As I look out across the North American landscape, I see contracts of all types, some boggle my mind and I don't just mean sport contracts.
Here on the Island, the recent raises granted to the 27 MLAs to a base $72,000 for a part-time job, plus a “Trumpian” pension plan, governing 140,000 souls, (a province the size of Guelph, Ont.), got me thinking of NHL and NFL contracts.
Like here, the NHL guarantees the contracts of all players except for the rare buyout.
If you're wondering what's wrong with the Edmonton Oilers maybe a look at their scoring stats and some of their lavish contracts will give you the answer.
Leon Draisaitl is making about $9 million per year after one big season in the NHL playing on a line with superstar Connor McDavid while foot soldier Milan Lucic is getting $5 million a year. These are two terrible contracts. If the playoffs started tomorrow, the Oilers would be watching not playing.
One would think that NHL GMs would be a little hesitant about handing out huge, long-term contracts after the debacle with the Rick DiPietro 15-year deal, the 10 years to Alexei Yashin and the eight-year Scott Gomez contract, which were all signed since 2001.
The list of highly overpaid players is a long one with old favourites like Rick Nash (8-8, 16 points this season), Jason Spezza (5-6, 11) Dion Phaneuf (3-8, 11), Bobby Ryan (1-8, 9) and Jonathan Drouin (5-12, 17 points) all making between $5-8 million and leading their respective clubs out of the playoffs. There are dozens and dozens of NHL contracts today the owners would like to tear up and forget about forever but they can't because of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which brings me to my point.
The NFL, however, has a clause in the players’ contracts, except for the very elite players, which guarantees only a portion of the contract citing skill and injury as key conditions in the contract. In other words, if you cannot perform as expected or you get injured, the contract, in most cases, changes significantly. Just imagine, the money the taxpayers and indeed Premier Wade MacLauchlan could save if the MLAs had a performance clause in their contract. Sounds interesting.
Basketball
I told readers this year's Island Storm is the best basketball team we've ever had here. The impressive win here Thursday night combined with Moncton's overtime win over Halifax vaults the Storm into first place in the Atlantic conference.
The big difference is head coach Tim Kendrick plays everybody and goes to the bench frequently unlike previous years. On Thursday night, aside from the usual stars Andre Stringer, Franklin Session, Du’Vaughn Maxwell, etc., ex-UPEI Panther Tyler Scott had his best game as a pro with 26 points, Torrence Dyck Jr. looked great and Marcus Bell was nasty in both ends and how about his three-pointer? First place on Christmas Day and a Boxing Day game here, that's a Christmas present.
Harness racing
Live harness racing continues this afternoon at 12:30 p.m. with a 16-dash card with the $2,400 top class saved for the finale with horses like Rose Run Quest, Adkins Hanover, Nogreatmischief, Heart and Soul, Czar Seelster and four others.
Young Dale Spence bagged four straight winners on last Sunday’s Truro card, including the top class with Weather Hanover. Spence is part of the young up-and-coming P.E.I. drivers’ colony. The list includes Spence as well as the CDP's third-leading driver in wins Adam Merner and Marc Campbell's right-hand man, Ryan DesRoche. Another young talent, who is already among the best, is Corey MacPherson, who is fourth in wins despite being sidelined for most of July and August. He has talent.
At Woodbine this evening, a number of Maritime-connected horses are in the 10-dash card, including the Rockin In Heaven, His Boy Elroy and Physicallyinclined.
James MacDonald is back in the Western world after a 10-day trip to Australia with his brother Curtis and Marcus Miller. James won at Glouster Park in Perth, Australia, on the Inter-Dominion card and he and Marcus finished fourth in the competition against Aussie and New Zealand drivers.
A couple of highly regarded Anzac pacers meet in tonight's $20,000 top class at the Meadowlands in Christen Me N and Tullow N, should be interesting.
At Yonkers, New York, last Friday night, Maritime-breds Abner the Great was second in 1:55, purse $15,000, while and All About Madi was a close second in 1:53.2 (purse $25,000). Mark MacDonald is on holidays until Yonkers opens in the New Year.
Merner and Brett MacDonald are in the running for the rising star awards on O'Brien night, Feb. 3. Great choices and both Maritimers.
Fred MacDonald's column appears every Saturday in The Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected].
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Online extra
Jason Malloy, one of the top, young newspapermen on the sports beat in Atlantic Canada, and yours truly, The Sports Prophet, will be featured in a new online Guardian sports show.
CLICK HERE to view the first episode of the weekly feature. You can find the show on the ticker at the top of the homepage. I am confident you will enjoy this show and the future editions.
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Pigskin picks
The NFL heads into Week 15 and there are a number of key games with playoff implications.
Last week, we blew two games when we had the information at our fingertips. For example, Seattle is tough at home but less than .500 on the road, yet we bet Seattle against a stronger Jacksonville team. Oakland is 0-4 at Arrowhead, but we bet the Raiders all because of the perceived value.
Let's take a look at key games this week.
Arizona Cardinals (6-7) at Washington Redskins (5-8) – The Redskins are 8-1 in their last nine against the Cardinals. Stay with the numbers and the Skins.
New England Patriots (10-3) at Pittsburgh Steelers (11-2) – This game is for first-place overall. New England is 10-2 in the last 12 games, including playoffs with Steelers, but the Steel City boys have won every time they are home dogs, which they are Sunday. I like the Steelers in this one.
LA Chargers (7-6) at Kansas City Chiefs (7-6) – The Chiefs have won seven straight against the Chargers, including 24-10 earlier this season. Charger QB Phil Rivers has been razor sharp, but Kansas City at home is too tough a hill to climb.
LA Rams (9-4) at Seattle Seahawks (8-5) – The Seahawks at home are tough to beat and they beat the Rams 16-10 earlier in the season. This is an even money game and I'm not sold on the Seahawks. Let's pass on this one.
Miami Dolphins (6-7) at Buffalo Bills (7-6) – I usually don't like The Fish coming north in December and the Bills are still without Tyrod Taylor. The Fish upset the Patriots and Jay Cutler looked razor sharp, so without Taylor I look for a Miami upset.
