Zedlee wrote:Strangelove wrote:Mondi wrote:
It's a terrible contract. Pretty much indisputably.
Only because they changed the rules mid-game.
Changing the rules on a contract that was accepted by the league was total BS.
But is was still a bad contract anyway and I thought so the day it was signed. Insanity. I doubt there would have been any takers for Luongo even if the rules on hadn't changed.
Well that would have put you in the minority.
If Lou was willing to waive his NTC at the time, the Canucks would have got the world for him in a trade.
Most folks (Canuck fans AND anti-Canuckers) considered it a form of "cap-circumvention").
Which is a GOOD thing for a rich team trying to spend extra money in order to ice a better team.
It's said the NHL punished this form of "cap-circumvention" with the so-called "Luongo Rule" recapture penalty.
Luongo was considered one of the best, if not THE best, goalies in the world when he signed that deal.
Most hockey pundits figured his cap-hit would rise from $6.75mil to around $8mil.
Most hockey pundits figured it would take at least $40mil to have Lou sign away the rest of his career
($8mil times 5 years = $40mil).
Canucks brass instead found a way to lower his cap-hit to $5.3mil by tossing in an extra $24mil.
It was always assumed this 12-year $64mil contract would go *
poof*
.... just as soon as Luongo's play deteriorated to a large enough degree (5 years or so?).
"Gentlemen's Agreement"
Here's an article speculating on Luongo's new contract a coupla months before the fact:
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=282927
June 26, 2009
Despite being one year away from unrestricted free agency, reports are saying that goalie Roberto Luongo is discussing a contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks.
CKNW Radio in Vancouver is speculating that Luongo and his agent, Gilles Lupien, are asking for a long-term deal that would be at least five years in length, and worth a minimum of $8 million per season.
Luongo is scheduled to earn $7.5 million next season, with the Canucks taking a cap hit of $6.75 million in the final year of his current deal.
The report says that Luongo wishes to be among the highest paid goalies in the league, but he also does not want to handicap Vancouver's payroll and might be willing to take less money to make the team more competitive.
"The way Roberto wants to go, he doesn't want to hit the jackpot, he wants to have a good team," Lupien told CKNW. "And by doing that, you have to work with the team. We're looking for a bit more money, but nothing that would strangle the team. I think we're going forward to have a deal done in the future."
So yeah, it was a good deal at the time it was signed.
Genius, in fact.
Lou's meltdown a year later
... along with the Luongo Rule two years later
... along with Luongo's personal reasons for preferring to play in a couple of limited locations
... all combined to make it a not-so-good contract.
Personally I'm now convinced your Vancouver Canucks will buyout Luongo one year from now.
Luongo buyout 2014: $22,570,672
Luongo buyout 2013: $27,046,674
No need to buyout Lou when he is likely to put up Top Ten goalie numbers next season.
2014 will be the last chance to use the other Compliance Buyout.
$6.714mil salary in 2013-14 plus $22,570,672 buyout in 2014 equals
$29,284,672
... for one more year of Top Ten Lou...
VERSUS
$27,046,674... and Lou is gone right now.
The cap-hit is reasonable and it gives them one more year to see what they have in Lack/Eriksson/Cannata
(a fantastic group of young goalies by all accounts).
One more chance for Lou to win a Cup before he is bought out and signs cheap with the Panthers (semi-retirement).
Lou ends up with ~$52.5mil and Canucks end up with 4 years of a near-top-of-his-game Luongo.
About $20mil more than the pundits thought he'd get... but the price Aquilini's paid to keep the cap-hit at $5.3mil.
Yep, I'm convinced.
It's all good....