well, we got back the 1st rounder (traded rights to Timonen and Hartnell for it) and selected Blum and the 3rd rounder turned into Phillip DeSimone who is playing at UNH.
you guys are nuts. If you ever have a chance at Forsberg even for only 20 games, you go out and get Forsberg.
They're agreeing with the rental. But that was then, this is now. More years and who knows what wear and tear on the feet. Maybe the surgeries have actually had time to heal though.
It's a fun thing to talk about but it won't happen anyway.
Everyone keeps saying "we got one of the picks back". But we didn't get the Blum pick back, we traded for it. As far as I can tell.
So I'm assuming we missed out on a Blum quality player by not having another high pick.
Nope. We traded for our own pick back from Philadelphia for two players we weren't going to be able to sign (or at least one). We selected Blum 23rd overall, with our own first round pick, in 2007. I should know, I was there when it happened.
Nope. We traded for our own pick back from Philadelphia for two players we weren't going to be able to sign (or at least one). We selected Blum 23rd overall, with our own first round pick, in 2007. I should know, I was there when it happened.
You just said nope, and then said what I said. We traded for that pick.
Maybe we didn't give much. Maybe so, and we stole it back. But it was a trade. If we had that pick we could have traded our assets for another pick. Some seem to basically say that since we traded for a pick back, we can subtract it from what we paid for Forsberg. Fine, as long as they make sure to include the two players then, in the trade, or their rights.
Of course, I guess if it's a prearranged gentlemen's handshake trade ("we'll do XXX after the season") it's all part of one deal. But still, some people total the pluses and minuses as if we didn't trade anything for that pick, they just say "we got it back."
You just said nope, and then said what I said. We traded for that pick.
Because we gave up two players that were going to sign for other teams in a week or so anyway for an asset that was originally ours to begin with.
What I'm trying to say is, we gave up what amounted to nothing for a draft pick that we had originally given up for what amounted to nothing. Poile basically recouped a major asset out of thin air.
And if we had always kept that asset, the rights to those two players then were worthless to other teams or the Flyers?
No, but they were worthless to us regardless because we had no means of re-signing them. Those assets had value to another team, and we had an opportunity to recover an asset from a trade that ultimately backfired on us, an asset which we still held valuable. If we had never made the Forsberg trade, we probably would have simply lost Timonen and Hartnell for nothing, keeping a player in Upshall that had outstayed his welcome, a player in Parent who was part of a logjam in our defensive prospect pipeline, and Phil DiSimone. Those are three players we have no real need for at this point, so things ultimately turned out to be a wash for us, which is something that rarely happens over two-three year periods like this.
Am I making a lick of sense? It's been a long day.
Yeah. I'm not trying to cause you grief here. You laid out the facts.
Just where I see some say "but we got that pick back" as if it didn't count giving it up... Not saying you, but I've seen it.
I guess as your scenario shows, the rights were worth more to the Flyers than maybe elsewhere and we also needed a pick. So I'll reduce the level of mental baggage in my head over what the trade may have cost us, heh.
Yeah, I would agree that Poile was only able to pull off the trade for the rights to negotiate because of the Forsberg trade. Like you said OW more of a predetermined wink/nudge thing.
