The Great Goalie Search has always befuddled Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider. From Roman (The Bi-Polar Goaler) Cechmanek to Ilya (Mr. Universe) Bryzgalov, the Flyers have sunk more money into dysfunctional goalies than the Canadian government has sunk into outdated submarines.
A couple of years ago the Flyers had a kid named Sergei Bobrovsky, but he couldn’t take the crease from Bryzgalov, who had “earned” a nine-year, $51-million deal from Philly. So Bobrovsky went to Columbus, where he won the Vezina.
After two years of the Bryzgalov contract Snider had seen enough, and the Flyers will pay the flaky netminder $23 million over the next 14 years as punishment for yet another goalie miss in Philadelphia. How could an organization possibly be so wrong?
Well, that brings us to Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gillis, doesn’t it?
How would you like to be the GM who walked onto the job in April 2008, having been furnished with both Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider by previous Canucks administrations?
There is no possible way you could mess that up, right?
Well, clearly, this whole misunderstanding could have happened to anybody.
“I can’t look into a crystal ball,” Gillis said over the weekend, mounting a spirited self-defence on how the richest goaltending cache in the National Hockey League has devolved into satire.
“Obviously, we had an established player (Luongo) with a no-trade (clause) who had to participate in a trade. We had a changing landscape with a lockout and new CBA. If I had a crystal ball, would we have done things quicker or earlier? I don’t know. Maybe. But I don’t have one. If you have one, let me know.”
Would a crystal ball have warned Gillis not to sign Luongo to that lifetime contract three seasons ago? Or not to make him the Canucks captain?
Well, we wrote this just over 14 months ago, without aid of crystal ball or eye of newt:
“By giving Luongo that ridiculously long contract (12 years, $64 million with no-trade clause), and then the ill-fated captaincy, Gillis over-termed Luongo and greased the skids for his exit in Vancouver. Now that it’s time to move Luongo, the GM will be hard-pressed to get value for an asset of this magnitude. He’ll have a very short list of teams and scant few trading options, a scenario that always works against the seller.”
The fact lifetime contracts were still legal under the collective bargaining agreement is as weak a defence as we can think of. Lots of things in life are legal, yet at the same time foolhardy.
Have we heard New York Islanders owner Charles Wang use that line of reasoning this week, as he stroked the 16 cheques for $1.5 million annually, required to execute the buyout of the worst contract in NHL history?
Yes, the NHL made Luongo’s contract even less palatable when it forged the new CBA. The “cap recapture” element ensures that teams can’t get off the hook on a long-term deal when the player ages.
But when did it become good business to sign a No. 1 goalie through age 43? Did we require a “crystal ball” to know that, if anything ever went sideways, that it would be hard to move that contract?
In the end, it’s up to Luongo to suck it up and return to Vancouver in the role for which he is being paid. He is party to that contract that Gillis offered and shares in all risks equally. He cannot shed his responsibility to earn the big money he is being paid by Vancouver.
If Luongo’s feelings are irreparably injured by this fiasco, then let him do what Tim Thomas did. Take some time away from the game. Get his head on straight.
The difference is, of course, while Thomas can now return as an unrestricted free agent, Luongo and Gillis are tied together until 2022.
Or, at least, Luongo will be a Canuck until then.
As for Gillis, his team vitally needs some new, effective blood. And defenceman Keith Ballard has cleared waivers, another attempt at divesting himself of a bad contract.
Of course, who could have known that dealing for the overpaid defenceman who couldn’t even make Alain Vigneault’s Top 6 on most nights was a bad idea?
What do you think? That Gillis has a crystal ball or something?