DAILY RUMORS: Canadiens Interest in Mitchell and Carey Price Only Seeking a Two-Year Contract
BDGallof | Aug 19, 2010 | Comments 0
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Given the dire dearth of quality defensemen still available in this summer’s unrestricted free agent market it should come as little surprise former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell is getting plenty of attention of late.
Mitchell was considered one of the better defensive blueliners until a devastating concussion forced him to miss the second half of last season.
Now given a clean bill of health Mitchell is starting to garner attention from teams like Washington, San Jose, Los Angeles, and yes, even his former team, the Canucks.
“Eklund” of Hockeybuzz.com claimed the Montreal Canadiens were also jumping into the bidding:
“Then this morning enter the Canadiens…They are losing Paul Mara, and realizing their size on the defensive side of things may have been their downfall in the Philly series, they are now also interested in Willie Mitchell.”
Ok, a couple of points.
First, the Canadiens aren’t “losing” Mara. It was a conscious decision not to re-sign him after he missed most of last season with injuries plus the fact the Habs had limited salary cap space this summer and needed to re-sign Tomas Plekanec and Carey Price.
Second, the Habs currently have just over $4 million in available cap space and two more players left to sign to ice a full roster next season…with Price being the most notable unsigned.
Figure it could cost between $2.5-$3 million per season to sign Price and suddenly that doesn’t leave much cap space left for the Habs to comfortably sign a defenseman like Mitchell (who made $3.5 million last season and might seek as much if not more) and still leave enough wiggle room for the upcoming season.
Granted, the Habs will start the season with Andrei Markov on the sidelines for probably a couple of months, which would give them the room in the short term, but Markov’s an offensive blueliner, Mitchell a defensive one, so that match isn’t really a good one.
The Canadiens are allowed to spend over the cap during the off-season by up to ten percent but at this stage in the off-season they’re probably not looking to take on more salary than they have to.
If the Canadiens were looking for a defenseman, surely it would be someone who could bolster their power-play, like Marc-Andre Bergeron, whom they signed last fall under similar circumstances.
Pursuing a defensive d-man like Mitchell doesn’t address that problem, and having him eat up valuable cap space doesn’t help matters either.
As an aside, in the same article Eklund asked the following question about Price:
The two sides are apart on years. Price wants a one year deal, maybe two, while the Canadiens are looking upward of five. My question is “When does a goalie in the situation Price is in ever want LESS Years?” Price has NOT proven himself, and yet has been handed the keys to one of the premiere franchises in all of sports…and he want LESS years???
Yes, because Price realizes he’s in a position over the next two years where he can “prove himself”, meaning it’ll give him more bargaining power then to secure himself an even better long-term deal rather than locking himself into a five-year contract which could end up paying him considerably less than his true worth by the final three years of the deal.
Price will be turning 27 in August 2012, meaning he’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights by then…provided there’s been no significant changes to the CBA covering players like him by then.
A two-year deal not only gives Price the opportunity to control his future, it’s also insurance should there are significant changes in the next CBA.
Lyle Richardson
Filed Under: Featured • Featured Rumors • Lyle Richardson • Montreal Canadiens • NHL
