$6 Million And The "C"!?!

Reports out of Russia are saying Saku Koivu is definitely out, and Montreal is offering Alexei Kovalev $6 million and the captaincy for the 2009-2010 season. Koivu may very well be done with the Canadiens, and Kovalev hopefully will be back, but there are a few things wrong with this picture.

First of all, $6 million, are you freakin' kidding me! No chance. Kovalev is an amazing talent, but he's gonna be 37 soon, and if NHL players were stocks, he'd be far and away the most volatile thing on the market.

Secondly, the captaincy has traditionally been voted on by the players, not used as ammo in contract negotiations. I'm not saying Kovalev shouldn't be the captain next year if Koivu leaves. He played some of his best games wearing the "C" when Koivu was out last year, but I highly doubt Bob Gainey would include it in a contract.

Thirdly, teams that are up for sale tend not to make huge risky contract offers to UFAs. Prospective owners could frown upon large contracts being offered to aging, enigmatic, one-dimensional players, who can be invisible on the ice some nights.

Kovalev's stats for 2008-2009: 26 goals, 65 points, -5.

Would anyone offer these guys $6 million? Probably not.

Devin Setoguchi- 31 goals, 65 points, +16

Derek Roy- 28 goals, 70 points, -5

Alex Ponikarovsky- 23 goals, 61 points, +5