Shopping spree

Sporting News, The, June 11, 2001 by Larry Wigge

Never has the free-agent crop been so rich--and it all begins with the Avalanche and Devils

Avalanche center Joe Sakic didn't sound like a man who planned on leaving as he at next to goaltender Patrick Roy during e Stanley Cup finals. Roy was talking about how his career was nearing its end, so Sakic, an unrestricted free agent, was asked whether his time with the Avs was coming to a close as well.

"This is my home," Sakic says. "I've grown in this organization, my family has been raised with this team, and I'd like to finish my career here."

He wants to stay, but the 31-year-old captain also wants a no-trade clause in any long-term deal he signs. When G.M. Pierre Lacroix wouldn't give him such a clause before this season, Sakic signed a one-year $7.9 million contract with a $100,000 bonus if the Avs made the playoffs.

To his credit, Sakic hasn't allowed the uncertain situation to affect him on the ice. His 54 goals and 64 assists in 82 regular-season games gained him THE SPORTING NEWS' Player of the Year honor in a vote by NHL players. Sakic's 12 goals and 10 assists through 16 playoff games put him in a position to reap a big payday.

Whispers are that the Stars have put together a five-year, $52 million contract offer for Sakic. And the Blues, Rangers and Canucks are also in line.

Because the Avalanche is committed to $11 million to center Peter Forsberg along with the option to re-sign defenseman Ray Bourque at $5.5 million for next season, the push to re-sign unrestricted free agents Sakic, Roy and defenseman Rob Blake has turned into something out of a soap opera since Blake arrived in a trade from Hollywood in March.

Blake says he's not looking at the Stanley Cup finals as a win-it-all-or-break-up-the-team scenario.

"Since I got here, it's been a commitment to winning the Stanley Cup and not, `Do you want to be a multimillionaire?' "Blake says. "Oh, there are questions about the future of the team because of all of these players here who could make between $8 million and $10 million here next year. But the business we've dealt with so far was a commitment to winning, not a course in economics.

"I can't speak for any of the other guys, but this is exactly the kind of situation I've been looking for. I remember how much fun it was in L.A. in 1993 when we got to the finals. Every other year, however, the Kings went into the playoffs just looking for an upset.

"Having a chance to win it all gives you assurances of satisfaction. Clearly, if the dollars are close, I'll take less to stay in Denver."

When the season began, the Avalanche had a payroll of $50.5 million. That was before Blake ($5.2 million) and rookie Steven Reinprecht ($400,000) were obtained from the Kings for veterans Adam Deadmarsh ($2.5 million) and Aaron Miller ($900,000), increasing the current payroll to $52.7 million.

"After my first year here in 1995-96, when we won the Stanley Cup," Lacroix says, "we determined that we had six core players, and we wouldn't touch them. We would continue to build, not rebuild, with our current and future draft choices.

"That game plan hasn't changed, and it has allowed us to keep our payroll within reason, minus changes in the market, where salaries are out of our control."

Lacroix says the team has added to its core group of players of Roy, Sakic, Forsberg, defenseman Adam Foote and the since-traded Deadmarsh by tying up youngsters Milan Hejduk and Chris Drury, with Alex Tanguay's new deal in the works.

Despite naysayers who think Lacroix must clean house because his payroll is likely to grow to $65 million this summer, the truth is that he is a master at cost management. It's more likely he will trade Forsberg since the team has been able to do so well without the oft-injured center (6-3 in the playoffs through Game 4), and there are enough teams that would pay a king's ransom for a player of his ability.

That's the solution.

Down the hallway at the Cup finals, it was a different story. The Devils' payroll stood 13th in the 30-team league at the start of the season at $35.7 million. That was before Jason Arnott and Scott Niedermayer agreed to new contracts and defenseman Sean O'Donnell was brought in, bumping that number up to close to $40 million.

O'Donnell and Alexander Mogilny are unrestricted free agents and Sergei Brylin, Bobby Holik and Petr Sykora are restricted free agents who deserve a raise.

"It's a case of paying a player the dollar figure for results comparable to that number," Devils G.M. Lou Lamoriello says. "I've found that you don't overpay and keep a team committed to winning--or keep your budget under control."

Which means Mogilny (at $5.2 million, of which Vancouver has paid more than $1 million the past two seasons) won't be priced above Martin Brodeur at $4.7 million or Scott Stevens at $4.2 million.

So you can expect to see Mogilny wind up elsewhere, probably on a line with Sergei Fedorov in Detroit.

A restricted future

A few teams have the most work to do in signing their restricted free agents in the offseason.