An Islander for 15 Years?

There were two examples of unusual (one might say ‘radical) thinking in sports management yesterday.

One was the signing of Canucks forward Ryan Kesler to an offer sheet for $1.9 million by that asshat Bobby Clarke. The Canucks will match, of course, but now they get to pay Kesler twice what he’s worth. Plus, Clarke just raised the price point for every young restricted free agent. He’ll have fun trying to sign Mike Richards and Jeff Carter in the next couple of years.

Clarke’s move was unusual, and a panicked response to the retirement of Flyers veteran Keith Primeau. The New York Islanders, however, raised the bar on wacky by signing young goaltender Rick DiPietro to a 15-year deal, the longest in NHL history:

DiPietro, a restricted free agent, reportedly is scheduled to receive $4.5 million US in each season of the deal, which would rank the 24-year-old eighth among NHL goalies for the 2006-07 campaign…

The newspaper also stated DiPietro is guaranteed the full $67.5 million US if he suffers a career-ending injury. However, it’s unclear what would happen if the five-foot-11 puckstopper were to retire before the deal expires.

From Islanders ownership’s perspective, the deal is profoundly weird. Not only do they reduce DiPietro’s motivation (statistically speaking, players play better in the final year of their contract), but they tie their hands if he turns out to be a bust. As somebody in the Canucks newsgroup observed, Islanders owner Charles Wang thinks “signing hockey players is like leasing office space.” Of course, if DiPietro turns out to be superb for New York, he already looks like a good deal.

You can see the appeal from the goalie’s perspective. He can forget about money for the next 15 years. He knows that, at the age of forty, he’ll have earned 67.5 million dollars. In fact, if he invests wisely, he ought to have more like $120 million. Of course, if he took shorter contracts, that $67.5 million might become $80 or $90 million, but do the numbers really matter when you get that high?

It’s not for me, necessarily, but there’s a real security in knowing exactly what you’ll earn over the next 15 years.