When looking at negotiating contracts now for RFAs, given that rerates are based on the real NHL, do the "agents" look at what's going on currently with the player in the NHL, or is would it just be based on last year, and the end of this year.
So is it going to matter in negotiations if a player is currently doing crappy, or great?
For example, if Edmonton wanted to negotiate Afinogenov's contract right now, is the agent going to look at say "damn, clearly he's worth at least $5 million... look at what he's doing!"
The way I took it and had it explained to me was that no, the agent wouldn't look at Afinogenov's current NHL numbers, which is the advantage in signing a guy who looks like he'll have a big season. But if I was to wait to sign Afino till the end of the year, providing he has a big season, his value would go up. So it would be good to sign Afino now.
I guess I take it to mean if you negotiate right now you are negotiating on last year's NHL numbers. If you wait to negotiate till the end of the NHL season you are negotiating on this year's NHL numbers. Ergo it's better to sign a guy who may breakout this year right now, and better to sign a guy who may disappoint this year at the end of the season.
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To NYIslander: Daniel Tjarnqvist, Duvie Westcott, Ilja Bryzgalov, Pat Rissmiller, Tom Poti, Bjorn Melin, Karri Ramo, Tom Gilbert
To Boston: Chris Pronger, Doug Murray, Jocelyn Thibault, Ken Klee, Wade Brookbank, Denis Istomin, Viktor Dovgan
Actually we do look at their NHL production thus far, whiel it's not the only factor, if you're negotiating with a guy having a bust out campaign (afingenov being a good example) He may want more than he would have before the season started. In the flipside if you have a guy struggling right now in NHL, you may want to open negotiations early.
These new salaries will be in place after this NHL season, so those are the ratings he will have with the salary, so realistically it is a factor
