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If you grew up in the 80’s, there’s a solid chance you saw an odd kid’s science-fiction movie called “The Neverending Story”. Essentially now viewed as psychologically damaging (watching a horse slowly drown to death, not great) the actual main villain was called “the nothing”. A literal set of storm clouds that devoured all meaningful content. That’s pretty much the catalyst for the Detroit Red Wings news cycle right now.

We are waiting for the announcement of 3 deals in the forms of Seider, Raymond and Berggren. There may be other items in play, so any information would be welcome. Yesterday, I sat in the ER and just continually scrolled for news nuggets. (I’m ok, just taking antibiotics now). Then I saw the headline of Travis Konecny’s new contract. 8 years x 70m. I immediately texted a friend whose first response was, “weren’t they trying to trade him?” Who knows. But that deal went to a 27 year old and is the largest dollar amount in Philadelphia history surpassing Mike Richard’s 7.9. Mike’s career ended on a bit of a down note, but there aren’t too many great ways to ride off into the sunset (being snagged at the border ranks pretty low though).

This brought me to Raymond. The assumption has been put out by many of a max term deal for Seider in the realm of 8.5 for Seider, with a wide variance of options for Lucas Raymond. He broke 30 goals in his 3rd season, 23 goals his first season, with a dip in season 2 of 17. Sophomore slumps aren’t uncommon, so what is the long term projection for Raymond as a player? (Well, he’s a winger first and foremost so that can shift the projected $)inaccurate, corrected in above as Konecny is also a winger. Regardless Konecny’s last 3 seasons see 33, 31 and 16 goals scored. His first three years saw 12, 24 and 24. The center (correction, winger. Thanks to H2 for the correct) hit the 31 mark at 25 in just 60 games played. Raymond is already ahead on that metric. So, what does this mean to the agents?

It’s been noted that the term and dollars may have been outside of expectations, but a “non flat cap” comparable has been made in terms of numbers. Is Detroit looking at a similar number for Raymond on a long term deal? That would (personal opinion) push Seider to 9 if this is a game of sports agent chicken. There’s rumblings of a potential buyout but I haven’t seen anything definite. Yzerman’s first 2 first round picks are for the most part well thought of. I don’t know how the conversations are going and what is being bandied about.

If there is either a buyout, trade or waiver, it would depend on the dollars gained and players involved but I would think it to be inextricably linked to these deals. The antibiotics may be taking over so please let me know your thoughts in the comments. Does Philadelphia’s signing directly impact the current conversations or were the numbers laid down during inception standing on their own merit for Raymond and Seider? As always, I look forward to hearing your takes.

*Broadcast Buzz update - please stop here if you don’t really want to get into the broadcast discussion.

I actually had an inbox message yesterday asking for an update. I have an unpublished post that is WAY too long. There are too many moving parts. I’m going to sum it up like this - if you’re reading this and wondering how to watch Detroit next years, make plans for streaming. It may not be necessary, but it certainly feels that things are heading that direction. The bankruptcy court has to finalize a decision by 7/31. MLB just completed their league owned streaming “epicenter” where reliance on RSNs won’t be needed. This came as Bally was unavailable in the Minnesota Market on all but DirecTV/Stream and Charter. It actually caused radio volumes to go up significantly. Bally is already technically dissolved. Diamond sports (the owning entity) took the name and the rights. They are trying to get Comcast back because that loss will not go well in court. On the other side, TNT was outbid for its NBA package by NBC and are desperately trying to get the package obtained by Amazon (the league has said no). This will directly impact TNT’s viewership and ability to pay for other licenses. That’s as deep as I’ll take you but the regional packages for the NBA and MLB affect what is available to the NHL. Once we have a decision, we’ll find out a direction.

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