The NHL free agency period that saw Dale Hawerchuk and Geoff Courtnall sign with the St. Louis Blues featured a big boost in contract values coming out of a lockout.
Vol. 48, No. 41, Sept. 8, 1995The NHL’s free agency period kicked off Monday with an avalanche of player signings. And although more than $1.2 billion of contract dollars were handed out on Day 1, per capfriendly.com, there has been a long history of big names switching teams.
In this major story from The Hockey News’ Sept. 8, 1995, edition (Volume 48, Issue 41), then-writer Mark Brender broke down the big paydays to some of the NHL’s top talents for hire on the UFA front .
(This is our friendly reminder: to access The Hockey News Archive, go to THN.com/Free and subscribe to our magazine.)
What seemed like massive payouts for players some 29 years ago now seem like a fraction of the financial puzzle for teams. The late Dale Hawerchuk got a three-year, $7.5-million deal from the St. Louis Blues. The Blues also signed star winger Geoff Courtnall to a three-year, $6.6 million contract, while longtime Calgary Flames forward Joel Otto got a three-year, $5.4-million contract from the Philadelphia Flyers. Even veteran agents were somewhat shocked by the verve with which teams pursued UFA talents.
“I was surprised because with the lockout and everything, I thought things would slow down a bit,” said agent Marvin Goldblatt, who negotiated defenseman Bruce Driver’s three-year, $3.9-million contract with the New York Rangers. “As far as I can see, nothing’s changed.”
Teams at that point like the Blues were happy to throw money at available talent, and many agents presumed the mania surrounding the free agent market wouldn’t slow down.
“I think if St. Louis is successful, and I think they will be, you’ll see a lot of teams lining up to sign these guys for big money,” said Mike Gillis, Geoff Courtnall’s agent. “It’s the only way you can insert 35 goals into your lineup without giving up anything.”
FREE AGENCY BOON FOR TALENTED VETS
Vol. 48, No. 41, Sept. 8, 1995
By Mark Brender
One of the players’ goals during talks for the new collective bargaining agreement was more money and more movement for veterans.
They wanted it, they got it.
The first year of unrestricted Group III free agency for players 32 and over was, for many, an enriching experience.
Check out these numbers: Dale Hawerchuk, $7.5 million over three years. Geoff Courtnall, $6.6 million over three years. Joel Otto, $5.4 million over three years.
All three players changed teams and went to contenders — Hawerchuk and Courtnall to the St. Louis Blues, Otto to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Of the 16 players who became the first-ever Group III unrestricted free agents, six had signed contracts, three more were expected to follow and four had or were expected to retire.
Only the futures of wingers Mark Osborne, 33, Gaetan Duchesne, 32, and Glenn Anderson, 34, were uncertain.
A bumper crop of Group V unrestricted free agents — players with 10 years of professional experience whose contracts expired and earned less than $733,000 (the 1994-95 league average) — helped contribute to a summer in which older players with diversified talents were rewarded handsomely.
Checkers Brian Noonan and Bob Bassen, who scored 26 goals between them last season, will each earn close to $1 million per season over the next three and four years, respectively, with the New York Rangers and Dallas Stars.
The Hockey News tracked 58 unrestricted free agents who were NHL regulars last season. Thirty had signed NHL contracts by late August, only one by a Canadian team - Sylvain Turgeon by the Ottawa Senators.
That includes Group HI, Group V, Group VI (25 and older with three pro seasons, but limited NHL experience) and players who played out termination contracts. Here’s what you need to know about the 30 contracts in terms of money, movement and term:
- Money: Collectively, the 30 players had their salaries increased by an average of $343,000 (U.S.) per season. The biggest increase went to those in Group III. The six players who signed had an annual average increase of $589,000 to take them to $1.492 million (U.S.).
Courtnall, who went from $650,000 (U.S.) in his last year with Vancouver Canucks to a three-year deal worth $2.2 million a season with the Blues (a $1.65-million jump), had the biggest increase in salary.
Calgary Flames’-turned-Flyers’ center Otto rose from $550,000 to $1.8 million, a $1.25-million jump.
“I was surprised because with the lockout and everything, I thought things would slow down a bit,” said agent Marvin Goldblatt, who negotiated a three-year, $3.9-million contract with the New York Rangers for free-agent defenseman Bruce Driver. “As far as I can see, nothing’s changed.”
Four players took pay cuts, led by Grant Fuhr’s drop of $990,000.
BLUES ONCE AGAIN LEAD PAY PARADE
- Movement: Fifteen of the 30 players signed with new teams - four with the Blues, three with the Rangers, two each with the Flyers and Colorado Avalanche and one each with the Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks, Hartford Whalers and Dallas.
Compare that to the situations of more than 140 restricted free agents. Only two Group II players had signed offer sheets — Edmonton Oilers’ left winger Shayne Corson with the Blues and Detroit Red Wings’ left winger Stu Grimson with the Rangers.
Corson eventually was traded to the St. Louis, but Grimson remained in Detroit when the Wings matched the Rangers’ offer.
- Term: Some of the less talented unrestricted free agents accepted one-year contracts, but the elite found the security of multi-year contracts despite their age and, in Hawerchuk’s case, recent injuries. Of the 14 contracts above $675,000, only two were for two years; the rest were for three or four years. Thirty-six-year-old defenseman Kjell Samuelsson will receive $1.4 million each of the next two seasons with Philadelphia.
There are exceptions.
It was a summer of uncertainty for 38-year-old former Pittsburgh Penguins’ right winger Joey Mullen, who had 16 goals and 37 points in 45 games last season, but waited anxiously for the phone to ring as training camp neared. The highest-scoring American ever had reportedly received an offer from Dallas.
“(The market) can’t be that good if I’m still sitting here,” Mullen said. “It’s not like I’m asking for three or four years. A lot of these guys, it’s all coming from the same team.”
That, of course, would be the Blues, the leaders among clubs who believe pursuing free agents is a sound method to turn a solid team into a great one.
“I think if St. Louis is successful, and I think they will be, you’ll see a lot of teams lining up to sign these guys for big money,” said Mike Gillis, Courtnall’s agent. “It’s the only way you can insert 35 goals into your line-up without giving up anything.”
Meanwhile, back-room grumbling continues among teams who decry the salary-escalating tendencies of teams that believe in, what one league executive called, “the kamikaze school of economics.”
The trickle-down of 32-and-over free agency hits all teams who want to hang on to aging, but valuable talent.
“If you want to keep a player who has the opportunity to enter Group V or Group III you’ve got to pay him through it,” said Toronto Maple Leafs’ assistant GM Bill Watters.
The Hockey News Archive is a vault of more than 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 articles exclusively for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until today. Visit the archives at THN.com/archive and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com