Article: Wild Sign Star Rookie Brock Faber to 8-Year Contract Extension

[Thomas Williams]

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[Pewterschmidt]

WE GOT HIM!!

Brock the cradle of love - Molly Hatchet

[Willy the poor boy]

No hometown discount though IMO. But still a good signing. He's the real deal even though he only has 1 season of proof behind it.

[Citizen Strife]

BROCK LOBSTER!

[Willy the poor boy]

16 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

WE GOT HIM!!

Brock the cradle of love - Molly Hatchet

He's gonna Brock this town, Brock it inside out, for 8 more years...

Edited July 29 by Willy the poor boy

[Imyourhuckleberry]

12 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

No hometown discount though IMO. But still a good signing. He's the real deal even though he only has 1 season of proof behind it.

Some folks were saying his contract would be $9M+, so it depends on where you started when considering a hometown discount. His agent wasn't going to have him sign for less than $8M per season, and getting the 8-year term at $8.5M for a RHD might look like a hometown discount in a couple of years.

[Willy the poor boy]

1 minute ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Some folks were saying his contract would be $9M+, so it depends on where you started when considering a hometown discount. His agent wasn't going to have him sign for less than $8M per season, and getting the 8-year term at $8.5M for a RHD might look like a hometown discount in a couple of years.

I'm no numbers guy, I'll be the first to admit it, but, he only has 1 year under his belt. Surely you can negotiate that into a contract.

[Citizen Strife]

I dunno.  I'd say keeping his contract under Jones and Nurse is a win.  After all, Greenway famously said one of them doesn't do shit.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

9 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

he only has 1 year under his belt. Surely you can negotiate that into a contract.

I'm guessing that's why the Wild could get him at less than $9M for 8 years. If anyone was expecting him to sign for less than Jake Sanderson($8.05M) for the full 8 years, I don't think they were being realistic, and the agent is driving that more than the player. Sanderson isn't better and he's a left shot D.

Since just under 40% of the hockey world plays a right handed stick, that seems to heighten the value of the RHD and the agent is going to know that. He's going to negotiate a shorter contract if they are at a lower number, which could mean that his cap hit would jump to something around $12M at age 28. Faber is locked in with the Wild up to age 30 now, and his contract will likely look like a steal a few years down the road, like JEE's and Boldy's do now.

If Faber progressed like the Wild might expect him to in the upcoming year, particularly considering escalating cap numbers, he might be valued at $10m.

[Willy the poor boy]

10 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I'm guessing that's why the Wild could get him at less than $9M for 8 years. If anyone was expecting him to sign for less than Jake Sanderson($8.05M) for the full 8 years, I don't think they were being realistic, and the agent is driving that more than the player. Sanderson isn't better and he's a left shot D.

Since just under 40% of the hockey world plays a right handed stick, that seems to heighten the value of the RHD and the agent is going to know that. He's going to negotiate a shorter contract if they are at a lower number, which could mean that his cap hit would jump to something around $12M at age 28. Faber is locked in with the Wild up to age 30 now, and his contract will likely look like a steal a few years down the road, like JEE's and Boldy's do now.

If Faber progressed like the Wild might expect him to in the upcoming year, particularly considering escalating cap numbers, he might be valued at $10m.

Ya, I remember you making that Sanderson comparison before. Makes sense.

[Willy the poor boy]

37 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

I dunno.  I'd say keeping his contract under Jones and Nurse is a win.  After all, Greenway famously said one of them doesn't do shit.

My point is, he only has 1 year under his belt. To be fair, some team/fan in the future 'could be' saying the same thing about Faber. Maybe not likely but not impossible, after all someone at some point thought those players you mentioned warranted that type of deal. I'm good with the signing, I just wonder if negotiations could have went better for the Wild.

[MrCheatachu]

50 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

I'm no numbers guy, I'll be the first to admit it, but, he only has 1 year under his belt. Surely you can negotiate that into a contract.

Remember young Brockoli is only 21 years old, and the NHL allows you to buyout a player <26 years old for only 1/3 of the contract (compared to 2/3) after the date. 

Personally, I like the deal and think it will age well.  However, if it doesnt (and I said the same thing about Boldy getting 7 stacks) and he's absolutely untradeable, you can buyout the contract for 0.33*Money Remaining that gets spread out over 2x the remaining length of the contract.

I havent seen the structure of this, but if it's not front loaded, or signing bonus heavy, and they buy him out when he's 25 with 4 years left on the new deal, it would be like $2.6M/yr for 8 years...

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, Willy the poor boy said:

I'm no numbers guy, I'll be the first to admit it, but, he only has 1 year under his belt. Surely you can negotiate that into a contract.

I thought it was a bit high too, but I haven't adjusted to capflation yet. I do think that with the cap going up, Sanderson was probably the comparable. So, we get this year still at his ELC number, and then it bounces. It also seems to expire after other deals do so it staggers nicely. 

I thought he'd be in at $7.5m for 8 years, but, what's $10m among friends? I'm glad we've locked him for 8 years, though. I would like to see the salary breakdown, but buying out essentially 4 years of free agency is expensive. 

[IllicitFive]

While 8.5 seems high for showing 1 year, I think the long term balances that. I would rather have this than a 4 at 6 or 7 then maybe paying more or losing him all together. Also if you wait a year and he preforms even better this year than last now it could be 9 to 10 by 8. If the cap actually goes up over time this will look like a great deal in a couple of years.  Looking forward to him Brocking it down on defense for the Wild for a long time.

[Dean]

I’ve got no complaints on Faber s deal . It’s the new nhl taking risks on youth contracts. Like a previous comment said , it’s easier to get out of the young kid contracts. I’m glad it’s under 9. 
    My concern is spurg s contract . I can’t remember the last time he actually played like a 7 mil defenseman . Time has caught him . He’s perfectly fine during reg season IF he stays healthy. However he doesn’t stay healthy or can he defend the top talent in the league anymore. Come playoff time he definitely can’t handle size anymore. He’s always one hit away from his season over and now the next big hit could be career ending.  Great they got Faber on right side but he’s just replacing old spurg.  Billy isn’t moving the team forward just replacing mediocre. Faber isn’t mediocre but his d core is. 
    Did Billy sign kappy?  Did Billy get kappy any help? Did Billy just double down on what’s been proven doesn’t work?  I still can’t believe Billy’s tenure is like 10 years of Fred g. That’s what I think of Billy’s time here. A waste 

[mnfaninnc]

14 minutes ago, IllicitFive said:

Also if you wait a year and he preforms even better this year than last now it could be 9 to 10 by 8.

That is the risk and can easily be flipped. If he performs poorly this season, then what? It seems to me, though, that the talent is there. He has some things to his game that are completely unteachable, like timing for doing something great. He's got some clutch in him too. He needed a little more muscle for the league, but I think he'll get it. I don't think we were ever in danger of him leaving via free agency. He bleeds green and red (hopefully that will be kelly green and yellow soon), and is a hometown kid and a huge fan. Guerin really hit that trade out of the park, and he may have gotten a better prospect since he didn't want a rostered player. This was a good trade for him, and I believe Faber was more heavily scouted by us than by the Kings before the Fiala trade. 

[IllicitFive]

2 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

That is the risk and can easily be flipped. If he performs poorly this season, then what? It seems to me, though, that the talent is there. He has some things to his game that are completely unteachable, like timing for doing something great. He's got some clutch in him too. He needed a little more muscle for the league, but I think he'll get it. I don't think we were ever in danger of him leaving via free agency. He bleeds green and red (hopefully that will be kelly green and yellow soon), and is a hometown kid and a huge fan. Guerin really hit that trade out of the park, and he may have gotten a better prospect since he didn't want a rostered player. This was a good trade for him, and I believe Faber was more heavily scouted by us than by the Kings before the Fiala trade. 

Agreed, risk for sure, but unless you just go year to year there is always risk with contracts. I would argue that rookie years are never their best year, and he was absolutely thrown into the deep end not only being line 1, but the number of minutes he played without much drop off in his game. Him only being 21 as well has a couple years to add more strength on his frame as he matures. Defenseman also seam to peak a year or two later, I think I read 26 or 27 vs forwards who are 24 or 25. Minus any major injury or issues between the ears, he should only get better for a bit, then locked up at 8.5 when he hits peak. Hoping for the best, but I think a safe bet on him. Besides there is the buy out mentioned by others before 26 that is a safety release valve.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

16 minutes ago, Dean said:

 My concern is spurg s contract . I can’t remember the last time he actually played like a 7 mil defenseman . Time has caught him . He’s perfectly fine during reg season IF he stays healthy. However he doesn’t stay healthy or can he defend the top talent in the league anymore. Come playoff time he definitely can’t handle size anymore. He’s always one hit away from his season over and now the next big hit could be career ending.  Great they got Faber on right side but he’s just replacing old spurg.  Billy isn’t moving the team forward just replacing mediocre. Faber isn’t mediocre but his d core is.

Seems like a bit of an overreaction to 1 injury season. The Athletic indicated his value at $7.9M just the prior year.

Perhaps you noticed that the Wild's defense was much worse last season, when Spurgeon was not healthy, than the prior season.

Last season was also the 1st time Spurgeon played fewer than 60 games in a full 82-game season since he was 21 years old. He may not return to the $7M version, but he was worth more than that prior to last year.

[mnfaninnc]

5 minutes ago, IllicitFive said:

Besides there is the buy out mentioned by others before 26 that is a safety release valve.

I hate buyouts. I realize there's a bit of a safety net, but I hate thinking that way. Dead money just makes me mad. Yeah, I've really tempered expectations the last 5 seasons, and probably would have done buyouts differently. I'd have at least had a conversation with Suter and Parise before just jettisoning them. I think we could have gotten a couple more years of usefulness out of them before sending them off which would have made the penalties less. They were already on the downside of actual salary. Maybe the same result would have happened, but I'd have at least given them an opportunity to waive their NMCs to keep better players. Maybe the waive, maybe they don't. 

[mnfaninnc]

30 minutes ago, Dean said:

Did Billy sign kappy?

Dean, I don't believe Kaprizov can be resigned until next summer. 

Did he get him any help? I would argue that signing Faber longterm is getting Kaprizov help. 

31 minutes ago, Dean said:

My concern is spurg s contract . I can’t remember the last time he actually played like a 7 mil defenseman . Time has caught him . He’s perfectly fine during reg season IF he stays healthy. However he doesn’t stay healthy or can he defend the top talent in the league anymore. Come playoff time he definitely can’t handle size anymore.

Come playoff time, being able to play Spurgeon on the 2nd pairing, or if Buium makes it up, maybe on the 3rd pairing should help. You are correct in identifying that Spurgeon cannot play top pair minutes in the playoffs. His statistics bare that out convincingly. I do not have high expectations for him this season and truly believe a large player on another team is going to "test" his surgically repaired back and hip just to see if it was successful. I do not believe that Spurgeon can endure that punishment, but.....

This is where a capologist comes in. LTIRing Spurgeon's salary this year can help us trade (even before the deadline) for a difference making player. Here's the thing, though, Spurgeon has earned a shot to make us believe he can still play. We're in good shape if he returns fine. We're still in good shape if he breaks. 

Your response will likely be, yeah, like Guerin can manage an LTIR like that! Well, to this point he has not done so. In fact, under the OCL years, the Wild really only used LTIR last season. OCL is getting away with a lot, since he only has to pay basement salary, and gets to look like he's paying to the ceiling. My hope is that he's saved enough to really invest in the players going forward. He's certainly saved enough to at the very least invest in a decent gym in Des Moines! With Evason getting hired in CBJ, he doesn't even have to pay the final year on Evason's salary! Thanksgiving around the Leipold household should be really good.

[Beast]

I like it.  Looks like it opens up a possible trade until later in the contract if things really go haywire (and the way Geurin has been operating, you never know).

If the cap continues to go up, a defenseman of his caliber will be a bargain down the road.

The caveat is Brock can’t regress.  He has to be great for this contract to work favorably.  

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Just found this update on the World Juniors Summer Showcase, for those who might be interested.

 

[OldDutchChip]

i guess i am ok with this. money thats under what Kap is getting annually so that's smart (just give Kap the captaincy you idiot - Billy) 

i'd still work the phones and try to get rid of spurge (but suppose that's not in the cards after resigning midds) - i'd rather not keep Spurgy for sentimental reasons though and cut ties with him while there's value to be had. just throw in the prospect D that mostly deserves it on bottom 4 D pairs. can't be worse than 35 year old tiny spurge after returning from 2 huge injuries. 

whatever - let's just hope we get to see a game or two on tv this year.....

 

[FredJohnson]

4 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

WE GOT HIM!!

Brock the cradle of love - Molly Hatchet

Billy Idol

 

[FredJohnson]

Oh great, another no trade clause. (Sarcasm)