44 replies to this topic

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I still can't believe anyone gave Gio $5M that offseason. That was huge money for him, especially when he'd been nothing more than a 25-25-50 player for a few years after his huge 48 goal season. People here thought the Zubrus contract was bad for a while, he puts up 90% of the points Gio has for like 60% of the cash.

The first two years weren't that bad, from a goal-scoring standpoint...28 goals in 61 GP the first season, 29 goals in 82 GP in the second. That was about as many goals as Montreal had any right to expect from him, especially coming off four straight seasons of declining goal totals. He was hurt last season, too early to say what this season will be. If he never had that 48-goal season, he's probably would've been more of $4-4.5 million per year guy. But just like the Devils have found out, UFA is a risky business, in that you're (over)paying guys who are getting older more money (most of them, anyway) than they've ever gotten. Lifetime achievement contracts. Obviously, in a perfect world you have a young guy in your system who is ready to go, so you don't have to bite the bullet and overpay for a guy who may or may not do what he did for his previous team, who may or may not fit in with your system, and who may or may not still have years left in him approaching his previous seasons after turning 30. As far as UFA goes, Gio wasn't that bad of a deal, especially when compared with the Rolston-type disasters.

[ATLL765]

The first two years weren't that bad, from a goal-scoring standpoint...28 goals in 61 GP the first season, 29 goals in 82 GP in the second. That was about as many goals as Montreal had any right to expect from him, especially coming off four straight seasons of declining goal totals. He was hurt last season, too early to say what this season will be. If he never had that 48-goal season, he's probably would've been more of $4-4.5 million per year guy. But just like the Devils have found out, UFA is a risky business, in that you're (over)paying guys who are getting older more money (most of them, anyway) than they've ever gotten. Lifetime achievement contracts. Obviously, in a perfect world you have a young guy in your system who is ready to go, so you don't have to bite the bullet and overpay for a guy who may or may not do what he did for his previous team, who may or may not fit in with your system, and who may or may not still have years left in him approaching his previous seasons after turning 30. As far as UFA goes, Gio wasn't that bad of a deal, especially when compared with the Rolston-type disasters.

Oh, I know it could have been much worse, but still. At the time, they were giving $5M to a guy, who while he had a good 20g-40a-60pt year in 08-09, the previous 2 showed point totals of 45 and 53pts respectively. I just remember hearing he was signed for big $$ and thinking, damn, glad it wasn't us. Even in his past 3 seasons with MTL, he's still only averaged about .5pt/game, he's scored goals a little more than he had here the 3 years prior, but not by much and his point totals are right where they were his whole time in NJ.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Oh, I know it could have been much worse, but still. At the time, they were giving $5M to a guy, who while he had a good 20g-40a-60pt year in 08-09, the previous 2 showed point totals of 45 and 53pts respectively. I just remember hearing he was signed for big $$ and thinking, damn, glad it wasn't us. Even in his past 3 seasons with MTL, he's still only averaged about .5pt/game, he's scored goals a little more than he had here the 3 years prior, but not by much and his point totals are right where they were his whole time in NJ.

First two seasons with Montreal: .754 PPG, .561 PPG...so, in fairness, a bit better than .5 PPG. And he was hurt after the 48-goal season, so that's why he finished with 45 points in 06-07 (in 62 games). The problem with Gio was that he scored 55 goals in his first 90 games after the lockout, and then just 60 in his next 217 games. And in his last season in NJ, he was right around a PPG about 30 games in, then saw his numbers drop off (the Zubes-Elias-Gio line really dropped off in production, though Elias continued to get his points on the power play). That made it really easy in my eyes to let him walk.

And I agree, I didn't want any part of Gio for $5 million per, or for five years. Seemed outrageous to me at the time, but that's how UFA works...overpay for a need and hope it works out.

[caron14]

Man i want to resign zubrus

[snartly]

I can see Malkin going out into FA. He might now want to be second behind Crosby anymore, and want to prove to his "old team" that he can play better.


But it is just a dream