But what do you figure the going rate for Rene Bourque will be in a year’s time?
Currently, he’s drawing a (final-season) salary of $1.4 million US — fabulous loot for the likes of you and me. But point-per-game rabble-rousing wingers pull down considerably more.
Maybe the most difficult part is finding a comparable for Bourque — a fiesty forward with edge/skill, heading into his prime.
Dan Cleary ($2.8 million)?
Dustin Byfuglien ($3 million)?
Dustin Brown ($3.175 million)?
Ryane Clowe ($3.625 million)?
Tuomu Ruutu ($3.8 million)?
Nathan Horton ($4 million)?
Brenden Morrow ($4.1 million)?
Scott Hartnell ($4.2 million)?
Ryan Malone ($4.5 million)?
Who knows?
But Flames boss Darryl Sutter, who will find out soon enough, must love what he’s seeing from the 27-year-old Bourque — an off-season acquisition from the Blackhawks in 2008 . . . for a second-round pick.
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Re: Retaining Bourque -- a pricey proposition? (Score: 1) by jstevens_SENS(sens@ottawa.com) on Thursday, October 29 (User Info | Send a Message)
I'd be a little nervous to hear what he gets... to me I think hes not worth more than 3mil a season MAX... hes 27, he's having a good start... he shouldn't make more than Brown or Clowe who are clearly better than him...and the rest down that list you can't even compare. If he does get more than 3mil then it will change what other mediocre players will get hahah and GM's wont be impressed
Re: Retaining Bourque -- a pricey proposition? (Score: 1) by FlamingHomer on Thursday, October 29 (User Info | Send a Message)
It's going to be an interesting off-season for Team Sutter. I can't imagine what current third line center Olli Jokinen is going to have to do for the rest of the season to be considered for re-signing. Bourque and Nystrom will be a priority. They should be able to sign both for the equivalent of what Jokinen makes.
For those of you who haven't seen much of Bourque lately, he has easily been the most consistent Flame since coming over from Chicago. His point production hasn't been luck. There is a good chance he can maintain his pace.
Re: Retaining Bourque -- a pricey proposition? (Score: 1) by pezzz123 on Thursday, October 29 (User Info | Send a Message)
Off-season for the FlamesLet go Olli JokinenResign Rene Bourque for 4 years, 13 millionResign Craig Conroy for 1 year, 1 millionResign Aaron Johnson for 2 years, 1.5 millionResign Eric Nystrom for 3 years, 3.9 millionResign Dustin Boyd for 3 years, 3 millionResign Brandon Prust for 2 years, 1.5 millionDump Cory Sarich to Washington for a 3rd rounder (or whoever wants him)Dump Daymond Langkow to Toronto for a 2nd rounder (or whoever wants him - note to myself : very sad to let him go)Sign Marc Savard 3 years, 18 millionCall-up Mikael BacklundWin the Stanley CupLine-up : Moss - Savard - IginlaBourque - Backlund - DawesGlencross - Conroy - SjostromNystrom - Boyd - PrustBouwmeester - JohnsonRegehr - PhaneufPardy - GiordanoKiprusoffMcEhlinneyCap hit : 52.5 million
Re: Retaining Bourque -- a pricey proposition? (Score: 1) by pezzz123 on Thursday, October 29 (User Info | Send a Message)
Off-season for the Flames
Let go Olli Jokinen
Resign Rene Bourque for 4 years, 13 million
Resign Craig Conroy for 1 year, 1 million
Resign Aaron Johnson for 2 years, 1.5 million
Resign Eric Nystrom for 3 years, 3.9 million
Resign Dustin Boyd for 3 years, 3 million
Resign Brandon Prust for 2 years, 1.5 million
Dump Cory Sarich to Washington for a 3rd rounder (or whoever wants him)
Dump Daymond Langkow to Toronto for a 2nd rounder (or whoever wants him, though I'm VERY sad to let him go)
Re: Retaining Bourque -- a pricey proposition? (Score: 1) by Kramer on Thursday, October 29 (User Info | Send a Message)
Players should be eating more popcorn. While waiting in line to buy Fruit Loops, I was reading in a tabloid magazine that popcorn makes you feel really light and makes you run faster.
Re: Retaining Bourque -- a pricey proposition? (Score: 1) by mojo19 on Thursday, October 29 (User Info | Send a Message)
Lets say he hits the open market, how much would he get?
I think it depends, if the cap goes down then less teams will be interested and every team would be paying him less dollars then he'd get if the cap stays put.
That being said, he should still be worth around $3.5 million, if he can keep up this play and somewhat production. Don't expect 80 pts from him, but lets say he's up around 60 or more.
Re: Retaining Bourque -- a pricey proposition? (Score: 1) by cam7777 on Thursday, October 29 (User Info | Send a Message)
It's going to be a good year to sign someone like Bourque. With the cap staying the same, or decreasing by 2-4 million, most teams are going to struggle to resign their own top players and expiring RFA's. Just about everyone has some juggling to do. The big money will go to the big UFA's (Marleau, Savard), and those secondary roles will be filled by extremely cheap, but still useful veterans (ie. Recchi, Holmstrom, or even Torres), while Bourque and Armstrong fall in the pecking order because of their paygrade. For a lot of cap-pressed teams, taking a 1 million dollar chance on Torres for instance, could be a lot more beneficial than inking Bourque to a big 3.5-4.0 million dollar per year deal.
I suspect that term will largely dictate negotiations. It will be risky for Bourque, but if I were his agent, I think I would advise him to take a less expensive, short term contract with a contender (or stay with Calgary), and look to bat one out of the park 2 years down the road when the cap is back on the rise. Say 2 years, 5.5-6.0 million would do it. Otherwise, I'm not sure there will be a whole lot of teams willing to invest a bigger cap hit for longer term, and it could mean signing with a lesser franchise (ie. Florida, Nashville, the Islanders).
Of course, this all assumes that Bourque will regress as the season goes on and end up more in the 55-65 point range. If he hits 70-85 points this year, then of course he is a lock for getting a big contract somewhere. I just don't think that's a realistic expectation. He's a good player, but he is going to slow down sooner or later. The bounces won't stay favorable all season.
Re: Retaining Bourque -- a pricey proposition? (Score: 1) by trueblue(trueblue@MSG.com) on Friday, October 30 (User Info | Send a Message)
If i remeber correctly either last year or the year prior Bourque got off to a hot start as well and looked pretty good... maybe he is finally coming into his own.... i think GM's are going to take a wait and see aproach... and i unless he continues like this all season long =, i cant see him getting a long term contract... maybe someone takes a chance on him and stakes some money down on him but for a couple years only... well see.... he's a good player and when i heard chicago let him walk i thought they made a mistake... now i think they royally @#$%ed up... oh well
