The Worst Of The Worst Championship: (1) Rick DiPietro v. (3) Wade Redden
by Scott Reynolds on Apr 4, 2011 10:50 AM MDT
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PrintRick DiPietro obviously would have slaughtered Alexei Yashin, so having Wade Redden pull off the upset might make today's championship match a little bit more interesting (as for tonight, go Butler!). Then again, given DiPietro's dismantling of Vincent Lecavalier in the other semifinal, it might not. In terms of vote numbers, DiPietro has averaged 77.3% of the vote in his three matches, compared to 73.2% for Redden. That makes things look they could be close, but it's possible that Redden's just had a much easier road. I'll make the case for each one after the jump.
Rick DiPietro
I've said three different times that this contract is terrible. The one thing I haven't much considered is the prospect of DiPietro getting back into form and playing well for the Islanders. And with good reason. The injuries he's sustained are debilitating, and at twenty-nine years old, he's already reaching the tail-end of his prime athletic years. On top of that, goaltenders who put up a save percentage of .904 on their first 8,834 shots in the NHL don't then suddenly go on to greatness. If the reason not to vote for DiPietro is that he may yet turn things around, well, it just isn't likely. In fact, it's very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very unlikely.
Wade Redden
So what makes Wade Redden's contract worse than that DiPietro abomination? To me, the only thing that could make it worse is the short-term impact of the deal. For three more years, the Rangers will be hurt more by having Redden's deal than they would be if they had DiPietro's deal. The expense is greater and the cap hit more damaging, and three years is actually a pretty long time. There's enough uncertainty with a new CBA needing to be negotiated that short-term impact ought to take precedence. Looked at in that light, Redden's deal is probably worse.
The Bracket
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This is the best rendition of the “New York, New York” rivalry in ages!
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by Bruce McCurdy on Apr 4, 2011 11:45 AM MDT reply actions 1 recs
Had this been DiPietro vs Yashin I’d have had to pause over the vote button for a second or two before voting for DiPietro, with this match up though it isn’t even close in my opinion.
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This is kinda like the actual NHL, in that the real final was the semis. I bet Lecavalier would “beat” Redden pretty handily.
I still say this should be Levacalier vs. Yashin.
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Yeah, I think so too. He certainly did the best against the DiPietro contract.
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by Scott Reynolds on Apr 4, 2011 12:31 PM MDT up reply actions
It really is remarkable how many really terrible contracts there are in the NHL right now. What’s the total dollar value on those contracts over their term? nearing on 200M, if my guestimations are correct. Really terrible to think about all that money being wasted…
What’s even more remarkable though is how many of those contracts were signed in the Eastern Division. Hell The Dion is even out there now. Eleven of sixteen? That’s putrid!
1 – Would someone be able to an analysis of how much money teams are actually throwing away on some of these players? I mean, it’s clear that the value of Dion’s contract is a hell of a lot better than Yashin’s or Dipietro, but even so – it’s clear that contract is a significant overpay for his production. I’d be really interested to see if how much of an effect the large number of terrible contracts in the east weakens the eastern conference as a whole. simply by having less money to spend on higher-quality players.
2 – If I were with the NHL head office I’d be pushing to ensure that players who are bought out do not have the portion of their salary come out of the active players’ 58% of the league revenues. NHL players should not have to pay out for Mike Milburry’s, Kevin Lowe’s, or any other GM’s mistakes in free agency. I’m sure it would help reduce the likelyhood of any more Kovalchuk contracts.
Dion’s contract isn’t that bad. A FAR better example from the Leafs would be Mike Komisarek.:)
But following your line of thinking regarding the east… It’s an interesting idea, but consider that Tampa (who has 2 of the contracts in this tournament, including one of the worst) is a playoff team who may go deep, and that the Isles also have 2 of the worst contracts in the torunament.
Gomez lost in the first round? Wow. Lots of bad contracts out there.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Apr 4, 2011 4:55 PM MDT reply actions
Redden’s contract is terrible and all… but it’s no DiPietro.
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by Kevin Sellathamby on Apr 4, 2011 5:10 PM MDT reply actions
DiPietro’s an unstoppable machine. A juggernaut.
There’s no way he loses this, nor should he.
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DP gets my vote purely on length alone. Long Island has to put up with him for 10 more years!!
Insert Witty Comment Here
DP will show up on the worst contract list for the next several years and maybe even longer if he is bought out. And even worse will keep NYI from icing a competitive playoff team for years to come.
how do you figure?
Not that it’s not a really bad contract – but you know, they still have $16 million or so to reach the salary cap and a lot of good prospects on the horizon. This contract will hurt them in three or four years trying to resign UFA’s like Tavares and Okposo – not nearly as much short-term. They could also just pull a Redden on the man and bury the contract in Bridgeport when they actually need those $4.5 million.
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Different source of dollars?
From my understanding teams are capable of purchasing insurance against these long term contract dollars.
For example Don Maloney said that his decision not to buy out Kurt Sauer was related to insurance covering those dollars while he is injured, and as a result it is cheaper to keep him on payroll than to buy him out. If someone knows this is flat out wrong, please let me know.
This change of viewpoint would make the Redden contract far worse. It would mean that the islanders are not out of pocket for DP when he is on LTIR, and he has no cap hit. Their worst case scenario is that he comes back and isn’t a very good goaltender.
Redden contract on the other hand is costing NYR real dollars every day he plays in the AHL.
The origination of the contract has to be taken into account as well. DP was a player that was playing well that had surgery after he signed the contract. Redden was a player that had played poorly for 3 years in Ottawa, and was signed to a contract that was far more valuable than his level of play. When he moved to New York, he did not suddenly become a better player. Only Sather thought the redden deal was a good one when it was signed. I’m sure Redden was laughing all the way to the bank.
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