CROSSCHECK 8.15.05 - How much is a goalie worth? - 2005-08-15 8:15 PM
The market appears to be set for forwards and defensemen. Calgary just bolstered it's blue line with the addition of Roman Hamrlik for $3.5 million/year. Sounds about right for a guy with his skills.
What I find interesting is the goalie market. In my opinion, so take that for what it's worth (probably not much), goalies seem to be all over the place. Here is a short list of goalies all hockey fans should know by name and reputation, and their salaries, from highest to lowest.
- Nikolai Khabibulin - Chicaga Blackhawks - $6.75 million
- Martin Brodeur - New Jersey Devils - $5,237,238
- Eddie Belfour - Toronto Maple Leafs - $4.56 million
- Mikka Kiprusoff - Calgary Flames - $2.9 million
- Sean Burke - Tampa Bay Lightning - $1.6 million
- Dominik Hasek - Ottawa Senators - $1.52 million
- Brian Boucher - Phoenix Cayotes - $900,000
- Chris Osgood - Detroit Red Wings - $900,000
Looking at the list, I gotta wonder why this market is so different from the clearly defined market of forwards and defensemen. Hasek's contract makes sense. He has been injured, and he is trying to return. Why Toronto held on to Belfour at such a ridiculous salary confuses me. He is a big if. There is no guarante that after the year off he'll be able to return at the same level he was at when he signed the original deal (pre rollback, of course).
Theoretically, Brodeur should be setting the market value, but free agent Khabibulin, coming off a Stanley Cup championship, gets that honor. I still think that if he isn't a Vezina finalist, or if he doesn't put on another Conn Smythe worthy playoff performance, then he is very much overpaid. Then again, he's not the only free agent Chicago overpaid this month. Martin Lapointe is not worth $2.5 million, and neither is an average defenseman like Spacek. Both are going to have to elevate their games.
Khabibulin's Stanley Cup finalist counterpart, Mikka Kiprusoff, is recieving a much more reasonable $2.9 million. Kipper still has a lot to prove, like that last season wasn't a fluke. The smaller goalie gear will make things interesting for everyone.
Veteran Sean Burke is being paid $1.6 million. Comparing that to shutout record holder Brian Boucher, and former Stanley Cup Champion Chris Osgood, who are both making $900,000 boggles the mind. How is Burke worth more than either of them at his age? By the way, did you know Osgood has never had a losing season? Not only that, he backstopped the New York Islanders out of the dumps and into the playoffs his first season there. In St. Louis in '03-'04, he went on a hot streek when the offense was colder than ice and kept them in the playoff picture.
All that said, I couldn't really tell you where the unsigned goalies will fall. At this point, they are going to have to take what the remaining teams still looking for goaltenders can afford to offer them. I don't expect anyone to sign for more than $2.5 million at this point, and that might be pushing it. We will have to wait until next summer for the goalie market to make more sense and become a bit more predictable. However, even then, goalies could chose to take less to stay with a winning team. Time will tell.