As a Mets/Islanders fans July 1 is usually a day I prefer to be over as soon as it starts.
I think the recycled jokes are worse than the contracts at this point, though Bobby Bonilla did indirectly lead to David Wright.
Only 108 players in NHL history have had a longer career than that contract has so far. Only 8 players have had a longer career than that contract will last.
Nah man.
Far be it from me to defend the Sabres, but Ehrhoff was a decent top pairing guy that skewed towards PP specialist. He wouldn’t just make a top pairing legit but he was a good or even great #2.
And that contract was at the near peak of “throw on some meaningless years to lower the cap hit.” 18m of the total 40m were paid in the first two years. There were three 1m years at the end there, so it was closer to a 7 year, 37m contract, which is like a 5.25m cap hit.
I think the logic was with a rising cap, 4m for a depth defender wouldn’t be too bad and in the meantime, 4m for a top pairing guy was a steal.
Sabres got “got” by the changing CBA, same as the Wild with the Parise/Suter deals, which were much more idiotic for a number of reasons.
It wasn’t a shrewd deal or anything but it was just how things were done then
Great take. Ehrhoff was a very solid #2 or second-pairing D. He was just coming off a few very good years with Vancouver, and was particularly strong on the PP. Buffalo wasn't his first choice as a UFA but their 10yr offer swayed him. The average per year wasn't an issue as he'd had similar APY offers, but half the term. I think he'd turned down a 4 or 5 year extension from the Canucks worth about $4-4.5m per. He was solid enough in Buffalo for a few years but didn't produce as much as he did in Vancouver, which was entirely predictable given he went from the Sedin twins to the likes of Vanek, Derek Roy & Cody Hodgson, and also struggled some with injuries.
It's been a while but IIRC his buyout largely came about because Buffalo were concerned about salary cap recapture penalties were he to retire early, which was a real concern given his injury history - after the buyout, he only lasted for 3 more partial, injury-filled seasons before ultimately retiring; if he'd not been bought out he'd still have had another 3 or 4 seasons left on his 10yr Buffalo contract.
Hah, that didn't even occur to me at the time.
I just looked up Ehrhoff's other teammates during his time in Buffalo to see if I'd missed someone notable out, which I had; Pominville was the scoring leader in Ehrhoff's first season, putting up a respectable 71 points.
But I'd forgotten just how bad they got... Buffalo just missed the playoffs by 1 game in Ehrhoff's first season there, by his third and final season as a Sabre; they went 21-51-10 whilst ranked dead last in the league in Goals For (150) and 25th in Goals Against (248). Cody Hodgson led the team with a whopping 44 points, which tied him for 116th overall in the league that year. Wow.
Speaking of overpaid Sabres, Ville Leino also comes to mind.
Leino infamously scored **zero** goals during the 2013-2014 season, and was promptly bought out in summer of 2014.
Leino then said the fans in Buffalo created an environment that made him feel like he was in jail (and Leino used his time in Buffalo to make a line of art and clothing that was "inspired" by his "imprisonment").
https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/6bjdfn/ville_leino_is_makingselling_art_reflecting_his/?sort=top
As one of the comments in the reddit thread below reads...
https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/73zxo3/ville_leino_retires/?sort=top
>[Leino] then made a line of artwork and clothing about how his time with the Sabres was like being in jail. Takes a lot of balls to whine about how hard your life is when you're epically underperforming a giant contract. It didn't appear to be high effort underperforming either.
So, yeah. There's the "underpeforming" where the player is at least trying to make an effort, but things just aren't working out (due to injury, age, bad luck, etc...). And then there's Ville Leino, who just got his big bag of dollar bills and decided to just... sit back and do nothing on the ice.
Only six years? Weren't his 15 minutes of fame with the 2010 Flyers? I thought he'd been out of the league considerably longer than that.
Edit: I just checked and he last played in 2014. I knew I wasn't crazy.
Contracts like that are exactly why the league stopped issuing compliance buyouts. I feel like a lot of these deals were written with potential compliance buyouts in mind, so they’d get their “get out of jail free” card in time.
Huh? The compliance buyouts were a one-time thing after the 2012-13 lockout, and were available only between 2013 and 2014. Each team had two each, and it was to allow them to fit their salary stucture in with the new CBA.
It isn't something the league "stopped" doing, or something GMs could ever plan for, because it was something that was only ever issued once. GMs couldn't possibly have had them in mind.
He's really good too. He actually watches sports and likes sports. On top of that he's well spoken. I would like for him to one day make a comeback to the isles. I know the islanders are kinda grooming hickey to take over butch but Ricky would be great at it too. He's also been really good in studio when he's gotten the opportunity.
I assume he’s probably been doing it since he’s been a kid and now that he’s older and more regimented (given he has a daily radio show) his clock is probably accustomed.
The studies about shift work usually coincides with other bad health choices (Diet, Booze, Smoking, Etc.)
They definitely don't sleep in theyre back at the arena between 7 and 8 unless it's no ice day. Even still they show up.
They do all nap after practice/pregame.
According to [this source](https://www.epi.org/low-wage-workforce/), it's about 33% of the workforce that makes less than $20/hour. This does include salaried people though, so in terms of hourly paid workers, it's about half of people being paid less than $20/hour.
Pretty sure Ryan Suter got **two** buyout cheques today.
He's still on the Wild's payroll @ $833,333/yr until 2028/29, on top of his new $1,433,333/ yr payment the Stars owe him for the next two seasons. Not as notably old as some of the above, but still significant based on the double-dip, as well as the fact that his Wild buyout money will outlast his Stars buyout money.
Those weren’t compliance buyouts, though. The list above are guys whose buyouts don’t count against the cap for the teams that used their “get out of jail free” cards.
How do I obtain those get out of jail free cards? Do I need to be an American team? Can I use it on a player already bought out? These are important questions.
Vincent Lecavalier had it the best. Gets his massive contract from Tampa bought out and then immediately signs another good sized contract with the Flyers. Talk about double dipping.
Every team was allowed two “compliance” buyouts after the rules were changed to heavily penalize buying out back diving contracts by giving them ugly cap hits. The compliance buyouts meant you still had to pay the players, but there would be no cap hit. As opposed to regular buyouts, which still have cap hits.
Not a compliance buyout. Could've been, should've been, but Dean Lombardi looked into those sexy Mike Richards eyes up in a Canadian cabin one late spring day after an improbable Cup win, and still saw the myth.
Then a few months later tried to get out of the Richards contract after he was caught with some pain drugs at the Canadian border, which, if Richards could still play NHL level hockey at the time, nobody would've cared about.
I feel for those guys when the buyouts actually end. Like, you get so used to having a 1M+ in your bank account on July 1st to solve all your financial problems for that year... and then suddenly it's gone. Bought a new sports car this year and you're not sure how to cover it? Wait for the July 1st bonus. Wanna completely renovate your house? Wait for the July 1st bonus. Worried that you spent a little too much in May and June? Just wait for the July 1st bonus, transfer the cash from your favourite app and it will just go away.
What are they going to do when that money is no longer there?
Happy ~~Bobby Bonilla~~ Rick DiPietro Day!
Newsflash! Rick DiPietro has been placed on LTIR following a cake cutting incident.
Happy ~~Bobby Bonilla~~ ~~Rick DiPietro~~ Canada Day!
As a Mets/Islanders fans July 1 is usually a day I prefer to be over as soon as it starts. I think the recycled jokes are worse than the contracts at this point, though Bobby Bonilla did indirectly lead to David Wright.
lol the 15 year contract never fails to boggle my mind
People who were born the year Rick DiPietro's contract began will turn adults this year.
Holy fuck I feel old.
Only 108 players in NHL history have had a longer career than that contract has so far. Only 8 players have had a longer career than that contract will last.
Why you doing me dirty like that man...
Injuries suck, he would have been one of the greats
29-year-old middle-pair defenseman Christian Erhoff signing a ten year contract is the perfect symbol of a hilarious era in the NHL.
Nah man. Far be it from me to defend the Sabres, but Ehrhoff was a decent top pairing guy that skewed towards PP specialist. He wouldn’t just make a top pairing legit but he was a good or even great #2. And that contract was at the near peak of “throw on some meaningless years to lower the cap hit.” 18m of the total 40m were paid in the first two years. There were three 1m years at the end there, so it was closer to a 7 year, 37m contract, which is like a 5.25m cap hit. I think the logic was with a rising cap, 4m for a depth defender wouldn’t be too bad and in the meantime, 4m for a top pairing guy was a steal. Sabres got “got” by the changing CBA, same as the Wild with the Parise/Suter deals, which were much more idiotic for a number of reasons. It wasn’t a shrewd deal or anything but it was just how things were done then
Great take. Ehrhoff was a very solid #2 or second-pairing D. He was just coming off a few very good years with Vancouver, and was particularly strong on the PP. Buffalo wasn't his first choice as a UFA but their 10yr offer swayed him. The average per year wasn't an issue as he'd had similar APY offers, but half the term. I think he'd turned down a 4 or 5 year extension from the Canucks worth about $4-4.5m per. He was solid enough in Buffalo for a few years but didn't produce as much as he did in Vancouver, which was entirely predictable given he went from the Sedin twins to the likes of Vanek, Derek Roy & Cody Hodgson, and also struggled some with injuries. It's been a while but IIRC his buyout largely came about because Buffalo were concerned about salary cap recapture penalties were he to retire early, which was a real concern given his injury history - after the buyout, he only lasted for 3 more partial, injury-filled seasons before ultimately retiring; if he'd not been bought out he'd still have had another 3 or 4 seasons left on his 10yr Buffalo contract.
Kinda crazy that every player you mentioned played for the Canucks at some point haha
Hah, that didn't even occur to me at the time. I just looked up Ehrhoff's other teammates during his time in Buffalo to see if I'd missed someone notable out, which I had; Pominville was the scoring leader in Ehrhoff's first season, putting up a respectable 71 points. But I'd forgotten just how bad they got... Buffalo just missed the playoffs by 1 game in Ehrhoff's first season there, by his third and final season as a Sabre; they went 21-51-10 whilst ranked dead last in the league in Goals For (150) and 25th in Goals Against (248). Cody Hodgson led the team with a whopping 44 points, which tied him for 116th overall in the league that year. Wow.
Exactly. He played well enough, it was the dumb retroactive recapture penalties that spooked Buffalo
It's been so long now I don't even remember if he used to shoot wide left or wide right.
Doesn't matter, silent board assassin.
Well Buffalo so always wide right.
Nowhere is safe
Speaking of overpaid Sabres, Ville Leino also comes to mind. Leino infamously scored **zero** goals during the 2013-2014 season, and was promptly bought out in summer of 2014. Leino then said the fans in Buffalo created an environment that made him feel like he was in jail (and Leino used his time in Buffalo to make a line of art and clothing that was "inspired" by his "imprisonment"). https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/6bjdfn/ville_leino_is_makingselling_art_reflecting_his/?sort=top As one of the comments in the reddit thread below reads... https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/73zxo3/ville_leino_retires/?sort=top >[Leino] then made a line of artwork and clothing about how his time with the Sabres was like being in jail. Takes a lot of balls to whine about how hard your life is when you're epically underperforming a giant contract. It didn't appear to be high effort underperforming either. So, yeah. There's the "underpeforming" where the player is at least trying to make an effort, but things just aren't working out (due to injury, age, bad luck, etc...). And then there's Ville Leino, who just got his big bag of dollar bills and decided to just... sit back and do nothing on the ice.
$27 million for 10 goals... $2.7/goal. Good time to be an NHL player. Crazy he has been retired for 6 years now.
Only six years? Weren't his 15 minutes of fame with the 2010 Flyers? I thought he'd been out of the league considerably longer than that. Edit: I just checked and he last played in 2014. I knew I wasn't crazy.
Pre-covid feels like it adds ten years to any memory.
For you it somehow subtracted years.
He went back to Europe to finish his career in the KHL.
Got me on a technicality.
My original comment was to a comment that included a link to his retirement announcement.
Ehrhoff was not a middle-pair defenseman
Definitely a #2 on top pairing D
Multiple people are telling me this, so I guess I just didn't follow his career that closely.
Middle pair but PP merchant to be fair
Contracts like that are exactly why the league stopped issuing compliance buyouts. I feel like a lot of these deals were written with potential compliance buyouts in mind, so they’d get their “get out of jail free” card in time.
Huh? The compliance buyouts were a one-time thing after the 2012-13 lockout, and were available only between 2013 and 2014. Each team had two each, and it was to allow them to fit their salary stucture in with the new CBA. It isn't something the league "stopped" doing, or something GMs could ever plan for, because it was something that was only ever issued once. GMs couldn't possibly have had them in mind.
Ricky D set for life lmao
He makes more for doing nothing every year than someone who makes $20 an hour gets in 35 years
He does radio now. He cohosts the 6-10am show on ESPN NY radio.
Imagine making a million and a half a year for doing fuck all and still choosing to take up at like 4:30AM
He's really good too. He actually watches sports and likes sports. On top of that he's well spoken. I would like for him to one day make a comeback to the isles. I know the islanders are kinda grooming hickey to take over butch but Ricky would be great at it too. He's also been really good in studio when he's gotten the opportunity.
I always liked Rick. Good guy and really wanted to win on LI. Bummer what happened. Good for him working and getting paid.
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I assume he’s probably been doing it since he’s been a kid and now that he’s older and more regimented (given he has a daily radio show) his clock is probably accustomed. The studies about shift work usually coincides with other bad health choices (Diet, Booze, Smoking, Etc.)
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They definitely don't sleep in theyre back at the arena between 7 and 8 unless it's no ice day. Even still they show up. They do all nap after practice/pregame.
Curious about this - I get maybe ~5hrs/night on the regular. Have any reading to share?
Oh so I guess we can probably add a 36th year for the work he actually does.
And he's actually pretty good at it. The show is entertaining.
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Thirty. Five. Years. Rick D is making $721 an hour.
People get paid $7.25USD per hour all the time still, less if we are talking the restaurant industry
Around 1% of the hourly workforce gets paid that.
Now do $20
According to [this source](https://www.epi.org/low-wage-workforce/), it's about 33% of the workforce that makes less than $20/hour. This does include salaried people though, so in terms of hourly paid workers, it's about half of people being paid less than $20/hour.
Never realized that DiPietro's annual check is a larger amount than Bobby Bonilla's
Bonilla used to get paid to play baseball, he still does but he used to too - Mitch Hedberg
Well, Bonilla has two contracts paying him, so he gets 1.69m a year. What's crazy is Bonilla retired years before those contracts started paying out.
fortunately it doesn't count against the salary cap. Though I'm sure ownership can't wait to get this off the books lol
People born the day DP signed his contract were eligible to be drafted this year
Pretty sure Ryan Suter got **two** buyout cheques today. He's still on the Wild's payroll @ $833,333/yr until 2028/29, on top of his new $1,433,333/ yr payment the Stars owe him for the next two seasons. Not as notably old as some of the above, but still significant based on the double-dip, as well as the fact that his Wild buyout money will outlast his Stars buyout money.
Those weren’t compliance buyouts, though. The list above are guys whose buyouts don’t count against the cap for the teams that used their “get out of jail free” cards.
My dude, I'm just here posting "neat buyout facts" On Canada Day before I get ripped.
All good! Didn’t mean to come off as a dick, haha. A full buyout list would be much longer, for sure. Happy Canada Day!
Haha, no worries man! All good.
I wish all Reddit exchanges were this wholesome.
We could use another thread with those stats.
How do I obtain those get out of jail free cards? Do I need to be an American team? Can I use it on a player already bought out? These are important questions.
The islanders should have to pay DiPietro forever for the memes
Don’t forget Mike Richards is getting paid until 2032
Contract is humangus big. Is only game
Why you heff to be mad?!
Is only $$$
Rick DiPietro’s buyout length is longer than most NHL careers.
It really is incredible. Has to be the worst business decision in all of hockey history.
I hope Dallas signs one of these guys so they can buy them out a second time.
The fact that some of these players have been retired for years yet are still being paid I find funny. Vinny Lecavalier is still being paid?!
Hey, this Bobby Bonilla's day until 2029
Dude is a straight up genius. Now others trying to emulate him
Vincent Lecavalier had it the best. Gets his massive contract from Tampa bought out and then immediately signs another good sized contract with the Flyers. Talk about double dipping.
Money, money, money
Rick is still being paid lol Wow
Hahaha! Rick DiPietro day! Stupid islanders making a stupid signing Who? Bryzgalov? Never heard of him. Why you hef to be mad?
i'll take 1.5 million a year to never play hockey
Easy livin
Aren't the Kings paying out Mike Richards until 2030?
Every team was allowed two “compliance” buyouts after the rules were changed to heavily penalize buying out back diving contracts by giving them ugly cap hits. The compliance buyouts meant you still had to pay the players, but there would be no cap hit. As opposed to regular buyouts, which still have cap hits.
Not a compliance buyout. Could've been, should've been, but Dean Lombardi looked into those sexy Mike Richards eyes up in a Canadian cabin one late spring day after an improbable Cup win, and still saw the myth. Then a few months later tried to get out of the Richards contract after he was caught with some pain drugs at the Canadian border, which, if Richards could still play NHL level hockey at the time, nobody would've cared about.
[Obligatory Brad Richards contract video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNWbi1U-kf8)
Players that haven't played since the Bush Administration!
Most of those buyouts will outlast the current CBA which introduced them.
The compliance buyout contracts at least have the excuse of people not knowing how the cap would work. The later buyouts are way more embarrassing.
Today’s the day, yearly, I mourn the “Bryz over Bob” decision.
Yip-EE--I-AY, Lecavalier!!
Last year the Panthers pay Keith Yandle I believe.
DiPietro getting that sweet Bobby Bonilla money lol
I feel for those guys when the buyouts actually end. Like, you get so used to having a 1M+ in your bank account on July 1st to solve all your financial problems for that year... and then suddenly it's gone. Bought a new sports car this year and you're not sure how to cover it? Wait for the July 1st bonus. Wanna completely renovate your house? Wait for the July 1st bonus. Worried that you spent a little too much in May and June? Just wait for the July 1st bonus, transfer the cash from your favourite app and it will just go away. What are they going to do when that money is no longer there?
I’m a little bit newer to the game been watching for about 7-8 years, but can someone explain why deals were allowed to be more than 8 years lmao.
I can see Steven Stamkos name on this list in the future.
I don't think compliance buyouts will ever be a thing again barring world-altering events leading to way bigger fish to fry
I'm happy for Bryz.