On the Dallas Stars …
Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports: Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill on the six-year, $29.5 million contract he gave to goaltender Ben Bishop.
“In the real world, you’d like to do two- or three-year deals. But you know that’s not going to happen,” Nill told Yahoo Sports after the signing. “For him to commit financially the way he did, you have to give something. That’s just part of negotiations. He’s not going to come here for three or four years and $4 million.”
Nill isn’t concerned about Bishop’s injury issues.
Nill will also have to make some other goaltending decisions with Kari Lehtonen scheduled to make $5.9 million next year and Antti Niemi making $4.5 million.
“We think he’s a good fit. And now with the expansion and NHL Drafts coming up, I’ll see whatever moves we can make with the other goalies. There’s a lot of movement of goalies right now. Let’s see where it all lands.”
Nill may prefer to have both Lehtonen and Niemi playing elsewhere next season, but only one will likely be gone. If they can’t trade either, Nill said he has the go ahead from ownership to buy one out.
“If necessary, yeah. I’m not worried about that. We’re in a great cap position,” said Nill.
Dallas Morning News: Interview with Ben Bishop. Bishop on the trade and how they reached a deal quickly and not looking to get more money on the open market.
“When the trade happened, obviously, Dallas was high on the list. When there’s a team that wants you and trades for you in a place you want to be I think it’s easy to come to terms. It’s not always about just going out there maximizing the dollars like you said. I think when there’s a good fit with two sides that want to agree to a deal there’s not much back and forth.”