Melnyk's Financial Woes: Melnyk's Budget Edition

SpezDispenser wrote:So no one knows what happened really.  I'll stick to what I first heard: the gentleman's agreement that they reneged on because they didn't want to pay him.

So yeah, about the money.

In this reading, BM is a duplicitous liar with zero respect for his players, who in this case happens to the most beloved Senator of all time. So the same BM who talked Fisher through the trade process and got him his landing place of his choice, is the same GM who tries to pass off a used jalopy for a Ferrari to the guy who is face of the franchise? Does that reading of him square with BM's conduct towards his players for his 7-8 year tenure with this organization? It doesn't for me.

tim1_2 wrote:To say it wasn't about money is just totally naïve.  Of course money played a factor.  He took a hometown discount on a couple of occasions here and "assumed" that he'd get one last contract to finally pay him big bucks.  I think if we had given him a one year contract at $5.5M or $6M everyone would've been happy, but Murray knew that he wouldn't be able to add anyone else of significance (i.e. no Bobby Ryan) so they played hardball knowing Alfie might walk, but assuming he would just take another hometown discount.

Anyway, all we have to offer is speculation...if you actually read the comments from Alfie in the article SSF linked to, it sure sounds like money was the deciding factor.  Alfie's camp originally asked for $7M, we countered with $4.5M, which is silly.  If there had been no #budget concerns, we could've easily paid Alfie $5.5 or $6 AND traded for Bobby R...but then Melnyk came out and said it was one or the other.

What makes that one account the definitive one? Alfie himself said something very different in the immediate wake of the trade. BM and Dorion gave us very different accounts of the event. You can choose to point to this article as the end all and be all of it, but that's a choice you make -- the main players involved, Alfie included, gave very different, conflicting accounts.

Given the way it went down, certainly Alfie was personally upset about something. Perhaps it was the lowball offer. Or perhaps it was an aging superstar facing his last kick at the can, and he wanted the team to spend on him and spend generally to win now, in spite of the fact that his GM told him we were going into rebuild mode in the Spring of 2011 -- and that we could move him to another team if he wanted, but if he stayed here, we would have to stay the course with the rebuild plan.

I can tell you this: I have a friend I work with in my department who is from Shawville and his family and the Murrays have been friends for decades. He knows Tim and Bryan personally, and the two families have dinner together regularly. The few tidbits I have heard from him on this subject do not square with Alfie's in that article, and nor does the charge that BM treated Alfie like dirt accord with BM's conduct throughout his career.

It was a Melnyk/Alfie thing, had nothing to do with anyone else.

This is it. I don't blame BM, I blame Melnyk. I think if it was just up to Murray, Alfie would've been resigned.

I think Murray took things for granted and didn't really voice any kind of opinion or take a side (he should have) and Alfie ended up walking.

tim1_2 wrote:This is it. I don't blame BM, I blame Melnyk. I think if it was just up to Murray, Alfie would've been resigned.

I'm not privy to the exact process of how a deal is done in the Sens org, but I would find it hard to believe that EM plays a big role in the nitty gritty details of any negotiation. I'm sure BM and EM talked together about the finances, and that BM and Alfie talked together about the kinds of contracts they each had in mind, but I find it harder to believe that EM and Alfie were at the table talking about contracts. That is 100% the GM's job.

Now, on this drunken email thing, I don't know anything about that, so I'm all ears on that one.

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:So no one knows what happened really.  I'll stick to what I first heard: the gentleman's agreement that they reneged on because they didn't want to pay him.

So yeah, about the money.

In this reading, BM is a duplicitous liar with zero respect for his players, who in this case happens to the most beloved Senator of all time. So the same BM who talked Fisher through the trade process and got him his landing place of his choice, is the same GM who tries to pass off a used jalopy for a Ferrari to the guy who is face of the franchise? Does that reading of him square with BM's conduct towards his players for his 7-8 year tenure with this organization? It doesn't for me.

Pretty sure this was all between melnyk and Alfredsson. I think melnyk really balked at those prices and reneged leaving Murray twisting in the wind.

tim1_2 wrote:To say it wasn't about money is just totally naïve.  Of course money played a factor.  He took a hometown discount on a couple of occasions here and "assumed" that he'd get one last contract to finally pay him big bucks.  I think if we had given him a one year contract at $5.5M or $6M everyone would've been happy, but Murray knew that he wouldn't be able to add anyone else of significance (i.e. no Bobby Ryan) so they played hardball knowing Alfie might walk, but assuming he would just take another hometown discount.

Anyway, all we have to offer is speculation...if you actually read the comments from Alfie in the article SSF linked to, it sure sounds like money was the deciding factor.  Alfie's camp originally asked for $7M, we countered with $4.5M, which is silly.  If there had been no #budget concerns, we could've easily paid Alfie $5.5 or $6 AND traded for Bobby R...but then Melnyk came out and said it was one or the other.

FWIW, that isn't really what I meant. I may have overstated my position. I don't think this was purely about money. I think the money side probably made the decision easier, but, considering the way this went down, I think Alfie was likely close to moving on to begin with. It sure sounded that way when he was asked if the Sens could come back in the playoffs. I think the contract problems helped him make the decision that he was already close to making.

Again, it's all speculation.