Kevin Allen of USA Today reports that the New York Islanders just signed goaltender Rick DiPietro to a 15-year, $67.5 million deal ("Islanders sign DiPietro to record 15-year deal"). Allen notes that the deal is believed to be the longest term player contract in NHL history, although Wayne Gretzky had a 21-year deal that included some personal service stipulation. There's no service stipulation in DiPietro's deal.
DiPietro's contract runs through the year 2022, and DiPietro will be 40 years old at that time! Allen notes that a 4 or 5 year deal is considered a long term deal in the NHL, and the longest deal signed in the league so far this summer was Patrik Elias's 7-year, $42 million deal with the New Jersey Devils. The GM of the Atlanta Thrashers, Don Waddell, is quite surprised: "It's highly unlikely that you will see teams go beyond that. This is a once-in-a-lifetime contract. Ownership must feel very strongly that he's their guy for the next 15 years."
But when agents are in awe over this contract, I really begin questioning the logic:
I hate making generalizations, and I typically don't like to debate business decisions made by teams, but I question why any team in any sport (that has guaranteed contracts) would lock up any player to a long term contract. First, there are just too many risks involved, and the amount of the investment is just too great in proportion to the risks. Secondly, on long-term deals the team usually ends up paying the player close to the same amount that it would pay him under a short-term deal anyways, but takes on much greater risk. In any other industry, price is typically tied to the amount of risk. Finally, long term contracts in hockey are even riskier than in baseball because, if the team buys out the remainder of the contract prior to the end of the term, the team takes a hit against their salary cap in the amount of the buyout."I would think it's an aberration. I've been a little bit surprised by the length of contracts in general, but this certainly raises the bar. It's mind boggling that anyone would sign a 15-year deal, but hallelujah. My sense of the marketplace was that there was going to be a lot more musical chairs. There would be core players, but everyone else would rotate. Do you really want one player to be your key guy for that length of time? Obviously the Islanders do."
Interestingly, new Islanders GM Garth Snow was the backup goalie behind DiPietro last season, and they are close friends. DiPietro told Allen at the interview: "I was probably more excited than anyone when he became general manager." Yeah, I can see why....
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