More smoke than fire
Sunday talk by Eric Duhatschek
In the end, the NHL’s 2009 entry draft was more about smoke than fire, with only two prominent players changing teams and half-a-dozen others still on the board, awaiting word on their respective futures.
This slow-go development, which is becoming more pronounced every year, is tied inextricably to the upcoming free-agency period, and the uncertainty about how the market is about to unfold. If the dollars paid out this year are down from the ridiculous sums commanded by players over the past two years, then the trade dynamic will change as well.
It was hard enough for Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray to get good value for Dany Heatley, at a $7.5-million (all currency U.S.) annual salary-cap charge, this past week. If players of Heatley’s stature start to take deep discounts, starting July 1 – and the expectation is that Marian Hossa’s annual salary if he signs an extension with the Detroit Red Wings could average just north of $4-million a season – then it becomes even more difficult to peddle a player signed at the height of the NHL’s wild post-lockout growth spurt.
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