Give Smyth that kind of coin and who knows what Eberle and Hall demand...
Pretty sure what they'd immediately note is Horc getting 5.5M and hemsky 5M. Not sure they'd be as concerned about Smyth at 3M. Again Smyth being the only Vet to put up any kind of numbers on the team.
I understand the thought that more wrongs don't make a right but is 3m for Smyth really all that wrong?
Pretty sure what they'd immediately note is Horc getting 5.5M and hemsky 5M. Not sure they'd be as concerned about Smyth at 3M. Again Smyth being the only Vet to put up any kind of numbers on the team.
I understand the thought that more wrongs don't make a right but is 3m for Smyth really all that wrong?
Is it really that right?
There's no way Smyth should make more than Curtis Glencross. Or the same as Olli Jokinen. If that money can be put forth for Ryan Suter (in the slim chance he actually comes here) or Dennis Wideman...
So according to everybody else in the thread its Smyth that should pay for every other blunder contract the team has made because dammit, we're not making another one..sorry Smyth, we're serious negotiating management again when you're up.
Smyth now being deemed expendable despite Smyth being one of the only remotely useful vets on this team, playing 82GP on an injury riddled team, playing massive minutes and pk and hitting a wall.
How many players expended enough effort to hit the wall this season?
This board is decidely reactive and of the what have you done for me lately thinking.
Fortunately the paying fans at Rexall were giving Smyth standing ovations early in the season. More Smyth jerseys have been sold out there than possibly any other player on the club.
But screw em. We can always spend the money next season on more project fill. The Smyth $ is sure to be better spent part 2.
Ryan Jones, the new improved Smyth.
Makes me wanna vomit.
What makes me vomit is him quibbling over dollars at this point in his career.
Tambellini brings him back as a favor to Smyth, Tambellini didn't have to do that and now Smyth is going to leave a 2 year contract on the table at this point in his career? Who does he think he is? He's not going to get much more than Bertuzzi money at this point in his career. If he wants to play here so bad, sign the damn contract and play here. He has no negotiating power whatsoever and if he doesn't sign then he'll leave the city that he loves, move his family again and play somewhere else and the Oilers will move on with little problem.
Look, he's still an NHL player and can be useful but he needs to suck up his pride and realize that he needs to take on a smaller role with this team as a 3rd line player. Something tells me that he thinks that he's a full time top 6 contributor and he's simply not, his skills are hugely diminshed now. Forget the stats, watch the player play. He's struggling to keep up on a nightly basis.
If he didn't have the name Ryan Smyth with all the nostalgia, you would realize that he has lost about 10 steps.
I'm in Tambi's corner here. It makes absolutely zero sense to pay Smyth 3 mil per+. Zero.
If he isn't willing to take a shave in salary then he's got no place on this team moving forward. He obviously doesn't give a **** about the Oilers despite his ramblings.
Yes, Hemsky didn't have to take a hit (no doubt this is what Meehan is feeding Smyth) but he's also 28 years old.
I agree. Smyth is coming off a very lucrative contract that made him over $30 mil the last 5 years. He's 36 now and at the tail end of his career. He needs to open his eyes and look around at others players in similar positions as him and see what they are making...ie Salo 2 mil with the Canucks, Bertuzzi 2.075 mil. Also, he pretty much begged the Kings to send him back to Alberta, and now he's holding off on a contract cause he wants more money??
3M for one year wouldn't be the end of the world. If he wants it over 2 years he can go pound sand. I don't see why he's not willing to sign 1 year deals with a handshake agreement that they'll resign him every year.
im not 100% sure if he wants the money or the term.
i think he might want the term, i hope he doenst want more money...
Him wanting term at this point is ridiculous. Look at Selanne, guy is in his 40's, putting up waaaay better #'s then Smyth and only signs year to year on his deals.
3M for one year wouldn't be the end of the world. If he wants it over 2 years he can go pound sand. I don't see why he's not willing to sign 1 year deals with a handshake agreement that they'll resign him every year.
for the record...
I refrained from making a terribly offensive comment.
Let his punk *** walk, the guy is too greedy, doesn't have any leadership, not top 6 player no more, he''s pretty much useless on this team, if Paajarvi and Yakupov are on the Oilers next season it would be pretty damn stupid to resign Smyth.
He left the Oilers for 500k, I know Lowe was at fault too but still, i will never forget him for that.
What makes me vomit is him quibbling over dollars at this point in his career.
Tambellini brings him back as a favor to Smyth, Tambellini didn't have to do that and now Smyth is going to leave a 2 year contract on the table at this point in his career? Who does he think he is? He's not going to get much more than Bertuzzi money at this point in his career. If he wants to play here so bad, sign the damn contract and play here. He has no negotiating power whatsoever and if he doesn't sign then he'll leave the city that he loves, move his family again and play somewhere else and the Oilers will move on with little problem.
Look, he's still an NHL player and can be useful but he needs to suck up his pride and realize that he needs to take on a smaller role with this team as a 3rd line player. Something tells me that he thinks that he's a full time top 6 contributor and he's simply not, his skills are hugely diminshed now. Forget the stats, watch the player play. He's struggling to keep up on a nightly basis.
If he didn't have the name Ryan Smyth with all the nostalgia, you would realize that he has lost about 10 steps.
By all accounts he wants 3 years and around 4 mill - he's dreaming if he thinks that's his going price. 2 years TOPS and around 2.25 to 2.5 TOPS. He gets a third line role and PK duty. That's the only way he's going to be effective on this team.
Anyone else think that Renney's rant earlier this year might have been somewhat indirectly for Smyth? I also think that the comments at the end of the year about vets looking at their roles realistically going forward was directed at him and Horcoff...possibly Hemsky too.
He needs to give his head a shake, and wake up to the reality of the situation.
By all accounts he wants 3 years and around 4 mill - he's dreaming if he thinks that's his going price. 2 years TOPS and around 2.25 to 2.5 TOPS. He gets a third line role and PK duty. That's the only way he's going to be effective on this team.
Anyone else think that Renney's rant earlier this year might have been somewhat indirectly for Smyth? I also think that the comments at the end of the year about vets looking at their roles realistically going forward was directed at him and Horcoff...possibly Hemsky too.
He needs to give his head a shake, and wake up to the reality of the situation.
I'm not a huge fan of management by any stretch, but they are doing the right thing here. If you can't get Smyth for a reasonable number and term, let him walk (or try to walk, because he won't find it elsewhere).
The rant was not directed at Hemsky since his role hasn't really changed and he is obviously still a top-6 forward... but yeah, he might as well have been pointing directly at Smyth and Horcoff while he was saying that.
Keep in mind that the Oilers didn't even want Smyth on the team before he was essentially dropped in their laps last year. They did him a favour by accepting his request to come back and play with the Oilers... just like LA did him a favour by granting his request to "go home" for the sake of Smyth and his family.
That's something that he should be thankful to both the Kings and Oilers as neither had to oblige his wishes. Sure LA got much needed cap room and got basically squat back in the deal (broken Fraser)... and the Oilers got a chance to rekindle the sentimentality in Edmonton... bringing the local boy back home again. He did supply some leadership and he did play well for stretches of the year, no one can deny that.
The facts are though that he isn't irreplaceable, he isn't overly talented and he isn't the only vet capable of supplying leadership on the team.
Horcoff, Sutton, Belanger, Whitney and now even Nick Schultz... all those players have been around the block and are just as capable of vet leadership as Smyth.
I've said it before but Smyth would be much better on a team that needs filler depth so he can be used to grit it out in the playoffs, not grinding it out for a 82 game season on a team with difficulty even getting into the playoff picture. The Oilers are better off devoting those 3rd/4th line spots to younger developiong talent like Harti/MPS etc... and I'm not saying they'll be better than Smyth... but they have a possible future with the Oilers when they are actually going to be competing for something.
Smyth should go to a team that will pay him the $4 million plus that he thinks he deserves. That's in the best interests of himself and his family... he likely only has this final contract to rack up more mega millions so he might as well bite the bullet and play his final contract somewhere for the most money he can, he can retire in Alberta after his playing career is done.
Let his punk *** walk, the guy is too greedy, doesn't have any leadership, not top 6 player no more, he''s pretty much useless on this team, if Paajarvi and Yakupov are on the Oilers next season it would be pretty damn stupid to resign Smyth.
He left the Oilers for 500k, I know Lowe was at fault too but still, i will never forget him for that.
Terrible post. I'm not big on resigning him either, but really?
Quick question. Does anyone know if Smyth is one of the veterans that caused the division within the locker room this year? The guy wants top 6 minutes, thinks he still has top 6 talent, and wants top 6 money, it seems to describe the situation perfectly. If Smyth was indeed a locker room cancer this year, then I wouldn't even sign him for one penny.
WE sure don't want to go through the whole ball of wax again but the Season Smyth left here the standing offer for mths from the club was 4M. This is a known. The team had already paid Horcoff and Hemsky more, this is a known. Smyth went out and got 6.5M longterm on the open market, this is a known. So essentially all of that season, until trade deadline the Oilers had a "good faith" standing offer deal on the table that was a full 2.5M less than Smyth ultimately obtained.
Just want to set the record straight on that.
I know you dropped it Replacement, but I have to correct this. I remember us having a 5M offer on the table which was upped to around 5.4-5.5 at the deadline but Smyth wanted a few hundred K more and got moved. Hemsky at the time was on his 4.1M contract and Horcoff was around 3.5(extension was 2008, Smyth was dealt 2007). And Smyth signed for 6.25M long term which is around 750K more than we offered him.
So has Smyth ever actually signed a contract without a gong show surrounding him. What is this the 3rd contract with drama surrounding it
No. His MO has always been the entitled one who needed to squeeze every last penny out of whomever. Joke is, at the tail end of his career t age 37, after making 50 mil or whatever & Oilers doing him a favor last summer & he presumably wants to stay in Edmonton cause its his home, he pulls this stunt AGAIN . Makes no sense & really speaks to his character.
I know you dropped it Replacement, but I have to correct this. I remember us having a 5M offer on the table which was upped to around 5.4-5.5 at the deadline but Smyth wanted a few hundred K more and got moved. Hemsky at the time was on his 4.1M contract and Horcoff was around 3.5(extension was 2008, Smyth was dealt 2007). And Smyth signed for 6.25M long term which is around 750K more than we offered him.
The offer that was tabled in September was 4M. A new offer didn't come about until 6mths later at the trade deadline.
I think by the time the Oilers moved the offer up to 5.5M significant bad blood was already established. In anycase its very clear the Oilers were lowballing Smyth in comparison to what he ended up getting on the market.
I was all for getting Hemsky signed but seriously, how much was he getting on the open market? Would teams line up to pay him 5M for damaged goods?
Hemsky gets a really favorable deal, despite 3 seasons in a row of either being injured or ineffective, and really contributing very little to the club through that time. We've paid Hemsky handsomely to accomplish much of nothing and now gave him a raise.
That said my preference is to avoid the conversation. This is one of those locked thought issues where nobody, myself or others, is going to change their take. A very polarized debate.
