Nothing is official yet with the Patrik Nemeth contract I wrote about last night. Still some i’s to dot and t’s to cross. So until it is, I suppose there’s still a chance – it might be a Jim Carrey/Dumb and Dumber chance, but still a chance – it could still go to arbitration between the big Swede defenseman and the team.
Nemeth elected for arbitration, and a hearing is still set for Saturday in Toronto, should his case get that far. Nobody wants to get on a plane to Toronto and haggle this out. I wrote about how arbitration cases really go down, a few years ago for Sports Illustrated. It’s no fun for either side.
So, I expect this deal to be consummated still before it goes that far. But in this business, you never know.
Based on Nemeth’s statistics this past season and comparables with other players, I think he would get between $2.75 million and $3 million on a new deal from an arbitrator. Nemeth made $945,000 last season.
I expect the Avs to get him at a lower price than that. I don’t know what the actual number is, but I’m pretty sure it would be more than $2 million, probably closer to $2.5 million. So, it would still look like a win for GM Joe Sakic and Avs ownership. And Nemeth certainly would have reason to feel good too, more than doubling his last salary.
I’m not sure I’ve written about a player who draws more polarizing reactions from fans about what his true value is than Nemeth, not recently at least.
Some people really don’t like him as a player. Some think he was a steal for what he gave the Avs last year. It’s that plus-27 of his that is his great big bargaining chip. Plus-minus remains the disdain of analytics people, but it’s still a stat that coaches and GMs pay a lot of attention toward. But he had some other stats that would look good to an arbitrator. His 185 blocked shots were fifth in the league. He played a lot on a penalty-killing unit that was pretty good last year.
It’s all funny money once you get to this level. Nemeth is going to get paid one way or the other very soon.
What kind of contract would you give him, Avs fan?
0 Comments (10 conversations)
Nels
2.5 x 2 years and glad to have him. The team fell apart when he was out injured last year. There are always injuries and they mean that there is plenty of room for him and everyone else on the roster and upcoming. Maybe with Nemeth and Cole it will mean that EJ can play less than 27 minutes a night and maybe save him from some injuries. It also might mean the Avs don’t have to play Warsofsky in the playoffs next year. Thanks for asking my opinion AD 🙂
B
2 x 2 or 2.5 x 1
B
Sakic must have read the comments.
ljp78
One year at whatever. Unfortunate truth for him is he is a place holder.
pixelrebirth
I think this is my sentiment as well. One year for whatever it takes to sign him to short term. We have tons of cap space this year and the reality is we may not want him next summer anyway.
Audioveins
2mil one year. He’s a stop gap but I think Ian Cole is a better version of what he provided last year.
ljb4
I would give him the Zadorov contract: 2 years @ 2.15 per year. The Avs are paying for RFA years so the number should be under 2.5M per year. If some of the kids are ready and there are no injuries, they should be able to find a trade for a solid bottom pair/penalty killer for a low round pick or prospect.
bjjones05
I agree with this comment. He shouldn’t make more than Big Z. He does block shots and was decent on the penalty kill, but his decision making sometimes leaves a lot to be desired.
That said, our D corps should be better this season by far. Maybe he won’t feel like he’s under so much pressure to make the big play and go into brain freeze mode.
PK
2.5 for 1.. great defense but oh man it makes me cringe watching him just dump to the corner constantly. If he had quicker crisper passes he would be an amazing D man.
Troutzky
I’d echo the $2-2.5 as others have stated, as I think he’s earned it despite his issues at times with puck decisions. We do need quality depth defensemen and I think it’s nice to have a few decent options after watching the team spend the last several years rotating scrubs on the 3rd pairing. At the lower end of the price range I think it makes sense to get him on a 2 year deal. If it becomes apparent he’s blocking a spot for Timmons or Makar next season, he can be traded at the deadline or during the offseason for some depth scoring or a pick.
Jose
I would go with 2 or 2.5 for one year. We have a lot of young talent coming up. If he learns to do more than throw the puck up the board we can look at another year or two later.
phawksmulder
He’s gotta be a one year deal.
I’m of the camp that sees the value in a guy that can play good penalty kill and will always hold out some level of hope that he’ll learn to be better with the puck. Maybe I just remember the few savvy plays he’s made at random times and that taints my memory. In the end though, he hasn’t done enough to land himself in secondary levels of planning (they wouldnt’ have brought in Ian Cole if that were the case). He’s useful next year and will likely just be in the way past that. Give him quality money for a guy playing his role for another year and afford him the opportunity to prove he can be more than a bottom-pairing PK specialist. If he does, swish 3 points, the team has a great problem on their hands. Most likely, when he doesn’t show remarkable improvement, he’ll have had a good showing with a team that moved on and he’ll find a good job somewhere else.
Lefseeter
I think he is getting better because he is getting more playing time. And that’s why I like both him and Barberio for what they do. These players know they are in their prime and have to play to get paid and also to get coached and get better. So I think they play their hearts out when a less mature player might not understand how precious the time on the ice really is, and an older player might know that is as good as they can get.