Nash Commentary

By now most CBJ fans have wet their pants over Nash's comments in the Dispatch. The Cannon is going to chime in with their opinion... It's not a big deal.

It is my belief we offered something like a 5 year 35 million dollar deal. When Mary Ann Gaborik signs a 5 year 37.5 million dollar deal yesterday... it doesn't look good.

FACT - Nash knows what he is worth. He knows he could get maybe even 8+ million in the open market next year.

FACT - It is in Howson's best interest to get a cheaper deal to acquire more talent.

This is negiotation.

My theory is this, Howson went to Nash to sell him on the plan. Nash loves it. He loves the city. He loves the team. The plan is likely very good. Howson is probably thinking "Rick, likes the plan, we can really be a great great team. We can win a cup or two, so... if I get him to sign a cheaper deal I can put more talent around him. I want that and Rick wants that."

Rick on the other hand wants to get paid. Market value. The plan is great and certainly the plan would work much better if Rick signed a cheaper deal, but what incentive is there for him to do it? Other teams have great plans. Other teams will pay him too.  That's his leverage.

Howson likely made a mistake with what I presume is around a 7 million a year average. If we did offer a 10 year deal, frontloaded, Nash would likely not be upset with it. Since it is a 5 year deal, these are Nash's prime years, he knows he is worth more than that.

The two ways this will work is a 4-5 year deal with about an 8 million dollar price tag...or.... a 10-12 year deal with about a 7 million per price tag.

This is the deal that I would offer.

10 years 70 million:  12, 12, 8, 8, 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 4

Here is the logic: Nash gets paid up front. He can dump into into the stock market right now and make a killing by the end of this deal. We show him the love. The single biggest yearly salary of any player in the league.

Year 1: Brassard Needs Resigned : Modin and Torres off the books

Year 2: Voracek and Mason need Resigned

Year 3: Filatov Need Resigned

This is the type of deal we need to sell Nash on. Upfront major love (while we have plenty of budget room), lower numbers later on when we are conteding for a cup.

If Nash wants more. Tack an extra million on each of those numbers, 10 years 80 million.

Overall this is not a big deal. Nash wants to be here. I fully expect him to have his extension signed in a few days. This is just a side of Nash we don't see often because he is generally low key and always says the right things. Remember what he told MacLean when Doug told him he didn't know if he would be there at #3. Rick: "Well, trade up to get me." He knows his value, he wants his value. We need him. We will sign him.

Fire Away