When I was a cub reporter covering the NBA’s Toronto Raptors in 1995-96, Brendan Malone, the Raptors first head coach, gave me some great insight into team politics.
“The most important people on the team are your best four players and your four players who play the least,” he said.
“Why?” I asked.
“If those eight guys buy into what you’re doing, everyone in the middle buys in, too,” he said. “If not, you’re in trouble, because you’ve got a lot of guys who aren’t on-board.” (This is the heavily edited version of Malone’s actual quote. He could “blue streak” with the best of them.)
I’ve asked hockey coaches if the analogy works for this sport. Because the rosters are larger, it’s an inexact comparison. But most agree the theory is sound.
Malone’s story popped into my head last week while doing research into American Hockey League salaries. One executive asked if I’d heard about Justin Johnson.
Johnson is a 34-year-old forward, an 11-year-pro who joined the Toronto Marlies after a season with the ECHL’s Alaska Aces. He’s played two NHL games, both for the Islanders in the 2013-14 season, where, by all accounts, he was a very popular teammate at their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport.
Sixteen different forwards have played for the Marlies in just seven games. That’s a roster nightmare, because you know those who sit are grumbling.
“There’s a logjam there, so they wanted a veteran with good habits who won’t cause a problem,” Johnson’s agent, Jeff Helperl, said last week. “Yes, he wants to play, but also do the things the Marlies are looking for. Justin’s biggest selling point is his character.”
It’s also likely the Marlies wanted someone to protect their youth in case opponents started running at them. It’s tough to say for sure, because assistant GM Kyle Dubas, who negotiated with Helperl, is in media jail.
The interesting thing is how the team and the agent designed this contract. The structure is very different, with a couple of agents and executives saying they’d never seen anything like it before. Johnson’s salary and signing bonus are normal, in American funds.
What stands out are the bonuses.
Johnson gets:
*$5,000 (these are in Canadian dollars) for every Marlie who scores 20 goals
*$5,000 for every Marlie who reaches 50 points
*$2,500 based on the success of the power play and penalty kill
*$2,500 for everyone who plays 10 games with the Marlies and 15 with the Maple Leafs
“Initially, it was more elaborate than what it ended up being,” Helperl said. “It took a month to finish.”
He wouldn’t go into it, but a couple of sources indicated other bonuses were rejected.
In the NHL, the only players who qualify for bonuses are rookies on their entry-level deals; players who have missed significant time due to injury; and over-35s. But this structure? Don’t even try.
It’s unique. Team bonuses? Absolutely. A player benefitting from the individual performance of a teammate? Definitely new. It’s going to be copied, for sure.
30 THOUGHTS
1. My interest in AHL salaries piqued when Toronto signed Andrew Campbell to a contract worth $250,000 this season and $400,000 next season. That’s a terrific amount at that level. Commissioner Dave Andrews stresses it is a developmental league, but each team has room for five veterans (those who have played at least 260 professional games) with the potential of one other exemption.
Andrews won’t discuss the finances, but, according to one source, there are more than 50 players above $250,000, with Michael Leighton at $450,000. Ten seasons ago, there was nobody. The average salary (not counting those on NHL contracts) is creeping towards $100,000. The biggest challenge may be western expansion since living in California can be expensive, but the overall rise in salaries says very good things about the growth of the AHL.
Andrews and Larry Landon, executive director of the Professional Hockey Players’ Association, have done it without labour problems, too.
2. Compensation for hiring fired executives and coaches is now on the agenda for both the General Manager’s meeting (Toronto in November) and Board of Governors (Pebble Beach in December). The hope is there will no longer be a draft pick awarded for hiring a fired coach, general manager or president of hockey operations as of Jan. 1, unless the league is so angry at how this was butchered that it decides to entirely scrap compensation.
Source: www.sportsnet.ca