It’s a slow August Friday, so let’s shake it up a bit with a column from Matt Cooke’s favorite sports writer, the Ottawa Sun’s Don Brennan.
In his latest piece, Brennan expressed disappointment that former Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson was willing to throw away his Ottawa legacy to go to, of all places, Detroit.
He acknowledged the move was all about the money.
Without repeating Alfredsson’s chronology of how it all went down, the bottom line is he would have been handsomely rewarded had he stayed put. As well paid as he will be with the Red Wings? Maybe, or maybe a few hundred thousand shy of that. So a guy who has earned between $60-70 million from the Senators is going to a dump like Detoilet -- and if you have ever visited Motown’s downtown, you can’t object to that classification -- over a measly mil?
It’s nice that he’s taking the family on a “new adventure,” but the Alfredssons aren’t exactly on their way to Disney World. The boys are being torn from their friends and schools and hockey programs, and while their new house is sure to be in a ritzy neighbourhood, it’s not like Hugo and Loui will be able to play road hockey outside Joe Louis Arena while dad is at practice. The sticks would be stolen out of their hands.
Brennan, who said that Alfredsson revealed himself as “just another greedy athlete,” ended his piece with some strong words for Sens owner Eugene Melnyk.
Is Alfredsson, at age 40, worth $7 million a year? Of course not. As strictly a player, like he will be in Detroit, he’s valued about right at $3.5 million plus bonuses. But for all he’s done as a Senator, what he means to Ottawa and what he can still bring, $7 million is a bargain.
If Melnyk doesn’t see that, or couldn’t afford such an amount while acquiring Bobby Ryan, then we should all be worried for the Senators.
Related: ‘Disappointed’ Sens GM Murray says Alfie misinformed