Hockey

Lane Hutson contract: the Players’ Association didn’t do its job
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Lane Hutson contract: the Players’ Association didn’t do its job
Credit: Twitter screenshot

Lane Hutson signed for slightly less than he was worth. Not much, in my opinion, but he still left money on the table.Why? Because he was tired of negotiating. To leave some for others. Not to be a distraction. For all sorts of reasons, really. So Kent Hughes(who leads by example even though the executives have no payroll) made his point and succeeded, on behalf of the collective, in getting his defenseman signed at a discount under the circumstances.

And on that subject, Martin Leclerc(on the Tellement Hockey podcast) took it from a different angle: what if it's more (partly) the Players' Association's fault?In what sense?Marty Walsh, who heads the NHLPA, seems to be getting the short end of the stick. According to many, he lost out in the latest union negotiations, and he's not great for players' (rights). Martin Leclerc has said (and he's right) that if the Players' Association's leadership were strong, agents who too often let their players sign at a discount would be lectured for leaving money on the table.

Back in the day, Gilles Lupien dropped a client because they wanted to leave money on the table. It's only a short step to making the connection with Martin Brodeur.Why? Because when it comes to negotiating, comparisons abound. And if the best players leave money on the table, it doesn't raise salaries for the others. For the NHLPA, the Stanley Cup is won every year anyway. Leclerc asserts that the NHL is on a 50% revenue-sharing basis, and that players need to realize this. Teams won't spend 100% of the payroll, which sets players back. And the more discounts the guys take, the worse it will be for the players.

We've seen it: some players don't want to sign at full price because they've fully bought into their team's game plan: leave some for others.

This is clearly the case for the Canadiens, who will soon have to sign Ivan Demidov, Zachary Bolduc and (possibly) Mike Matheson. Kent Hughes, who saw Patrice Bergeron sign at a discount when he was his agent, applies the recipe he knows. He explains it to the players when the time comes to negotiate. And fortunately for him and the fans, the guys buy the plan.

I've said it many times: I really respect a player who takes a discount, but I won't criticize a player for going after his full monetary value either.

Andas Martin Leclerc says: how will the Habs players react if an outside guy (Artemi Panarin, for example) comes to town at $14 million a year? Because the CH will always want to spend up to the ceiling, that's a possibility. The Radio-Canada journalist, who recalls that Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin won the Stanley Cup in 2009 by not signing at a discount at the time, wants to see players take advantage of their NHL window to get what they deserve. And above all, they mustn't drive salaries down. In another sphere of society, that would be pretty frowned upon.spacer title='Overtime']- Wow.

– Interesting.

– Oh yeah?

– It's not looking good for the Blue Jays.[BPM Sports] – Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD8xj-8prug

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