Salary Comparables to 83

Looking at the deal that was recently agreed upon, I look at other situations of guys signing for money within the same viscinity of Hemsky's $5 million cap hit. I like how they compare...

Brian Gionta - 5

GP31, G8-A7-P15, -7

Previous 2 seasons the Habs captain scored 28 and 29 goals respectively, this year hasn't gone so good for him, or the team. The stage he's at in his career looks to be a ~50 point player.

Signed his current contract in 2009/2010 - a 5 year, $25 million deal, the season after he put up 46 points...

Montreal was paying for goal scoring and leadership and the got it the first 2 seasons, this season doesn't look as good, but that's what you get with longer term deals, a bigger gamble. Another thing, he was UFA eligible, which makes a huge difference in leverage.

Marian Hossa - 5.233
GP61, G24-A35-P59, +22
Marian Hossa signed a cap circumventing contract, so I suppose this isn't a very good comparable, but there are similarities. He was signed as a UFA and he is also an elite RW, having played in this years all star game. Hossa is a solid two-way winger. 7 of 12 years of Hossa's contract have a salary of $7.9 million. You think Hemsky was over paid? You're wrong. Hossa is better than Hemsky, but Hossa was paid accordingly and Hemsky was also paid accordingly. Hossa got his pay day here.

Martin Havlat - 5
GP26, G2-A13-P15, +8
Martin Havlat had a string of injury plagued seasons until 2008/2009, the year before he signed his deal, he signed a 6 year deal at $5 million per. The same cap hit as Hemsky, but longer term. Havlat signed the deal healthy, but this year he is back to the norm. He's hurt.

James Neal - 5
GP61, G30-A30-P60
James Neal has never scored under 20 goals in his career, but this year he is scoring even more. Playing with the best player in the NHL (Malkin) helps tremendously. James Neal signed this deal as an RFA, a 6 year, $30 million dollar deal, and it looks good for him. He's got term and money, let's hope this season isn't a fluke.

Tuomo Ruutu - 4.75
GP57, G13-A17-P30, +3
Tuomo Ruutu was destined to enter Free Agency this summer. His name had also been circling around trade rumors constantly. Carolina couldn't find a return they thought was fair so they signed him to an extension.... A 4 year, $19 million deal. He's a solid second liner who will give you 20 goals and remain around even in plus/minus. He was signed to this deal because he probably would have received this anyway. It's questionable that this was a good deal for Carolina.

This brings us to Ales Hemsky, looking at this season makes his deal look bad, but we're not that stupid, right? 422 points in 538 games is a very good total, but instead of looking at the biggest sample size possible, because looking at all the data is like cherry-picking stats, we're going to look at his worst statistical year ever, and it happens to be this year. Wow, Tambellini, you're paying a guy $1 million a goal!!! What a brutal deal! Shut the fuck up. Ales Hemsky is a beast and is a better even strength player than 90% of the NHL. Looking at the guys mentioned above, this deal seems perfect. He's injury prone!! The deals only 2 years, so if he ruins his shoulder permanently we get out of it right away. It doesn't justify the points production!! The Pittsburgh Penguins are paying over $4 million a goal for Sidney Crosby... Ales Hemsky is going to give you someone who can play a power vs power role and put up 0.9+ PPG. 5 large for that is money well spent, money damn well spent. He takes time away from Eberle!!!! No, he keeps Eberle away from guys who will murder him at even strength... Eberle should buy Hemsky dinner once a week.

What we have here is Edmonton not pissing away talent in its prime to Free Agency. Fans of this team aren't used to that and this is why so many people are confused. They also think that $5 million is like it was when the cap was $39 million. Sorry, it's not. Hemsky's cap hit is actually less of a percentage of the cap than it was with his old deal. Suck on that, haters.

Tambellini isn't completely inept after all, he needs to be more aggressive for everything going forward. We need to have rocket improvements for next year. We need him to be a competent General Manager.

Shit, or get off the pot.