By Jason Reed
Hockeytalk.biz

JANUARY 12, 2008 -- Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin became the second player this season to sign an extremely lengthy deal on Thursday night as the team announced that they had signed the Russian star to a 13-year, $124 million contract.

Philadelphia Flyer Mike Richards signed a 12-year deal for a reported $69 million earlier this season. Last summer, New York Islanders back-up-goaltender-turned-GM (that’s probably not how his title reads on his business cards) Garth Snow signed goalie Rick DiPietro to a 15-year extension. The Isles had better hope that they get a little more bang for their buck than they did when they signed Alexei Yashin to a 10-year $87.5 million extension in 2001. Yashin puts the medi in mediocre.

The problem with these long-term deals is that after a few seasons, someone starts falling out of love.

Take a guy like Richards for example. He’s a good player, but what happens if he has a couple of monster seasons? All of a sudden, he starts thinking, “I’m worth more per year than I signed up for. I need more money.”

On the flip side, what if his current great play is just a fluke? What if he is another Yashin—just a mediocre guy that could be traded if only that long, expensive contract weren’t in place? In this situation you have the (fill in the blank with either GM/coach/owner) upset over having invested so much time and money into this &%$#.

Even the commissioner isn’t on board with this gig. On his XM radio show, Gary Bettman noted that he’s not thrilled with long term deals, because at some point, one party will likely feel that it had made a mistake.

Bettman’s point is well taken when we consider the ups and downs of a long NHL career. Injuries to the player plus a franchise’s various transitions in coaching and management can change the course of any player’s career, no matter how great the talent.

The Ovechkin signing was a shock because I thought that Capitals majority owner Ted Leonsis felt the bite every month when he whips out his checkbook and scratches one out to Jaromir Jagr. This is the same Jagr who now plays for the New York Rangers. The Caps signed Jagr for what at the time was the largest deal in NHL history at 7-years and $77 million. When he was finally traded, Jagr was still owed $44 million on the deal, which suited New York just fine, since Washington was footing the bill for $20 million of it.

If this league is going to grow and become something more than it is, then these silly contracts have to stop. No problem locking a guy up for four or five years, anything longer than that invites trouble.

The Predators:

Darcy Hordichuk

For the first time since Thanksgiving 2006—for the record, that’s 65 games—Predators forward Darcy Hordichuk scored a goal. Hordichuk is known more for scoring with his fists than with his stick and once he scored just five minutes into the game, you could tell it was gonna be the Preds’ night. The “Rink Rants Stat Of The Night” is about the Predators: When Darcy Hordichuk scores in 2007 they are 1-0-0.

Hordichuk, Jason Arnott and David Legwand all scored in the span of 1:15—the fastest three goals in Nashville’s brief history. In fact, seven different players scored for the Predators including J.P. Dumont who scored in his sixth straight contest

Nashville has been on the right track of late—until Monday night when they made a stop in Anaheim to play the Ducks; a game they lost 5-2. I know that LA isn’t the measuring stick for the league, but when they are healthy the Preds can hang with most teams. They have a decent schedule the rest of January and realistically should be able to win 2/3 of those games. If they can do that then Nashville looks good for a low playoff spot.

Andy McDonald:

Andy McDonald

Andy Mac was a key player for the Ducks during last post season but he started off a bit slow this year for coach Randy Carlyle. Whether or not that contributed to his trade for St. Louis forward Doug Weight, only the inner sanctum knows—and they’re not telling. What is known is that as soon as McDonald got to St. Louis he seemed to become the Andy of old—his two goals and assist in last night’s game would be a perfect example.

He has doubled his offensive output since moving out of the OC (in 33 games with Anaheim he was 4-12-16, which averages out to about a half-point per game. In his seven games for the Blues McDonald is 3-5-8 for better than a full point per game.) Sometimes a change of scenery just does a player good. If you doubt it, ask Doug Weight, the player McDonald was traded for. In St. Louis Weight had 11 points in 29 games while he has 6 in 12 so far with the Ducks. That’s up from 1/3 of a point per game to ½ point per game.

Notes From The Ducks Press Box:

Brent Severyn

I was eating dinner with Ducks radio color guy Brent Severyn tonight and we were laughing about his playing days. Severyn was a good player but the reality is that he was a tough guy, not a finesse guy. I reminded him of what I consider to be his career highlight. No, it wasn’t when he got his name on the Stanley Cup while with the Dallas Stars, but rather Severyn’s pushing a referee out of the way while he was fighting. Now, as if that wasn’t funny enough, the story gets better. At the time of the event Brian Burke was working for the NHL and his job was to hand out suspensions—and he certainly showed Severyn his hand while suspending him for the incident.

Fast forward a few years and guess who Severyn had to interview with for his gig as radio commentator with the Ducks? Yep. The new Ducks GM, Brian Burke. Brent has a good sense of humor about the event but says that he likes to talk with Burke about other aspects of the game. You can check out his site at www.severynsports.com and also check out another site, which is dedicated to his quirky phrases, www.severynisms.com

Ilya Bryzgalov:

RAW AUDIO: J-S Giguere on former teammate Ilya Bryzgalov

With goalie Ilya Bryzgalov in net the Phoenix coyotes are a different team. Phoenix has won five straight through Wednesday night and are 9-2-1 in their last 12 games. The win in Calgary improved Phoenix to 14-8-0 on the road this season. In itself that stat sounds impressive, but when you look back and realize that the season is only half over and that the Coyotes won only 13 away from home all last season and you can see that this is a different team that Wayne Gretzky has to lead.

Bryzgalov came to Phoenix after backing up J.S. Giguere in Anaheim for 2 ½ seasons. Besides his 13-8 record so far with Phoenix he has a 2.15 GAA and .930 save percentage. Not bad for a guy who was a backup—although no one in Anaheim ever considered Bryz to be a typical backup. He filled in admirably for Jiggy nearly every time he was called upon and his efforts in the first round of last seasons Stanley Cup playoffs helped propel the Ducks to the Cup.

If they haven’t already, Phoenix fans need to realize just what a special player they have in Bryzgalov. This is a guy who can help the Coyotes shed their reputation as the Arizona Cardinals of the NHL.

PHOTOS: NHL / PHOTO OF BRENT SEVERYN: ANAHEIM DUCKS

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