Paying the Kids

Every time there's a new CBA in the NHL, the owners claim they need new labour rules to keep the sport in financial order and save them from themselves.

Then they go out and either fail to use those new regulations, or go even further and circumvent the system to meet their own competitive desires.

It has always been thus, or at least, it has been thus in the past two decades.

So how refreshing it has been, really, to see two of the league's biggest revenue teams, the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens, hold the line in recent days, controlling their costs with young players just as the CBA says they can.

The Rangers inked defenceman Michael del Zotto to a two-year contract worth $2.55 million per season. On Monday night, the Montreal Canadiens came to terms with blueliner P.K. Subban on a similar two-year deal worth $2.875 million a year.

These were two players who declined to sign before the lockout kicked in Sept. 15, probably understanding that the nine- and 10-year deals handed out like candy to the likes of Boston's Tyler Seguin, Carolina's Jeff Skinner and two Edmonton Oilers, Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall, might not be available when the lockout ended.

Well, apparently they weren't. Subban, in particular, hoped for a much-longer term and much more in annual salary, but it didn't happen.

This is not to applaud the ownership of the Rangers and Habs. Moreover, the Oilers, Hurricanes and Bruins may profit from their decisions if it turns out that they've locked up their young stars with contracts that will over time prove to be economically beneficial if the market takes a huge upswing. If Hall, for example, becomes a 40-goal man, in two or three years $6 million a year may seem a great deal, particularly if the cap heads north of $70 million somewhere down the road.

Of course, it's the flipside that's the concern. The Maple Leafs would be one team that holds the contracts of two players, Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf, who became very rich young men coming off their first contracts but haven't yet the scaled the heights as forecasted. The Leafs were the one who gave Kessel his deal. Calgary, meanwhile, extended Phaneuf during his third season after two all-star game appearances to a six-year contract worth $6.5 million per season. Soon thereafter, they grew unhappy with the players and the contract, and moved Phaneuf east.

So there's possible benefits and possible risks to these long-term arrangement with players yet to fully prove themselves.

Defenceman Erik Johnson, the first overall pick in 2006, has developed slowly. St. Louis, at the start, preferred to limit their exposure because they were unsure of Johnson's development. Traded to Colorado in 2011, Johnson signed a four-year deal last summer for $3.75 million per that will make him a UFA in 2016.

All in all, this seems a sensible progression from prospect to young player to established player, and Johnson has hardly had to cry poor along the way. One wonders how Kessel, drafted four slots behind Johnson, might have benefitted with more gradual financial growth and less pressure. Ditto for Phaneuf.

In that light, it was at least refreshing to see New York and Montreal hold the line with players who, like the others, have no real leverage and limited arbitration rights. With unrestricted free agency at 27 or even 25 in some cases, NHL clubs have less time than once was the case to control their costs with such players.

We'll see how these contracts all play out, and which teams played the system correctly, paricularly with the cap dropping to $64.3 million next season.

But after this most recent lockout, we've all grown weary of the owners claiming poverty and blaming the players for runaway costs. If they want to make their own business healthier, using the tools the CBA gives them is a start.