“It was clear that Sergachev would get a big contract.” All the secrets of the crazy NHL free agent market

“Mikheev advised Kuzmenko to go to Vancouver”

– Beautiful day. I don’t even know where to start. Well, Ilya Mikheev left Toronto and got $19 million for four years in Vancouver. He tripled his salary. How did it happen? And why the Canucks?

– Mikheev was in Omsk. We checked the order list with him. Before the start of the championship, the Maple Leafs knew that Ilya was finishing his last season at this club and entering the open market. “Toronto” did a high-class job, let Ilya finish the game in peace, did not change him anywhere.

There were two lists of teams – priority A and B, but Vancouver was not on it. It is curious that Andrei Kuzmenko was looking for a team in the NHL a month ago. He flew to America, we rested on a yacht, and Ilya came to us – he was just in Miami with his wife Christina.

Andrei consulted the club of the finalists he should choose. Mikheev listened carefully to Kuzmenko and said, “If I were you, I would go to Vancouver.

And on Wednesday, these words came back to Ilya. Until the day before yesterday, the Canucks were not involved in negotiations over Mikheev. But it turned out that Vancouver was watching him very closely. And at the decisive moment came out with a great offer. Ilya studied the team roster for a long time, and the Canucks climbed higher and higher on it. And in the end, he became the ultimate favorite.

– Now three Russian strikers will play in Vancouver at the same time – Ilya Mikheev, Andrey Kuzmenko, Vasily Podkolzin. Where does such love for Russians come from?

The club’s president is Jim Rutherford, who won three Stanley Cups with the Carolinas and Pittsburgh. He was the architect of the team where Evgeni Malkin played a big role in the attack. Rutherford’s assistant is Swede Patrick Alvin. He started in Sweden as a scout for Europe, traveled all over Russia. He first saw Kuzmenko in 2013. So now Alvin is the general manager. Over the years we have been close friends.

These people know Europe, some of them come from Europe, they have the experience of working with Europeans. And the head coach is Bruce Boudreau, who worked in Washington in the 2000s with Alexander Ovechkin.

– Will Kuzmenko be affected by the fact that Mikheev came on the attack? Now Andrei can be moved to the third link.

– I do not think so. And you will see it during the championship.

Blashill really wanted to sign Namestnikov

–Vladislav Namestnikov signed a one-year contract with Tampa for $2.5 million, effectively replacing Ondrej Palat, who entered the agent market.

Vlad had many offers. For example, his name was in “Winnipeg”. The head coach is Rick Bowness, who coached him with Dallas last season.

Now Jeff Blashill came to Tampa, who became the second coach. Last season he led Detroit, where he played Namestnikov. When Blashill was interviewing at the Lightning and asking for a plan to strengthen Tampa, Jeff almost wrote in the first paragraph that Vlad, one of the most responsible two-way forwards in the NHL, should be taken.

— We remember how hard Namestnikov played on the liaison with Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov.

We’ve had many years of offers from a number of teams. Tampa had a one-year contract. But Vlad is coming back to the team that picked him in the draft, where he played before, where his close friends play. He has a great chance of winning the Stanley Cup. When the Lightning made the offer, they didn’t think twice.

– Now 36% of Tampa’s salary cap is your clients: Andrey Vasilevsky, Nikita Kucherov, Vlad Namestnikov, Mikhail Sergachev.

Do you think we should release a t-shirt about it? You named the main team guys, but there are a number of our players in the farm club.

“Sergachev is a player with great potential”

Tampa Bay guard Mikhail Sergachev signed an eight-year, $68 million contract, averaging $8.5 million per season, the deal of the century. How did you manage to wrap it up?

– When we started working with Misha Sergachev, the conversation with Tampa general manager Julien Brisbois immediately turned to signing a contract a year before the old one expired. So it was with Vasilevsky and Kucherov. It’s always better when guys play and don’t bother with various money matters.

When Ryan McDonagh left and the Tampas had the finances under the cap, it was clear that Sergachev would be given a big contract. He has played for the Lightning for several years and has won two Stanley Cups with them. He’s only 24 and they see huge potential in Misha.

On the contract itself, we quickly agreed. We further discussed the nuances – the amount of bonuses, the fact that the club cannot make exchanges without the consent of the player …

– This is a record contract for a Russian defenseman in NHL history. Will there be undue pressure on Sergachev over this? He now receives more than Victor Hedman.

– There will be pressure, but who said Sergachev wouldn’t play with this money? I advised him: “Misha, during the season, do what Nikita Kucherov and Andrey Vasilevsky did – delete your social networks, stop reading everything in the press. You don’t have to take too much. Just play hockey.”

“Zadorov has decided to stay in Calgary”

– Nikita Zadorov lives in Calgary. Two years for $3.75 million, which is plenty. But everyone thought he would leave the market. But Johnny Gaudreau went to Columbus and the Flames got a lot of money.

– Nikita performs powerful moves, provides self-healing, gets her minutes. Zadorov decided to stay with Calgary. He has a good working relationship with head coach Darryl Sutter. And he continues to progress.

– I did not understand why Columbus gave 12 million dollars a year to Gaudreau, and he only accepted for 9.75 million dollars? What is altruism?

— I wouldn’t like to talk about my clients. But I assure you that when they give 12 million dollars, not a single person has yet said, “No, no, thank you.” It is possible that there was misinformation somewhere. And the fact that the American Gaudreau, born in New Jersey, finally decided to play in the United States, did not surprise me.

– Finally, I will clarify: Evander Kane is another of your clients. He signed a four-year contract with Edmonton, receiving $5.125 million for the season. What can we say about this agreement?

You saw the open letter that Kane posted on his social media. He explains why he decided to stay in Edmonton. He has an excellent relationship with the team and management. General manager Ken Holland, head coach Jay Woodcroft, who attended Pavel Datsyuk’s Russian summer camps for 10 years in a row… And the fans really wanted Kane to stay.

Above all, Evander himself wanted to stay in Edmonton, where he had had his chance a few months earlier when his contract with San Jose was terminated.

Also, I note: Although Kane extended the contract with the Oilers, the arbitration process with the Sharks for illegal termination of the old contract is still ongoing. We haven’t dropped the charges, and the $19 million Evander should be paid is still open.