Pekka Rinne signs two-year, $6.8 million contract with the Nashville Predators

by Dirk Hoag on Feb 24, 2010 2:42 PM EST

John Glennon at the Tennessean reports that Pekka Rinne's new contract is for two years, for $6.8 million. $2.8 million will come next season, with $4 million on tap for 2011-12.

It's interesting to see such a short term; apparently this limits the risk on each side, and sets up Rinne for free agency in the summer of 2012. Might that give both sides an out if Chet Pickard develops successfully over the next two seasons, perhaps?

Here are some other contracts goaltenders have been signed over the last year, for comparison's sake:

Roberto Luongo, 12 years for $64 million

Roberto Luongo

#1 / Goalie / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 205

Born: Apr 04, 1979

	GP	MIN	W	L		GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Roberto Luongo	52	2990	31	17		117	2.35	1449	1332	.919	4

Did you see the way he owned Germany last night? I kid, Luongo's one of the few (very few) NHL goalies who is worth a big-time salary.

Cam Ward, 6 years for $37.8 million

Cam Ward

#30 / Goalie / Carolina Hurricanes

Height: 6-1

Weight: 200

Born: Feb 29, 1984

	GP	MIN	W	L		GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Cam Ward	41	2318	14	21		106	2.74	1220	1114	.913	0

Gads, what a bad contract. Cam will need to contend for the Vezina consistently to warrant such a salary (higher per year than Luongo). He's good, but not that good.

Jonas Hiller, 4 years for $18 million

Jonas Hiller

#1 / Goalie / Anaheim Ducks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 193

Born: Feb 12, 1982

	GP	MIN	W	L		GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Jonas Hiller	46	2642	26	17		119	2.70	1468	1349	.919	2

Hiller has been consistently excellent and is now in his 3rd season with Anaheim. He wrested the #1 job from incumbent J.S. Giguerre, who has since been traded to Toronto. He famously led the Ducks to an upset of San Jose in the first round of the playoffs last spring.

Jonathan Quick, 3 years for $5.4 million

Jonathan Quick

#32 / Goalie / Los Angeles Kings

Height: 6-1

Weight: 223

Born: Jan 21, 1986

	GP	MIN	W	L		GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Jonathan Quick	55	3302	35	17		139	2.53	1500	1361	.907	2

Los Angeles has struggled for years to find a goaltender they can rely on, and hope that the young Quick (in his 2nd full season) is up to the task.

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Poll

What do you think of Pekka Rinne's new two-year, $6.8 million contract?

Too expensive

77 votes

About right

84 votes

A bargain

17 votes

178 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Not sure what to think of this deal. I like the length, but seems overpriced.

That Hiller deal is a bargain, though.

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by Chris Burton on Feb 24, 2010 2:51 PM EST reply actions

You’re going to pay more due to the length, but I don’t think $3.4 a year for Rinne is horrible.

We used to pay Vesa Toskala more than that…

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by Chemmy on Feb 24, 2010 2:54 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

I'd say it's about right

If he had Jonny Quick’s salary, it would be a complete steal, but people might complain if the contract was around the same as Hiller’s. The deal’s about right considering his value is somewhere between two quality goaltenders but he’s just as good

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by Kevin Sellathamby on Feb 24, 2010 3:02 PM EST reply actions

The first year is about right but that second year is TERRIBLE. 4 million dollars? Much like the Legwand and Erat deals, Poile is over paying a player in hopes that he will earn it instead of paying the player for what he HAS earned. Paying Legwand and Erat like stars didn’t make them stars, paying Pekka like a #1 isn’t going to make him a #1. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Pekka making 4 million dollars to backup Chet Pickard in 2011-2012.

by lethargic on Feb 24, 2010 3:07 PM EST reply actions

Erat is earning about right for his seasonal production even if he goes into slumps in the season. Legwand is overpaid… but Pekka should be making about $3 mil per based off starts and production when compared to other teams around the league. 2 years allows for Poile to rid his hands of him if he doesn’t work out, i.e. improve enough to maintain starting role. Otherwise, another goaltender in 2 years gets his shot. Poile did the same thing with Chris Mason not that long ago.

by VApreds on Feb 24, 2010 3:37 PM EST up reply actions

Even if it is an overpay I think the term is a nice feature. So few teams are giving short-term contracts to their #1’s.

I’ll put it this way. The range of reasonable expectations for NSH in the next three-to-five years doesn’t contain potential team implosion from horrible goaltending that the team can’t get out from easily. The same cannot be said for teams like CAR, BUF, MIN, (CGY weep), etc.

by R O on Feb 24, 2010 3:25 PM EST reply actions

Very well stated.

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by Dirk Hoag on Feb 24, 2010 3:34 PM EST up reply actions

I think completely the opposite. If Pekka flops, I think that 4 million hurts us a great deal and there’d be no way to get rid of it so we’d be stuck eating it and just having to wait for the deal to end.

Our salary situation in 2011-2012 looks terrible and that’s before re-signing Weber. Unless there’s a change in our financial situation we’ve already got half of our typical payroll tied up in like 7 or 8 guys. If Pekka lives up to it….great, it worked. If he flops, it’s going to really sting as we lose players and go even younger with the roster because we’re wasting 4 million dollars on a mediocre goalie.

And what happens if Pekka lives up to it? What if he really tears it up over the next two years? Then he’s going to want another raise and it’ll be so long Pekka.

by lethargic on Feb 24, 2010 5:43 PM EST up reply actions

I take it you would have preferred longer term and less dollars? From an outsider’s perspective it seems like Nashville is one of the teams least able to afford dead dollars tied up for more than two years.

by R O on Feb 24, 2010 6:00 PM EST up reply actions

By the way, I’m not sure what you guys think of this but the comment above by VAPreds reminds me.

I truly believe Legwand is Nashville’s best player. Just watching Nashville against Calgary, Legwand (with Ward) always seems to get the tough minutes. He doesn’t have quite enough offense to put up huge points while playing those minutes but guys like this are always underrated but they often help their teams win the most. To me $4.5M is absolutely a fair price. I don’t have to many people on board with me though.

by R O on Feb 24, 2010 4:12 PM EST reply actions

I see what you’re saying, and I tend to give Legwand much less heat than I do Erat. First, because centers in general have more responsibility than wingers, so given relatively equal offensive production, I’ll allow the center a greater salary every time. Secondly, because as you mention, he and Ward go up against elite opposition every night and keep things under control most of the time. Note, for instance, that Legwand has only 22 PIM’s, a good measure of how hard Leggy’s working defensively without having to hook & hold to do it.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say he’s their best player (I’d go with Shea Weber by a country mile), though.

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by Dirk Hoag on Feb 24, 2010 5:14 PM EST up reply actions

I'm with you

Leggy doesn’t get the props he deserves from fans. His purpose is NOT to be a 30 goal scorer. His purpose is to shut down the other team’s top line, and he does that almost every night. I look at his offensive production as gravy.

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by PredHead on Feb 24, 2010 5:29 PM EST up reply actions

Well Done Mr. Poile

That is all.

by stackiii on Feb 24, 2010 5:16 PM EST reply actions

Signing Pekka to $3.4 MM A Year

just back from vacation and gotta say, this is an awful deal. just when I thought Poile couldn’t overpay another player (Legwand – and I do think he is good, just not at $4.5MM, Klein – you gotta be kidding, and now Pekka who hasn’t shown a consistent performance….). One has to wonder…. As a poster on the Tennessean called it when Elly didn’t get a turn in goal when he had a shut out (or one goal allowed – dont recall which), Trotz must have a man crush on Pekka because the rules certainly aren’t the same for who is playing and how they do.

Do not get me wrong – if we could safely spend $50 – $52MM a year in salary, I would be screaming to sign Pekka and Elly both. But we cannot and we need scoring help and – maybe next year – D help on the penalty kill. But scoring is a must. And for that, paying Pekka $3.4MM a year – about $1MM more per year than Elly probably – is stupid. That money could have gone elsewhere and needed to. And to a poster’s point about – what will we pay Pekka if he lights the league on fire over the next two years? We won’t – he’ll be gone. So age – Pekka at 27 and Elly at 29 – is irrelevant. This should have been about performance and the needs of the team – and that clearly – on both counts – meant sign Ellis -- or at least wait until May and evaluate how the rest of the season went.

by keepellisingoal on Feb 28, 2010 11:00 PM EST reply actions