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Wednesday, October 6, 1999
Get real, Iggy!
How can a young star such as Jarome Iginla hold out for a contract he doesn't really deserve?
That's how Sutter views the holdout of Iginla as the team ushers in the new season at home tonight.
Sutter unleashed a verbal attack on Iginla yesterday over the holdout that leaves the team without its leading goal scorer from last year.
Iginla is hoping to achieve a contract that would put him into a class with Ottawa's Wade Redden at about $1.8 million per season. The Flames are countering with an offer they feel more realistically reflect Iginla's value.
Those kind of comparison raised Sutter's ire yesterday.
"We want Iggy here, you're damn right, but I'm not losing sleep over it," said Sutter, a former player who negotiated his own contracts.
"Some of the people I know Jarome is comparing himself to there is a major difference. Those players helped their team make the playoffs. There's a big time difference between what Iggy is talking about.
"All I've heard for a couple years here is how great a player Iggy is. He's young. He hasn't led this team out of the wilderness.
"There is a major difference between him and Wade Redden.
"That's a very poor comparison.
"One guy has played a major role in making the playoffs, and that's the only reason you play. I do know (GM Al) Coates has offered him one hell of a contract, and I do know that as a youngster, you cannot get paid for what you think you are going to do."
Sutter compared it to his own situation as a player.
"I was a top player at my position my third year in the league and I was making way under the league average. The next year I got the league average. When I got my next contract, then there was only a few guys in the league earning a bit more than me.
"I earned it. Young kids don't earn what they get now. Their agents get it because some fool overpaid somebody else.
"If they don't like what they get, it's like, 'I'll take my puck and go play my own game.' This is reality. The first thing agents say is this (salary comparisons) is reality. But if somebody wants to do that, that doesn't make it right."
There has been no progress reported in negotiations with Iginla.
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