The Arbitration Farce: When's Kostitsyn's Extension Going To Be Announcued?

The Penguins have filed for salary arbitration with Marc-Andre Fleury. The Penguins have no intention of going to salary arbitration with Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Penguins exploit a loophole and prevent Kevin Lowe or a desperate GM from targeting Fleury on July 1st:

Arbitration hearings are set by the National Hockey League and take place from July 20 to August 4. Both sides can continue to negotiate a contract until that time.

"By filing for salary arbitration it gives us extra time to continue to negotiate a contract with Marc-Andre," Pens general manager Ray Shero said. "As a result of the filing, Penguins' fans are assured that Marc-Andre will be under contract to our club for next season. Marc-Andre has done a tremendous job for us. We remain committed to negotiating a contract with him in the near future."

This strategy is not stupid. It is quite shrewd actually.

I will be more upset than ever now if the Canadiens manage to dangle Andrei Kostitsyn for even a split second for all those jumped up GMs on July 1st. Much better to keep him in house for when all their lazy asses are on holiday come August having already blown the load on the Ryan Malones of the league.

Bob. Another chance to show us you are not just one of the pack. Let's see it...

One-Year Ryder

Every year Michael Ryder gets a one-year contract ahead of going to arbitration. Every year (well this year and last anyway, and maybe next year too).

This particular contract looks great for both parties. Ryder gets a decent raise for continuing to be Michael Ryder (30 G + 20 some odd A), and the Canadiens get a 30-goal scorer for under 3 million.

I'm sure the one-year deal has been put in place as incentive for Ryder to perform (i.e., continue to score) for the 4 million dollar contract next time. To be honest, if he scores 30+ goals again, I don't think there will be much argument from most people. 3 seasons in a row wouldmake him a bona fide 30-goal man. It would be nice if he could get a couple more than the 30, maybe even 35-40 this time around. With the incentihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifve of a bigger contract, there'sno better time for him to do that.

All in all, I am very pleased. Also Brisebois didn't jump on the alleged contract from the Habs, making Sunday July 29th a whole lot rosier for Habs fans than Saturday July 28th.

I'm keeping an eye on rumour sites for some more Hab news, but am more sceptical than Eklund is about it. I'd be surprised if they signed Markov (Dan) or made a big trade at this point. Had Ryder not signed, I'd be on the lookout for certain.

Looking forward to a few more slow weeks until the season...