CHICAGO – Believe it or not, Evgeni Malkin’s asking price could probably have grown even more just by waiting a little longer to sign his massive extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Had the star centre not been so committed to remaining in Pittsburgh and so eager to get this contract taken care of before he returned to Russia for the off-season, he could have swung even harder for the fences with unrestricted free agency looming in July 2014.
The real significance of that date is that it falls in line perfectly for when the salary cap is expected to climb once again.
After playing next season with an upper limit of $64.3-million — as agreed to in the new collective bargaining agreement — the NHL is already forecasting that revenues will push the number back towards $70-million the following year.
Earlier this week, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told league owners that they should expect profits during the 2013-14 season to at least match the $3.3-billion they hit last year, the last full season before the lockout.
“And hopefully (they’ll go) beyond it,” Bettman said Wednesday night during his annual address at the Stanley Cup final. “I had audit and executive committee meetings on Monday and told them that’s our view of the world.”
It is especially good news for owners which now split revenue 50-50 with players, down from 57-43 under the previous CBA.
The way all of this relates to Malkin is that his new contract is bound to help set the bar for a whole host of elite players that are looking at signing extensions in the coming year or two (Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Lundqvist, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, among them).
We are just entering a Brave New World of sorts in the NHL with term limits of eight years — Malkin got the max on the $76-million extension he agreed to Thursday morning — and a salary cap that is expected to continue climbing.
Many in the industry have predicted that a system without the back-diving contracts that were in vogue from 2005-2012 will result in higher cap hits for top players.
While that still appears to be true, it may not be as pronounced as some would hope because of the interesting dynamic that now exists at the top of the food chain.
Starting in 2014-15, the three largest salary cap hits will belong to Alex Ovechkin ($9.538-million), Malkin ($9.5-million) and Sidney Crosby ($8.7-million) — unquestionably the top three NHL players of this generation.
It would be hard for anyone else in the league to ask for anything more than that right now.
Viewed a different way, Malkin’s new contract actually pays him a little less than his teammate Crosby. The Penguins captain signed one of the final “cheat” deals under the previous CBA last July — one that will see No. 87 earn an average of $10.6-million for nine years (when Malkin will be making $9.5 million).
The final three seasons of Crosby’s 12-year deal then drops to $3-million per.
However, it’s clear that money wasn’t the only motivator for Malkin. The 26-year-old grew up in Magnitogorsk, Russia — where steel is the primary industry — and has come to embrace Pittsburgh as a second home.
There is simply nowhere else in North America he would dream of playing.
Today i agreed on new deal with Pens. I am so happy to stay here, in my favourite hockeytown! Thanks to you fans!
— Евгений Малкин (@malkin71_) June 13, 2013
Malkin instructed agent J.P. Barry to complete this extension as soon as possible and Barry spent the last five days in Pittsburgh negotiating with Penguins general manager Ray Shero and the team’s ownership group.
The contract includes a $10-million signing bonus, which is less money up front than other star players have recently received and less than Malkin initially asked for. As a result, the Penguins eventually upped the overall payout for a compromise to be reached.
Not only did the extension kick off what promises to be an active off-season in Pittsburgh, it also crystallizes the fact that the organization will continue relying heavily on Crosby and Malkin well into their 30s. Both players hold full no-movement clauses.
So the core of the Penguins appears as though it will remain the same at a time when the league is certain to evolve under the new CBA.
While Malkin got everything he wanted in this new deal, it could also be argued that he took a hometown discount of sorts by signing well before free agency hit and well before the full economic picture of the post-lockout NHL came into full view.
All of the early indications suggest that it’s going to be an even more lucrative time to be a star in the world’s best hockey league than it has been over the last decade.
It certainly will be for Malkin and he didn’t even have to be greedy.