Donnie & Dhali: Rick Dhaliwal on what he’s hearing with Vancouver Canucks pending UFA forward Andrei Kuzmenko.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“He picked the Canucks over 26 other teams. He’s very happy in Vancouver, but when it comes to the contract, this is what I know, Don. His agent, Dan Milstein, which you just said. He’s going to be patient. He’s in no rush. The more points his client racks up, the better for him and his client.
Now keep in mind, Milstein did a bridge deal for Artemi Panarin, two years, $6 million per season. Now a bridge deal could work for Kuzmenko and Vancouver, or an eight-year deal.
In two years Kuzmenko would be 29 years old. The caps going to go up in two years. He’ll have a better number offensively to command a better a deal.
Now, here’s where it gets dicey. Milstein’s concerned about the fact, maybe you can help me out Donnie, this is politics. I don’t know too much about this stuff. Milstein’s concerned about the fact that foreigners can’t buy houses for two years. I think that just kicked in.
The other thing that really hurts the Canucks, and I know the ownership and the team is battling this for years. The foreigners tax on buying a house in Vancouver, I think it’s at 20 percent, that really hurts the players. So it could be a factor in negotiations. We’ll keep an eye on that.”
Don Taylor: “You know, it seems to be a lot people, I know you talk about this a lot, a no-brainer to play in Canada. Want to play in Canada.
But there’s the media pressure. There are, what you were talking about, the restrictions for foreigners buying property now. A lot of people are in favor of that, let’s be honest. That’s a different world. Hockey world, NHL world is different. You’re competing against places like Tennessee and Florida, Texas, where taxes are really low. Property values are really low. Not as many restrictions there. Keep that in mind.
Horvat, Pettersson, Schenn. Pardon me. Horvat, Kuzmenko, Schenn. Who would be most likely to go, do you think?”
Dhaliwal: “I think Horvat. I think Horvat and Kuzmenko are going to affect each other. I mean, how can you afford both.”