The highest paid player in the NHL at the moment is Vincent Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who earned $10 million dollars in the 2009-10 season. He is a former Stanley Cup winner who has won the Rocket Richard trophy. The next highest paid player was Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals who made $9 million last season, a player who has won two consecutive Hart trophies and led his team to the President's Trophy. The next highest paid players are Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who each made $8.7 million last year. They are Stanley Cup champions, Malkin is a Conn Smythe winner, and Crosby is a former Hart Trophy winner and current Rocket Richard winner. Few can argue that players with such pedigree and accomplishments aren't worth the big bucks. But what about players without any accomplishments?
Mikko Koivu's Value is Largely Intangible
Minnesota Wild Captain Mikko Koivu, who has never scored more than 22 goals in his career, will earn $6.75 million next season, more than Stanley Cup champions Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Pavel Datsyuk and Ryan Getzlaf. With the kind of numbers and on-ice accomplishments of those other players, does Koivu's contract make any sense? Koivu is an excellent leader on and off the ice. He is responsible defensively and is good at taking face-offs. He is hard working, he doesn't quit, and he put up over 70 points with very little talent on his wings. But is all of that still worth over $6 million dollars a year on a team that struggles to score, and missed the playoffs last season? Normally, big contracts are handed out to players that put up big points and score big goals, and dominate in their position. But in the case of Koivu, he is being rewarded for all of the qualities that can't be measured on the score sheet. Many also believe that with more talented wingers, Koivu would put up much better numbers, But that is merely speculation. Whatever the reasons, Koivu will now be one of the highest paid forwards who hasn't cracked 25 goals in his career.
Koivu's Contract will Raise the Price of Other Players
Whether realizing it or not, Minnesota GM Chuck Fletcher has now drastically raised the value of 30-goal scorers in the NHL. With goal scoring already at a premium, paying a high price for a player who has never scored more than 22 goals a season will raise the price of players who have a higher point output. All of a sudden, a player who may have only made $4 million a season can suddenly command more thanks to the price paid for Koivu, who isn't known as an offensive dynamo. One can only wonder if this contract has had an effect on the Ilya Kovalchuk negotiations, a player who has topped 50 goals more than once in his career. But such is the business of hockey. Sometimes GM's sign contracts that make no sense to the public (see Derek Boogaard and the New York Rangers, and Jeff Finger and the Toronto Maple Leafs), but obviously have to make some sense behind closed doors. In the case of Koivu, he now has a whole lot more pressure in a hockey crazed market that is looking for a winner. And fair or not, he will forever be judged by the size of his paycheck.
Marcia Di Michele - In addition to Suite101, Marcy is also a writer for TheHockeyWriters.com and blogs for Sports Illustrated's Fannation page. Marcy has been ...
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