What can you get for 1.25 million dollars?
You might be able to buy a high-performance hypercar, like , which was sold for $1 million when it was new. If you want something that looks like a McLaren Senna but a lot more of them, you could buy approximately 1,146,789 individual Hot Wheels cars.
You could buy , stay 12 nights in (the most expensive hotel room in the world), or you might actually be able to afford a detached house in Vancouver, which is saying a lot. You could even be reasonable and use it to pay off debts and invest the rest.
Or you could do what the 麻豆传媒映画Canucks did on Wednesday night: pay for 16 minutes of goaltending from Jaroslav Halak.
Former Canucks GM Jim Benning signed Halak to backup Thatcher Demko but had to get a bit creative with the terms of the deal to fit Halak under the salary cap. The base salary and signing bonus of 贬补濒补办鈥檚 deal total $1.5 million, giving him a $1.5 million cap hit this season. But, because Halak is over 35, they were able to add $1.5 million in performance bonuses to entice Halak to sign.
Halak has two performance bonuses. One is for $250,000 if he carries a save percentage of at least .905 through the season. The second is $1.25 million if he plays in at least 10 games.
Wednesday night鈥檚 game against the New York Islanders was 贬补濒补办鈥檚 10th game.
He lasted just 16 minutes and 19 seconds, as the Islanders scored 5 goals on 12 shots.
It wasn鈥檛 entirely 贬补濒补办鈥檚 fault. The Canucks were absolutely dreadful defensively in the first period and were completely outplayed by the Islanders in pretty much every facet of the game.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not ready to play,鈥� said head coach Bruce Boudreau about his team. 鈥淚 give them credit, as they never quit and they played really hard in the second and third, but we talk about self-preparation all the time and coming to the game ready to play.
鈥淯sually, an NHL game, it鈥檚 an all-day thing. It鈥檚 not just coming to the game, putting your skates on and saying 鈥楲et鈥檚 go,鈥� you鈥檝e got to prepare the right way mentally for the game and we obviously weren鈥檛 there the last two games. That has to get better.鈥�
Boudreau certainly doesn鈥檛 mince words.
Now, technically the Canucks might not end up paying that $1.25 million to Halak. Someone will, but it might not be the Canucks.
The bonus is not paid immediately 鈥� if it were, the bonus would immediately put the Canucks over the salary cap, they wouldn鈥檛 be able to use LTIR to cover it, and the bonus would have to be applied to next season鈥檚 cap. Instead, the bonus doesn鈥檛 need to be paid until the end of the season, .
If the Canucks were to trade Halak, they could negotiate to have the team taking him also take on the responsibility of paying for the bonus, which would likely lower the asking price. Alternatively, the Canucks could move out enough salary to no longer be in LTIR by the end of the season and fit 贬补濒补办鈥檚 bonus under the salary cap, but that would require some major moves.
As it stands, however, that was a very expensive 16 minutes for the Canucks that not only cost them the game but might also cost them $1.25 million against the cap next season.
On the plus side, 贬补濒补办鈥檚 performance brought him down to a .903 save percentage this season, so maybe they鈥檒l be able to avoid that other bonus of $250,000.
I looked on the bright side when I watched this game.
- You could treat this game as a microcosm of the 颁补苍耻肠办蝉鈥� season. They had a terrible start but then got things together after making a change 鈥� management and coaching for the season, goaltending for the game 鈥� but it wasn鈥檛 quite enough to make up for the hole they put themselves in. The Canucks are, of course, hoping the season ends differently.
- It was a really bad sign when the Canucks gave up a 2-on-0 breakaway three minutes into the game when Oliver Ekman-Larsson whiffed on a drop pass from Vasily Podkolzin and Noah Juulsen gambled on a hit instead of conservatively backing up into the neutral zone. It was a messy play from the pairing but Halak bailed them out with a superb right pad stop on Matt Martin.
- Unfortunately, the 2-on-0 breakaway was more of a harbinger of things to come than 贬补濒补办鈥檚 excellent save. Seconds after the breakaway, the Islanders opened the scoring when Ekman-Larsson was unable to either get inside position on Zach Parise or take his stick and the 37-year-old winger banged in a centring pass from Noah Dobson.
- 18 seconds later, Brock Nelson tipped in an Adam 鈥淣ot Pulock鈥� Pelech point shot to make it 2-0. Tyler Myers didn鈥檛 help much: standing in front of Halak, he moved right into his line of sight as the shot was taken and tried to shove Nelson out of the way instead of tying up the forward鈥檚 stick. That wasn鈥檛 shoving time 鈥� , you鈥檝e got to regulate your shoves.
- Just 13 seconds after the 2-0 goal, it was 3-0. To 闯耻耻濒蝉别苍鈥檚 credit, he at least tied up Anders Lee鈥檚 stick as Ryan 鈥淣ot Pelech鈥� Pulock took a point shot. Unfortunately, it didn鈥檛 matter, as Lee angled his skate to expertly deflect the puck past Halak.
- After three goals in just 31 seconds, Boudreau called a timeout, but it didn鈥檛 seem to help. Ekman-Larsson had trouble sticking with Anthony Beauvillier, giving him space to find Casey Cizikas at the backdoor, who was open because of a poor defensive read by Juulsen. Cizikas had position on Juulsen and was able to chip the puck over Halak on the backhand.
- Three minutes later, some more questionable defence by Juulsen and Ekman-Larsson led to the 5-0 goal. Facing an Islanders transition, Juulsen gambled on poking away a pass in the neutral zone, missed, and was unable to keep Lee from gaining the 颁补苍耻肠办蝉鈥� zone. Meanwhile, Ekman-Larsson misjudged the rush and couldn鈥檛 keep pace with Mathew Barzal, who got in behind the veteran defenceman for a breakaway, pulled the puck to the forehand, and went upstairs on Halak.
- That was the end of 贬补濒补办鈥檚 night. 鈥淲e hung Jaro out to dry,鈥� said Bo Horvat. 鈥淥bviously, it鈥檚 unacceptable by us, not being ready to go that game.鈥�
- Ekman-Larsson somewhat made amends for his earlier foibles with the 颁补苍耻肠办蝉鈥� first goal just before the end of the first period. The line of Nils 贬枚驳濒补苍诲别谤, Elias Pettersson, and Vasily Podkolzin attacked the net and a rebound popped out to Ekman-Larsson in the high slot. He caught the puck, , then smacked it towards the net, sending it past a 贬枚驳濒补苍诲别谤 screen, off the post, and in.
- The Canucks looked like a completely different team in the second period, led by the line of 贬枚驳濒补苍诲别谤, Pettersson, and Podkolzin, who were easily the 颁补苍耻肠办蝉鈥� best line. When they were on the ice together at 5-on-5, the Canucks out-shot the Islanders 12-to-3, which is outright dominant.
- Pettersson got the 颁补苍耻肠办蝉鈥� second goal on a power move to the front of the net. Podkolzin poked the puck free to Pettersson along the boards and Pettersson cut to the net, fighting off Andy Greene to make like an Olympic curler and sweep the puck around Ilya Sorokin like he was a centre guard.
- Just over a minute later, Luke Schenn gave Canucks fans reason to believe in a comeback. Brad Hunt rung the puck around the boards and Conor Garland smartly let the puck go past him to Schenn. The burly defenceman sent the puck towards the net on a wing and a prayer 鈥� the prayers were answered with a deflection off Cizikas in front, sending the puck five-hole on Sorokin.
- The Canucks continued to pour on the pressure like . They hemmed the Islanders in their zone for long shifts, creating chance after chance, but couldn鈥檛 beat Sorokin. J.T. Miller nearly had a goal on a point-blank chance after Tanner Pearson stole the puck along the boards, but Sorokin kicked it out like it was a scene with talking, but no walking.
- Sorry, , not Ilya Sorokin. Honest mistake.
- 鈥淥nce [the Islanders] get a lead, they're tough to beat,鈥� said Boudreau, 鈥渂ut I thought if Miller had've scored that one goal at the end of the second period, we would have been tough to stop.鈥�
- Instead, the Canucks didn鈥檛 score again and Martin ended Thatcher 顿别尘办辞鈥檚 pseudo-shutout bid in relief with a late goal to make it 6-3. Myers was victimized on the goal, as Cizikas neatly lifted his stick as he went back for a puck in his own zone, and Myers laid out flat on the ice in a desperate attempt to block a pass to Martin. It didn鈥檛 work and Martin beat Demko under the blocker.
- There were plenty of positives to take from this game. 笔别迟迟别谤蝉蝉辞苍鈥檚 line was legitimately fantastic and will hopefully get a long look together as the season goes on. Schenn had a solid game playing his usual physical brand of defence. I thought Brock Boeser quietly played great, creating some dangerous chances as the game progressed. It just wasn鈥檛 enough to make up for that awful first period.
- Ekman-Larsson, Myers, and Juulsen stood out the most for their poor defensive play in this game. Brad Hunt also had some rough spots, giving up a second 2-on-0 breakaway with a dreadful giveaway at the 滨蝉濒补苍诲别谤蝉鈥� blue line that Demko stopped. I can鈥檛 help but think of Boudreau saying, 鈥渙ur strength is defence right now.鈥�
