When Calle Jarnkrok signed a six-year, $12 million deal on July 27 many people were left scratching their head. It is of course an extremely friendly deal for the Predators, and allowed them to avoid arbitration, but many believed that Jarnkrok deserved more than that after a 30 point (16G, 14A) 2015-16 campaign.
Jarnkrok spoke with hockeysverige.se about his new deal with Nashville and what made him sign what looks to be a ‘cheap deal’.
Möjligheten att vinna Stanley Cup fick Calle Järnkrok att skriva på långtidskontraktet: https://t.co/UvPVy3hznx pic.twitter.com/6KrclbTf3V
— Måns Karlsson (@Manskarlssonyao) August 21, 2016
Quotes from hockeysverige.se’s article about Jarnkrok and his six-year deal, translated from Swedish (Google translate only does so much, so bare with the grammatical errors):
“There are not many players who can play in a team that has a chance to win, so when you get there may not be money, it is important.”
About the process of signing his new contract:
“There are two sides to agree to the contract should be written in. We disagreed quite a long time about how we would put up the contract, but finally solved it themselves. It feels great, he said, adding there are many things that come into play. How long or short it will be, how much money should be mixed in and so on. But we came up with a contract that both thought was “fair”, and it feels great that I remain in such a good organization.”
About the Predators as a group:
“But I really enjoy working in Nashville and want to remain there as long as I get. I like both the city and the team very much. We have a very good team also, so it is clear that the chances of winning plays into the decision.
There are not many players who can play in a team that has a chance to win, so when you get there may not money is the most important. We have many young players in the team that will be better, and we want to be a top team for years to come.”
About the P.K. Subban trade:
“It has not happened so much in the team, except that we were involved in a large trade. It will be really exciting to play with Subban. He is incredibly talented offensively. At the same time we got rid of our captain, so it is clear that there will be a conversion. Subban is better offensively, but Weber is perhaps a little better defensively.”
S/T to Zeb_Habs for sharing the article with us on Twitter and Mans Karlsson for the great story.