Ryan Malone is apparently a hot commodity. Most of this, if I’m understanding this correctly, is due to his spectacular ability to get hit in the face with a puck. The numbers certainly aren’t impressive.
Those are not particularly impressive rates. A quick scan of his linemates for this year shows lots of Crosby and Malkin. His PP numbers aren’t impressive in any event. He plays in the more offensive conference and his numbers would be expected to drop in the Western Conference. He will apparently cost north of $4.5MM. I didn’t particularly like this player the first time I saw him when he was named Dustin Penner; I’m not sure why I’d like a sequel that costs more and, statistically, probably isn’t as good.
Update: I see the name Daymond Langkow being tossed around in the comments as a reasonable comparator for Ryan Malone in terms of offence. I don’t really buy it. Langkow wasn’t a good PP player in his last few years before Calgary and his numbers there probably top out at OK on the PP but that’s a massive gap in terms of ES scoring. At Malone’s rates, he’d still be just under 40 points behind Langkow (154-118) over the past four years at ES. Sure, Malone is younger but I see a large difference between these players in terms of ES offence.
Update: I don’t think that Malone compares particularly favourably to Raffi Torres either. All things being equal, I’d probably prefer Raffi. At a $3MM difference in price, I’d definitely prefer him.
It boggles my mind, really it does. Even with presumably boosted offensive numbers, Malone is simply not that impressive. Apparently one week of a commentator driven hero myth outweighs the complete obviousness of the situation. He is a prime candidate for worst overpay of the summer.
Well, he’s useful but certainly not worth the money.
I’d almost go so far as to say that Jason Blake’s contract has as good a chance of working out.
For the dough he’ll end up getring? Um yeah, pass.
Couldn’t agree with you more (though as a certified Loweapologist, I am compelled to note that Malone is much older than Penner, and is heading out of his peak years, as opposed to heading into his peak years, as Penner was/is.).
Please let some other team (the Maple Leafs, the Rangers, the Flyers) lavish $5 million plus on Malone.
Over at Copper & Blue, Jonathan had Malone as a player of interest for the Oilers, and while that other excellent blogging product of northeastern B.C. has done a good job of identifying free agent players of interest and non-interest for the Oilers, I can’t see the attraction to Malone.
Over at Copper & Blue, Jonathan had Malone as a player of interest for the Oilers, and while that other excellent blogging product of northeastern B.C. has done a good job of identifying free agent players of interest and non-interest for the Oilers, I can’t see the attraction to Malone.
Malone is a pretty close match to team needs (size, shot, physical play for the kid line), and thus falls in as a player of interest. He just isn’t of interest for the money he’s going to get.
Just another example of why this year’s free agent crop sucks.
Outside of Hossa, there’s a lot of guys out there with a lot of warts that are going to get paid a lot more than they’re worth.
I say sign a veteran defenseman like Commodore (or Stuart, man would that be sweet) and avoid the temptation to get into a bidding war for a guy like Malone. Why pay 5 million a year for Malone when, given similar minutes (soft 2LW time with Gagner and Nilsson), you could probably get similar production out of a guy like Torres?
I say sign a veteran defenseman like Commodore (or Stuart, man would that be sweet) and avoid the temptation to get into a bidding war for a guy like Malone.
I wonder what kind of bidding war would be involved in getting either of those guys?
I think Jonathan’s assesment is correct as far as it is dependant on cost, which he said it is.
Hbomb,
I love Mike Commodore a lot, but I suspect he’ll be totally overpaid when he does get signed.
I love Mike Commodore a lot, but I suspect he’ll be totally overpaid when he does get signed.
As will pretty much every other “name” UFA out there, unfortunately. Such is the nature of the market.
That being said, maybe they could bring Gator home for 4 million over two years or something like that. Couldn’t hurt to have him around, could it?
I’m hoping that the Oil stays away from the big dollars market. I’d rather develop our own guys than to overpay marginally-desirable veterans. “Free” agents aren’t.
OTOH, I’m all in favour of a Staios- or Garon-style bargain from the remainder bins.
not that the li’l spreadsheet tyler’s produced didn’t convincingly make the prima facie case that ryan malone is not worth squat, do we know how many players
a) are 28 years old
b) scored over 4.0ppp/60 last year
c) scored over 1.8 evp/60 last year
d) was one of his team’s top-4 pk forwards
e) played on a playoff team
f) fights
my guess is there are not as many as you think, and the ones there are, make some nice coin. langkow got the same offensive numbers last year, didn’t get a sniff of the pk, hasn’t fought (well) in years, is much older, and has already signed for more money than malone reortedly will.
I’m a fan of Malone, but the reality is that he’s not a 4.5M player. And that’s all there really is to it.
His rumoured salary really puts the Dustin Penner deal in perspective - we didn’t just give up 4.25M in salary - we gave up the 12th, 42nd, and 72nd overall picks in a very deep draft for him.
Lets hope Penner really takes steps forward in upcoming years.
If anything it seems to put the Penner deal in perspective in a positive way. If this guy really does sign for 4.5 or more over term that makes Penner look pretty good. Penner is signed for cheaper, is better and is younger. And this is only the first year of the contract. If the market for this type of power player continues to go up Penner can probably live up to the contract with even just marginal improvement.
I’m a fan of Malone, but the reality is that he’s not a 4.5M player. And that’s all there really is to it.
that’s funny because i’m not a fan of malone, and i think the reality is that he is a 4.5M player. wait for it… and that’s all there really is to it.
the salary cap is going to be 56M next year. 4.5M is only going to be 8% of your cap space. does it make sense to tie up 8% of your salary in a guy who is going to play on your top 2 lines, be willing to take a beating in front of the net of the pp so your skilled guys can play the half boards, and play a prominent role on your pk?
you cant analyze deals signed this summer in the context of those signed two or three summers ago. brooks orpik is going to cost as much cap space next year as sergei gonchar (orpik’s deal will look much worse than malone’s).
Until GM’s wise up and quit doing these attempted quick fixes then player salaries will continue to skyrocket. UFA’s and especially RFA’s are really costly and you not only have to have the cap space but the big ticket player has to fit in on your team.
Of course GM’s who are desperate for some off season improvement and are willing to vastly overpay to save their jobs will still be active. Kevin? Kevin who? Did you say Lowe?
langkow got the same offensive numbers last year, didn’t get a sniff of the pk, hasn’t fought (well) in years, is much older, and has already signed for more money than malone reortedly will.
Not a bad point, but Langkow wasn’t playing with either Crosby or Malkin all year either…
Langkow wasn’t playing with either Crosby or Malkin all year either…
Iginla ain’t exactly chopped liver. Langkow led all Flames in QUALTEAM at +0.44; Malone led the Pens in the same category at +0.29.
Langkow is being paid as much for his consistency to date as for his performance last season. He has 6 straight seasons of 20+ goals and 8 straight years of 50+ points. He’s basically a lock to be put up those kinds of numbers again, which probably can’t be said for Ryan “51-point career high” Malone.
Langkow is being paid as much for his consistency to date as for his performance last season.
I think there’s a lot of truth there- that’s one of the bigger reasons I can think of to sign Langkow over Huselius.
Here’s to the Flames paying players for stuff they’ve already done, as opposed to what they’re going to do. Why should we be the only ones?
Penner can probably live up to the contract with even just marginal improvement.
You meant inflation will make Penner’s contract look better. Penner will make $650,000 MORE than Hemsky next year. At that rate Hemsky can under perform by and still be a reasonable contract.
In 1990 Dustin Penner was Petr Klima. Now he is the second highest paid player on the Oilers (Staios is sixth, BTW, some deal at 2.9).
Malone at 5.5 is Penner at 4.5 a year ago. Next year it will be P.M. Bouchard at 6.5 making Malone look like a steal as a 20/30 guy. Maybe I’ll be wrong and Malone will have some Bertuzziesque seasons but not playing for CBJ he won’t (unless Zherdev=Naslund and Klesla=Jovocop).
paying players for stuff they’ve already done, as opposed to what they’re going to do.
Forecasting players’ future performance by the use of past performances, is, if I can use a churchillian paraphrase, a terrible way of doing it, and its only virtue is that it is superior to every other method.
Would a Malone to CBJ deal be looked at as something we could steer away from Howson in terms of applying blame?
A couple of seasons ago when Waddell threw Coburn away for Zhitnik, the former still hadn’t shown all the promise that once had him selected before Phaneuf but the word was he had the potential to be damn good. Yet, some slack was given to the Thrash in some circles because they felt they needed to win a playoff round in order to spark some and/or additional fan interest.
To a perhaps lesser or greater extent, Poile did the same thing when he dealt off Upshall-Parent plus for Forsberg; or at least one of his feet. At the same time, Poile spoke of how perhaps the team might move, so, once again, this was about more than just an on-ice move for one playoff drive.
Of course, I heard all that stuff before when Omar Minaya traded Sizemore, Phillips and Lee to rent Colon. Truthfully, that was more about a GM posturing for his next job but what I’m getting around to is sometimes managers sell moves as more than just on the ice.
Note: this is what the Loweapologists point to when referencing the summer of Vanek, Nylander, Penner and Souray.
Anyway, I’m not sure what kind of state the BJ”s are in — and I don’t think it’s anything that Ryan Malone can cure — but I’m just trying to figure out why for one second they’d throw this kind of money at Malone.
We know the deal here: someone somewhere is gonna overpay for Malone because someone almost always does when it comes to a somewhat attractive FA in an otherwise shitty field.
But why Columbus and why for that term?
Forecasting players’ future performance by the use of past performances, is, if I can use a churchillian paraphrase, a terrible way of doing it, and its only virtue is that it is superior to every other method.
By that rationale, someone should have signed Doug Weight to a 2-year, $7M contract in 2006. Oh wait.
Dennis -
We used to talk about how the Oilers overpaid the wrong guys, the middle roster guys. Maybe Howson was a contributor to the problem instead of a guy who was overruled?
Here’s to the Flames paying players for stuff they’ve already done, as opposed to what they’re going to do. Why should we be the only ones?
I have to laugh when I see this complaint. People bitch about paying for past performance, which is fair enough, I guess, yet people also bitch about paying for potential production, as in the recent Nilsson contract, which was hardly a stretch. Make up your minds, folks.
Maybe I’ll be wrong and Malone will have some Bertuzziesque seasons but not playing for CBJ he won’t (unless Zherdev=Naslund and Klesla=Jovocop).
I had no idea that the term “Bertuzziesque” still had positive connotations.
Ty: Yeah, that could very well be.
The longest ongoing story this Oiler summer is of Glencross and there was a quote awhile back from the Oilers new contract guy, Rick Olyczyk, about how you have to have some kind of salary structure for your third and fourth liners. That quote absolutely floored me given how odd and wonderful it was to read something like that from an organization like hours.
Now, today, Matty put down his Topless Dion pics long enough to tell us that the Oilers are offering no more than 900K-1 mill for GlenX and it appears that sanity has come to the Oilers in one form or another.
A lot of us liked the 12 deal and 77 has a chance to turn out if he plays like he did in the first half of last year and now we have this as well.
So, yeah, maybe Howson shoots first and asks questions later. It just seems like something’s changed with the Oilers and maybe we can just chalk it up to the brass knowing that in two years’s time, Cogs and Gags will have to be paid so everyone can’t get paid. Anyway, Raffi can play tough min if he’s healthy and MAP looks like a good bet to be a cost-affordable player so it’s good to see them possibly laying down the law on Glencross.