cassie's blog
Lecavalier signs for 11 years with Tampa Bay
Saturday July 12, 2008 @ 10:01 PM EDT
From a purely business perspective, this is a bad deal for Lecavalier. Unless there are incentives tacked on in the fine print that we don’t get to hear about, of course. The first half of the deal is probably a good deal, but it’s the last few that really aren’t from what I can tell.
However, there’s a lot more to life than just money – regardless of what most people think. It’s obvious, at least to me, that that it’s the intangibles that you can’t put a price tag on that matter a lot to Vinny. It’s apparent that he wants to play his entire career with one team, which is almost unheard of now, and this is his way of ensuring that that will probably happen. I could probably sit here and speculate all day as to why that is, but the fact is that I’ll probably never know.
Going back to that rumor of a 9-year deal, I’d still like to know what the rationale is for such an odd number. Again, I’ll probably never know, but it does make me curious. I noticed that when Ryan Malone signed, he signed a deal until he turned 35. That’s pretty typical, I think. I guess Lecavalier doesn’t think like most people do?
I can see him playing out the contract, too. He’s been relatively healthy, from what I’ve gathered, so probably no chronic injury problems there. But, while I always knew who he was from the time he was drafted, I never really paid all that much attention to him or the Lightning until about a year ago when I moved to Tampa. So I’m a little shaky on his injury history, I have to admit.
He could probably transition his game like Sergei Fedorov has into playing both defense and center. Defense isn’t nearly as physically brutal as playing center is. Usually, anyway. Now that I’m thinking about it, Lecavalier & Fedorov do play a similar game. Vinny just isn’t afraid to fight now and then is the biggest difference, really.
Félicitations Monsieur Lecavalier. Bon chance. And congratulations to the Lightning as well. May it turn out as well as you hope it does.
Tomorrow I’ll be back with what happened last week. I need to sleep off some jet lag, and I should be ready to go. Hopefully this came out coherent for everyone, because while I think it did, my judgement is a little bit suspect at the moment since I’m pretty much in a haze. I’m sure there are a typos galore in this blog, but I don’t want to deal with that right now. Anyways, the Gratton signing, Feaster leaving, and all the rest will be tackled tomorrow. Hopefully.
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4 Comments - 1 Reply
Jagrfan19
Jul 12 2008 23:05
Good blog!
I’m cool with it.
Of course, I’ll admit at the moment I’m still more excited about Ryan Malone being with Tampa now than anything else.
CapsFan8
Jul 12 2008 22:49
11 yr contract?
Long Term contracts are fine when you are in your 20’s but mid-30’s should be at least 4 to 5 yrs, not 11 year for 35 year old. If he retires before his contract is up, it would put the team into binned financial-wise.
cassie
Jul 12 2008 22:13
thank you
that was part of the point i was trying to make, but didn’t.
Cuddlebear
Jul 12 2008 22:07
The deal is what it is...
Most of the long term deals end when or before the player is 35 because the rules on retirment change. It gets risky offering players long contracts after they have reached 35. Probably he will be underpaid in the later years of the contract, as will most of the the other long term contractors. It will be interesting to see if this breeds discontent.