Give Me a Reason

Written by Graeme Nichols | 10 June 2009

Okay. So in the past day, there's been a lot of analysis for how this Dany Heatley trade request shakes down. Some media types, like Darren Dreger, will make a pointed effort to comment on the difficulty that Bryan Murray might have in moving Heatley's contract but Don Brennan raised a good point in his blog post last night:

Here's a team that set you up with a very rich, multi-year contract.
Made you the highest paid player in the NHL last season, even though you were nowhere near the best player in the NHL last year, or any year before it. ~ Off the Posts

And it got me thinking, Dany Heatley's contract was heavily frontloaded in the first year of his deal. According to nhlnumbers.com, he earned $10M last season and will earn $8.0 M for the next three seasons before making $6.0M and $5.0M respectively in the last two. So while Dany's cap hit will still average $7.5 M per year, the team that inherits his contract will only be paying him $7.0M/year on average.

For a two time 50-goal scorer who still is only 28 years young, that number's not obscene at all.

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