If you take a look at all the players who are currently scheduled to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the season, big names like Marc Savard, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Patrick Marleau come to mind. However, if you watched TSN’s broadcast between Columbus and Montreal on Tuesday night, you might be wondering if Tomas Plekanec’s name belongs with the ones above.
Is Tomas Plekanec classy enough for $5 Million/season?
Throughout the game, Plekanec was constantly mentioned as a potential UFA this summer and while he’s guaranteed to get a raise on the $2.75 Million salary he’s making this year, is he really worth $5 Million per year or more? I think I even heard Gord Miller saying that Plekanec could be in line to double his salary next season! Whoa! Let’s take a closer look at this, because something doesn’t sound right
Plekanec has scored 20+ goals in each of the past three seasons and his best season was in 2007-2008 where he scored 29 goals and 69 points. He’s also had a strong start to the season and is on pace for 82 points. All this sounds good and you might be able to make a case that he’s worth $5 Million a year, especially if he continues his strong play this year and can hit 80+ points.
But here’s the catch – when you pay a centre $5 or $5.5 Million per season, he’s going to be your #1 centre. Unless you’re Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. Having said that, can you really see Plekanec as a first line centre? I can’t, and that’s not meant to be insulting. I see Plekanec as a solid second line player who can be counted on to score around 50 points a year, maybe 60 or 70 if he gets really hot. Outside of his career year, Plekanec’s next best season was a 47 point effort. Plekanec’s playoff record is mediocre at best too. He’s put up 13 points in 21 games, but is -4 during those games, including being held off the scoresheet in all three of his post-season games last April. That’s not worth $5 Million a year.
In terms of comparables, when you look at other centres who are of similar age to Plekanec, 26, the picture becomes much clearer. Ryan Getzlaf has a current cap hit of $5.3 Million, while Mike Ribeiro has a $5 Million cap hit. Daymond Langkow has a cap hit of $4.5 Million and Brad Boyes salary comes in at a cap hit of $4 Million. All of these players have scored more than 69 points in a season, and I’d take any one of these players at their current salary than Plekanec at $5 Million. In my mind, these players are all a notch above him.
The bottom line is that Plekanec is probably worth $3.5-4 Million per season but I’m sure there’s a team out there willing to pay more than that. The big question now is how much is Bob Gainey willing to shell out to keep his #2 centre. If it were me, I wouldn’t be willing to go above $4 Million per season. If you do, you’re basically setting this guy up to fail because the expectations will be way too high. Plekanec is a good player, but he’s not a $5 Million kind of player. He’s not that good.
Your Reporter in the Field,
Fantana
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Pleky IS that good. I truly believe last year was the anomaly, not this year and two years ago. And organizations need two really good centers if they want to compete.
Problem is that we already have that makes over 7 million, so it’s hard to spend too much money on a second line center.
Solution? Front loaded, long term (5 or 6 years) deal that will pay him more money in the first few years than it will later one, a deal that will average out to about 3.5 million. Can Gainey let go of his old school mentality of straight line deals where players make the same amount every season? If so, he can get this done. Pleky wants this done, and he wants to stay here, no reason not to do it.
Prax
http://www.thecheckingline.com
Bang on Fantana! I am a Habs fan and I think Plekz is having a great start to this year, but lets not get carried away. 20 games does not make a career and he has to prove he can do this in the big games.
In saying that, I think he is a great 2nd line center if you can get him for the 4 MM price tag, but more then that I would let him go. Mr. Gainey should throw the feeler out there to the Plekanec’s camp and see what they are thinking. Wouldn’t that help with his decision?
In saying that, I really hope he keeps it going, but I am still not sold.
Good post.
Plekanec deserves a raise, no doubt about it. He is a solid #2 center with the ability to step in to the #1 spot should injury occur.
Are there a bunch of free agents this summer that could be appealing? Yes, but I wouldn’t sacrifice a first dibs discount on Plekz to hope to have room on any of them. Free agency in Montreal is even more of a shot in the dark than other teams. Plekz is part of this team’s plan i believe so why not solidify that?
This team (much like Stalin) is based on a 5 year plan. So give Plekz 4 years at 3.75-4.25 million to go along with the rest of the core (Cammi, Gomez, Gionta etc.)
I believe he is valuable and that he is realistic about his worth\where he wants to play. If its here he will take something in 4 million range. I can’t understand why a player would want an extra 500,000$ or so to switch dressing rooms but not really change chances at a cup.
We shall see… assuming he isn’t injured of course
@ Habsinfo – I think you’re right when you say the Habs are a 5 year plan. The core of Cammalleri, Gomez and Gionta is a great offence and they’re definitely a fun trio to watch. I can’t see any reason why Plekanec would want to leave that. My guess is that he wants to stay, although I haven’t heard him say much about his pending free agency.
@ Chris Nadeau – I agree with that Gainey should throw a feeler out there and start finding out what Plekanec wants. The problem is he’s got this old-school policy of not negotiating contracts during the season. If he can’t remember what happened this past summer with Mike Komisarek, perhaps he should go ask the Buffalo Sabres what happens when you don’t negotiate throughout the year.
The big question for Montreal is how are they going to move forward over the next couple seasons. They’ve already got $46 Million committed to next year, with Paul Mara and Plekanec being their two key UFA’s. Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak are RFA’s this summer too and will definitely get big raises. Can Montreal keep all four of these players? That doesn’t room for much else. Also, Andrei Markov, Hal Gill and Roman Hamrlik are UFA’s after the 2010-2011 season. Big choices to make here so Montreal have to be careful to not overspend this summer.
Wow look at Fanata here following up a great blog with additional solid insight. Nice work Bri-man… Claaasssssy!
@prax so wait.. u think plekanec is worth what cammalleri is worth?? no way buds!