Team 10 Carl Gunnarsson Club Side
I) Introduction This brief will analyze Toronto Maple Leafs (the Leafs or the Club ) defenceman ( Mr. Gunnarsson ), in the regards to his upcoming arbitration hearing. The purpose of this brief is to outline the reasons for which Mr. Gunnarsson should be entitled to a salary that is less than the $3.15 million set as the mid-point. Mr. Gunnarsson is a 26-year-old Swedish left-handed, defenseman who played the most recent NHL season with the Toronto Maple Leafs. As a junior hockey player, Mr. Gunnarsson played in for the Linköpings Hockey Club in the Swedish Hockey League. At present, Mr. Gunnarsson has earned four years of professional experience and is eligible for salary arbitration in accordance with section 12.1 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement ( CBA ). 1 As outlined in section 12.9(g) of the CBA, the following evidence may be introduced in support of an arbitration award: overall statistical performance of the player in previous season (both offensive and defensive statistics); the number of games played by the Player; the length of service of the player (in the league and/or with the club); the overall contribution of the Player to the competitive success or failure of the Club in the preceding season; any special qualities of leadership or public appeal; the overall performance and salary of players who are alleged to be comparable to the Player whose salary is in dispute. 2 This brief will be address each of these points individually. After having considered the evidence presented in this brief, it will be clear that Mr. Gunnarsson s statistical play, warrant a salary arbitration award of less than $3.15 Million. 1 NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement, 2012, s. 12.1(a)- (c), available online: <http://cdn.agilitycms.com/nhlpacom/pdf/nhl_nhlpa_2013_cba.pdf> 2 Ibid at s.12.9(g)(ii)(a)- (G).
II) Mr. Gunnarsson s Overall Performance Table 1: Carl Gunnarsson s career statistics 3 A) Career Performance Mr. Gunnarsson is known as an offensive minded defenseman and has been a relatively consistent point producer, averaging 0.31 points per game. While Mr. Gunnarsson has at times in each season shown potential as an offensive defenseman, he has failed to produce a remarkable single season. Table 2: Carl Gunnarsson s point production amongst Leafs defencemen 4 3 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474125 4 Ibid.
Since entering the league, Mr. Gunnarsson s Relative Corsi Quality of Competition 5 is consistently greater than 0, indicating that he is matched up against the opposition s tougher players. While Mr. Gunnarsson is lined up against tougher players the Leafs are actually worse when he is on the ice. In addition, with the exception of the 2010/2011 season, Mr. Gunnarsson s Relative Corsi 6 has consistently been below 0, indicating that the Leafs had greater opportunities when Mr. Gunnarsson was off the ice than when he was on the ice. Mr. Gunnarsson is also a below-average defender. Mr. Gunnarsson s career totals on giveaways and takeaways are evidence of this fact. At the end of the 2012/2013 season Mr. Gunnarsson had a career total of 177 giveaways to just 77 takeaway, a ratio of just over 2.25 giveaways for each takeaway. The statistics therefore indicate that Mr. Gunnarsson a below-average defender. B) 2012/2013 Regular Season for Carl Gunnarsson In the 39 games that Mr. Gunnarsson played in 2012/2013, he scored a relatively unimpressive 15 points and shot a career low 3.6%. 7 Despite being an offensive defenseman, Mr. Gunnarsson was a liability on the Power Play, failing to record a single Power Play point all season. 8 Table 3: Carl Gunnarsson s Special Teams production amongst Leafs defencemen 9 5 The Relative Corsi Quality of Competition is used to compare the quality of competition when the player is on the ice. 6 Relative Corsi measure the difference in shot differential when the player is on the ice as compared to when he is off the ice. 7 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474125&view=stats 8 http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchkey=20132tordadall&sort=powerplaypoints&viewname=scorin gleaders 9 Ibid.
C) 2012/2013 Playoff for Carl Gunnarsson After the Leafs finished fifth in the Eastern Conference they played the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs. Despite playing just over 22 minutes per game, Mr. Gunnarsson only contributed 1 point to the Leafs playoff run and gave the puck away five times to his one takeaway. 10 The most telling statistic of this playoff run is Mr. Gunnarsson s Relative Corsi, which was an abysmal -22.0, which ranks him as the eighth lowest defenseman in the playoffs in this statistical category. III) Number of Games Played and Injury History With 226 career NHL games, Mr. Gunnarsson is, at 26 years old, and established NHL veteran. Mr. Gunnarsson has yet to have an injury-free campaign, and has miss significant time in three of his four NHL seasons. 11 In his platform season of 2012/2013, Mr. Gunnarsson missed a total of 11 games with a chronic hip injury, particularly troubling for a mobile defenceman. IV) Length of Service While his overall length of service (four seasons, all with the Leafs) is favourable to Mr. Gunnarsson, his lack of a standout season and (as will be discussed below) want for intangible qualities of leadership or public appeal militate towards a lower salary than the $3.15 million mid-point. 10 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474125&view=splits&season=20122013&gametype=3 11 http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?id=5218
V) Overall Contribution to the Club The value of Mr. Gunnarsson s overall contribution to the Leafs overall success is unclear. The Leafs consistently had lesser puck possession and fewer offensive opportunities when Mr. Gunnarsson was on the ice. 12 Table 4: Carl Gunnarsson s On-Ice Corsi relative to Leafs defenceman in 2012/2013 13 Mr. Gunnarsson s production remained static in the Leafs seven playoff games, as managed to record only 1 point and had his relative minutes reduced to 4th most amongst Leafs defenceman. 14 VI) Special Qualities of Leadership or Public Appeal Mr. Gunnarsson is not a Captain or Alternate Captain for the Leafs. Mr. Gunnarsson is not regarded as a fan favourite, and is of middling status amongst Leafs players. VII) Comparable Players A) P.K. Subban 12 http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_statistics.php?ds=30&f1=2012_s&f2=5v5&f4=d&f5=tor&c=0+1+3+5+4+6+7+8 +13+14+29+30+32+33+34+45+46+63+67 13 Ibid. 14 http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchkey=20133tordadall&sort=avgtoipergame&viewname=summa ry; Mike Kostka is ommitted as he played only 1 playoff game.
Table 5: P.K. Subban career statistics. 15 P.K. Subban re-signed with the Montreal Canadiens as a restricted free agent following the 2011/2012 season. While he was somewhat younger than Mr. Gunnarsson at the time (23), he had played a comparable number of NHL games (160). In his platform year of 2011/2012, Subban put up favourable offensive numbers as compared to Mr. Gunnarsson, as he recorded 0.44 points-per-game, while making a significant Powerplay contribution, scoring 14 Powerplay points, first amongst Montreal defenceman. 16 Subban, accordingly, was rewarded with a twoyear contract worth an annual $2.875 million. P.K. Subban s contract marks a more appropriate salary range for Mr. Gunnarsson. Mr. Gunnarsson has seldom shown himself to be capable of being a top-pairing defenceman, while Subban played the majority of his time as one of Montreal s top-two defenders, playing consistently against tougher competition and finishing second in overall Corsi-efficiency. 17 B) Matt Niskanen Table 6: Matt Niskanen career statistics. 18 15 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474056#&navid=nhl- search 16 http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchkey=20122mtlsasall&sort=powerplaypoints&viewname=scorin gleaders 17 http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_statistics.php?ds=30&s=29&f1=2011_s&f2=5v5&f4=d&f5=mtl&c=0+1+3+5+4 +6+7+8+13+14+29+30+32+33+34+45+46+63+67# 18 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8471702#&navid=nhl- search
The Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Matt Niskanen is a secondary example of an appropriate comparable player to Mr. Gunnarsson. Niskanen re-signed with the Penguins following the 2011/2012 season for an annual salary of $2.3 million. Niskanen is the same age as Mr. Gunnarsson (26), and, like Mr. Gunnarsson, has struggled throughout his career to remain healthy for an entire season. Like Mr. Gunnarsson, Niskanen has shown the ability to be a consistent offensive producer, but at the time of his contract renegotiation, had yet to show the ability to be a top-tier defender. His upside, however, is undisputed, as he was a first round draft pick (28th overall) who played in the 2007/2008 NHL YoungStars Game, and the 2008/2009 IIHF World Championships. C) Kyle Quincey Table 7: Kyle Quincey career statistics. 19 19 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474056#&navid=nhl- search
Kyle Quincey re-signed with the Detroit Red Wings following the 2011/2012 season for an annual salary of $3.775 million. Once establishing himself in the NHL in 2008/2009, Quincey went on to produce 94 points in his next 244 NHL games, an average of 0.39 points-per-game. At the time of his contract renegotiation, Quincey had three times recorded over 25 points in a season, while Mr. Gunnarsson s has only once achieved 20. While Quincey has shown to be equally as injury prone as Mr. Gunnarsson, he was at the time of his renegotiation older and more experienced, and his proven top-end point production demonstrates an offensive upside not yet shown in Gunnarsson. VIII) Conclusion Mr. Gunnarsson is an offensive defenceman who struggled mightily offensively in his platform year. He failed to contribute to the Leafs Power Play, and continued his career trend of below-average defence. Mr. Gunnarsson is at this time a second-tier defenceman. An appropriate salary range for Mr. Gunnarsson is more in line with that of P.K. Subban, who, like Mr. Gunnarsson, showed offensive potential, but had yet to mature into a top-tier defenceman in his platform year. For the above reasons, Mr. Gunnarsson should be awarded an amount of less than $3.15 million.