A high-profile agent told Sun Media yesterday that the current environment for free agents is “all being orchestrated” by the NHL and the plan all along was to make these players sit to see if they’re willing to sign for less money.
Four weeks into free agency, players like Alex Tanguay, Petr Sykora, Manny Fernandez, Marcus Nilson, Dennis Seidenberg, Dominic Moore, Rhett Warrener, Miroslav Satan, Mathieu Schneider, Robert Lang and Brendan Shanahan have yet to sign.(Source-SunMedia)
The article indicates that role players will have to accept new standards of income far less than they previously enjoyed. The salary cap has made teams hesitate to over-pay like they used to.
Look at a guy like Tanguay, for example. The 28-year-old winger made $5.375 million last season with the Canadiens.
Tanguay, who has had interest from the Oilers, Panthers, Islanders and Lightning, knew he wasn’t going to make that kind of coin on the open market, but the indications are the best offer he’s received has been for $1.2 million a season.
That’s almost an 80% paycut on a deal that would probably only be for a year.