The Offseason of the One-Year Contract
The 2010 National Hockey League (NHL) offseason did not feature the high-profile unrestricted free agents (UFAs) hockey fans are used to. Instead, there were a couple of big names, most of which re-signed with their clubs. The news has been so slow since mid-July that everyone has followed the Ilya Kovalchuk saga, going through it with a fine-tooth comb.
The lack of unrestricted free agents opened the door for the media to focus on the impressive number of restricted free agents (RFAs) spread throughout the league. With the introduction of the salary cap after the NHL lock-out, rookies and youngsters have been more and more important to their team’s success. This has caused an influx of youngsters into the league, many of which have gone on to become very successful.
This recent advancement has brought about the growth of the restricted free agent, and it has made it more important for NHL clubs to try and lock up these young players for the long-term before they become unrestricted free agents down the line. In addition, clubs try and sign these young-stars before arbitration hearings when the power to negotiate is out of their hands.
This off-season has been the year of the one-year contract. Teams signing their restricted free agent to short one-year deals that generally pay out slightly too much. The most glaring fact is that most of these signings are happening as soon as minutes before arbitration hearings are set to go.
Why so many one year deals?
The most obvious reason for teams to sign these restricted free agents is simply because they cannot come to terms on a long-term deal. Both sides are not able to negotiate a plan that will keep the player in the city for an extended period.
The short-term deals can also be attributed to skilled young players not wanting to get weighed down by a team early in their career. 20 year-old players used to sign long-term deals in fear of not getting another offer, or not getting a real shot in the NHL. However, by age 21 or 22, most skilled players have already enjoyed a season in the league and have made a name for themselves. They also understand that there is some demand for their service and want to test the open market. The one-year contract gets them out on the open market as fast as possible, where they can really capitalize on their value.
General Managers (GMs) around the league have become aware of this fact. They know they cannot afford to lose such promising young skaters, and the one-year contract is an easy way to hold on to them for the season, in turn, giving coaches more time to convince the player to stay.
In addition, GMs do not want to risk an arbitration hearing. Last year, the New York Rangers learned this first hand as Nikolai Zherdev took the team to arbitration and won a $3 million plus reward. The Rangers refused to match the reward and Zherdev went back to Russia.
If teams refuse to match the arbitrators suggested salary, the player becomes a full-fledged unrestricted free agent and can sign anywhere. This is a scary thought considering how close to the cap many teams in the NHL are. One large settlement can throw off a GMs finely laid out plans.
With so many young restricted free agents signing one-year deals, the league is going to experience a massive influx of free agents next season, many of them young. It could be one of the first off-seasons in which the majority of players up for grabs are under 25 years-old.
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