The Details of Meszaros's Deal

The Ottawa Sun is reporting that Meszaros instantly signed a new $4 mil / 6 year deal with the Lightning:

http://www.ottawasun.com/Sports/Senators/2008/08/30/6613771-sun.html

Just wondering how people feel about that contract. It's a little higher per year than I would have liked for the Sens, but that is a long term. I would have been very happy to have Mesz signed at $3.5 mil / 3 years, for instance, so... how far off is this deal? Too much? Too long? Or have the Lightning made a good deal here? How would you have felt if Murray had given this contract to Mesz?

rooneypoo wrote:The Ottawa Sun is reporting that Meszaros instantly signed a new $4 mil / 6 year deal with the Lightning:

http://www.ottawasun.com/Sports/Senators/2008/08/30/6613771-sun.html

Just wondering how people feel about that contract. It's a little higher per year than I would have liked for the Sens, but that is a long term. I would have been very happy to have Mesz signed at $3.5 mil / 3 years, for instance, so... how far off is this deal? Too much? Too long? Or have the Lightning made a good deal here? How would you have felt if Murray had given this contract to Mesz?

If that's true, that's a great contract. But if Murray was gonna offer him 3.5 X 5 years, would he not have gone to 4 million X 6 years?

Hard to understand that.

504Heater wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:The Ottawa Sun is reporting that Meszaros instantly signed a new $4 mil / 6 year deal with the Lightning:

http://www.ottawasun.com/Sports/Senators/2008/08/30/6613771-sun.html

Just wondering how people feel about that contract. It's a little higher per year than I would have liked for the Sens, but that is a long term. I would have been very happy to have Mesz signed at $3.5 mil / 3 years, for instance, so... how far off is this deal? Too much? Too long? Or have the Lightning made a good deal here? How would you have felt if Murray had given this contract to Mesz?

If that's true, that's a great contract. But if Murray was gonna offer him 3.5 X 5 years, would he not have gone to 4 million X 6 years?

Hard to understand that.

Klee (I know, consider the source) says that Bryan offered 2.5 and then 1.8. If that's the case, this Tampa deal is astronomically larger.

That seems like a an ok contract i don't know why Murray wouldn't have signed him to that? There's probably more to the contract that we don't yet.

towelie112 wrote:That seems like a an ok contract i don't know why Murray wouldn't have signed him to that? There's probably more to the contract that we don't yet.

Because he does not think that Meszaros has yet shown that he is worth that much. Do you overpay a guy just because he was drafted by your organization? Usually it's the other way, with a player taking a "home town" discount. When that doesn't happen you've got to think that, perhaps, he's not really the player you thought he was (character-wise). Now, if Murray *did* think that he was worth $4M/year, then by all means sign him.

towelie112 wrote:That seems like a an ok contract i don't know why Murray wouldn't have signed him to that? There's probably more to the contract that we don't yet.

In Murray we trust

wprager wrote:

towelie112 wrote:That seems like a an ok contract i don't know why Murray wouldn't have signed him to that? There's probably more to the contract that we don't yet.

Because he does not think that Meszaros has yet shown that he is worth that much. Do you overpay a guy just because he was drafted by your organization? Usually it's the other way, with a player taking a "home town" discount. When that doesn't happen you've got to think that, perhaps, he's not really the player you thought he was (character-wise). Now, if Murray *did* think that he was worth $4M/year, then by all means sign him.

Ya but Murray was offering 3.5M/year for 5 years so this contract really isn't that big of a stretch but i do have faith in Murray so i think theres more to the contract.

Murray stated publicly that Mez was not offered as much as Philly & the A-Train due to the fact that they were higher in the depth chart & it would send the wrong message to them.

towelie112 wrote:

wprager wrote:

towelie112 wrote:That seems like a an ok contract i don't know why Murray wouldn't have signed him to that? There's probably more to the contract that we don't yet.

Because he does not think that Meszaros has yet shown that he is worth that much. Do you overpay a guy just because he was drafted by your organization? Usually it's the other way, with a player taking a "home town" discount. When that doesn't happen you've got to think that, perhaps, he's not really the player you thought he was (character-wise). Now, if Murray *did* think that he was worth $4M/year, then by all means sign him.

Ya but Murray was offering 3.5M/year for 5 years so this contract really isn't that big of a stretch but i do have faith in Murray so i think theres more to the contract.

murray's trying to build a good locker room, and mez is hardly in that mold

towelie112 wrote:

Ya but Murray was offering 3.5M/year for 5 years so this contract really isn't that big of a stretch but i do have faith in Murray so i think theres more to the contract.

I know that this is what Garriock was reporting, but I can't think that that's the case. If the difference between the two parties was only $500,000 and 1 year, I think we would have reached an agreement back in July and things wouldn't have come to this pass. I tend to think that Murray was offering something in the $2.5 range for 2-3 years, max. There's no way we shipped Mesz out over such a small difference. The negotiating gap had to be much, much bigger.

rooneypoo wrote:

towelie112 wrote:

Ya but Murray was offering 3.5M/year for 5 years so this contract really isn't that big of a stretch but i do have faith in Murray so i think theres more to the contract.

I know that this is what Garriock was reporting, but I can't think that that's the case. If the difference between the two parties was only $500,000 and 1 year, I think we would have reached an agreement back in July and things wouldn't have come to this pass. I tend to think that Murray was offering something in the $2.5 range for 2-3 years, max. There's no way we shipped Mesz out over such a small difference. The negotiating gap had to be much, much bigger.

Honestly Garrioch had been reporting 3.5 to 4.5 since the season ended. He couldn't pry himself away from the buffet long enough to make up something different. I am sure that Murray was offering 3 or less. He wasn't going to hand Mes a deal that eclipsed both Volchenkov and Phillips when they are clearly more valuable to the team.

4 million for six years isn't that bad of a deal ASSUMING he starts to find his form again. On the other hand if he gets paired up with Matt 'Poke Check' Carle, he might never get out of his own zone long enough to do anything offensive with the puck.

rooneypoo wrote:

towelie112 wrote:

Ya but Murray was offering 3.5M/year for 5 years so this contract really isn't that big of a stretch but i do have faith in Murray so i think theres more to the contract.

I know that this is what Garriock was reporting, but I can't think that that's the case. If the difference between the two parties was only $500,000 and 1 year, I think we would have reached an agreement back in July and things wouldn't have come to this pass. I tend to think that Murray was offering something in the $2.5 range for 2-3 years, max. There's no way we shipped Mesz out over such a small difference. The negotiating gap had to be much, much bigger.

Again: Its Wang....thats all that really needs to be said.
Someone on this site or another said, after the trade, that Murray had offered as much as 2.2-2.3 million and gave a final number of 1.8 as his "take it or leave it" contract offer. Personally, I will take the word of this completely anonymous poster over Wang because the anonymous posters numbers actually make sense...
Murray said he wouldn't feel right about paying Mez more than Phillips and Volchie (which, ironically, Wang quoted in his own article) yet we're left to believe that he offered as much as Phillips makes, on a long-term contract, to him? Are you kidding me? And then Mez turns around and signs a contract for .5M more, somewhere else? Nope. Not buying it.
Personally, I know pretty much everything about this team (other than all of the inner workings) and I cannot read an article written by that know-nothing fool without finding multiple erroroneous statements, falsities, and simple mistakes.
I can only imagine what it would be like for one the Murray's or Eugene or Mlakar to suffer through that garbage.

I honestly think that Garrioch makes his articles up. Not only does he make them up, but the few legitimate facts he presents (ie. contract terms/salary, etc...) are erroneous. The guy is a failure of a journalist, and I for one am uncertain how he remains in the employ of a newspaper that is trying to gain credibility in the city behind the Ottawa Citizen and the Globe and Mail. Baffling...

PKC wrote:I honestly think that Garrioch makes his articles up. Not only does he make them up, but the few legitimate facts he presents (ie. contract terms/salary, etc...) are erroneous. The guy is a failure of a journalist, and I for one am uncertain how he remains in the employ of a newspaper that is trying to gain credibility in the city behind the Ottawa Citizen and the Globe and Mail. Baffling...

The whole newspaper is just tabloid news. None of their reporters, in any division, actually cover stories...they report the simplest of facts on the most complicated of issues and present boneheaded opinions and bias.
Its nothing more than toilet paper and I wish it would just go away.
(and I doubt that a newspaper with "Sunshine girls" is all that worried about credibility)