IN THE MATTER OF A SALARY ARBITRATION BETWEEN: SAM GAGNER (The Player ) and THE EDMONTON OILERS (The Club ) THE PLAYER S BRIEF Team 9 Counsel for The Player
INDEX I: Introduction. 1 Page (a) Player Overview (b) Pre-NHL Career.1..1 (c) NHL Career: Overall Performance, Including Official Statistics... 2 i. Regular Season..2 ii. Number of Games Played/Injuries.. 3 iii. Length of Service With the Club.. 3 iv. Overall Contribution to the Success or Failure of the Club in the Preceding Season. 3 v. Special Qualities of Leadership or Appeal..4 II: Salary Arbitration Principles.4 III: Selection Criteria for Comparable Players 5 IV: Valid Comparable Players 6 V: Conclusion and Salary Request 9
I. Introduction The following brief has been prepared on behalf of Sam Gagner (player) as part of his salary arbitration. The information outlined in this brief begins with a player overview as well as pre-nhl and NHL career statistics and performance, inclusive of games played/injuries, length of service with the Club, the overall contribution to the success and/or failure of the Club, leadership qualities and public appeal. Following the player profile, the agreed upon salary arbitration principles are outlined as well as the criteria that was used by the Club for comparable player selection. Comparable players will then be outlined and discussed with reference to Gagner and the current arbitration hearing. Based on the information provided below, this brief concludes with the request that any award received by Sam Gagner be above $3.2 M per year. (a) Player Overview Sam Gagner was a first round pick (6 th overall) of the Edmonton Oilers in the 2007 entry draft. 1 Born in London, Ontario on August 10, 1989, the 5 11, 195 lbs center reads the ice well and fits the role of a high-end second line centre. In 2011-12, Gagner played 75 regular season games, recording 18 goals and 29 assists for a total of 47 points. 2 (b) Pre-NHL career Prior to entering the NHL, Gagner played for the Toronto Marlboros in the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) for four seasons starting in 2001-2002. He played in 295 games and recorded 250 goals, 371 assists, and 621 points. 3 During the 2004-2005 season he also played 13 games for the Milton Icehawks of the Ontario Provincial Jr. A Hockey League (OPJHL), recording 15 points. Gagner spent the 2005-2006 season with the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League (USHL), recording 46 points in 56 games. In 1 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474040#&navid=nhl-search 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 1
2006-2007, his only season in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Gagner recorded 118 points in only 53 games with the London Knights. He would go on to record 29 points in 16 playoff games that season. These impressive statistics propelled him to being drafted sixth overall in the 2007 NHL draft. 4 (c) NHL Career: Overall Performance, Including Official Statistics i. Regular season: Sam Gagner represents the earliest stage of the Edmonton Oilers rebuild, a high draft choice who made the jump directly to the NHL, where he has been a consistent scorer. His strength is his play making ability and now surrounded by talented young wingers Gagner is poised for a break through production year. Since entering the league in 2007, Gagner has scored 220 points in 366 games, a point per game pace of 0.60. 5 Gagner s 2011-2012 season was marked by a career high 18 goals. His 47 points were the most since his rookie season and marked the fifth straight year he scored in the 40-49 point range. Even more impressive, 35 of his 47 points were scored at even strength. 6 Of the 2007 draft class, only Patrick Kane has more points. 7 Over his five seasons in the NHL, Gagner has shown steady progress to his all-around game. He has seen a gradual increase in his workload, taking on more ice time, harder competition, and slightly more difficult zone starts. Despite increasingly difficult match up assignments, his Relative Corsi (flow of play) results have been trending upwards and he has maintained his offensive production. 8 4 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474040#&navid=nhl-search 5 http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?id=6052#career 6 http://www.canada.com/sports/oilers+gagner+face+arbitration/6964508/story.html 7 http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2007e.html 8 http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_statistics.php?ds=1&f1=2011_s%202010_s%202009_s%202008_s%202007_s&f3 =SAMGAGNER&c=0+1+3+5+4+6+7+8+13+15+17+18+19+20+23+24+25+29+30+32+33+34+45+46+63+67 2
ii. Number of NHL games Played/Injuries Gagner has played in 366 NHL games over 5 seasons. 9 He has missed 54 games over those 5 seasons due to injury, none of which were particularly serious or required him to miss a significant amount of time. Although he has only been healthy throughout the entire season during his rookie year, he has not suffered any catastrophic injuries. 10 Gagner brings a unique mix of youth and experience to the Oilers. He was young for his draft class and has played 5 NHL seasons before reaching his 23rd birthday. iii. Length of Service with the Club After being drafted in the first round (6th overall) of the 2007 entry draft, Gagner has spent his entire professional career with the Edmonton Oilers organization. 11 Despite the challenges that the organization has faced, Gagner has remained loyal to the Club and is a key part of the Oilers rebuilding process. His numbers have been consistent and he can be counted on to be a disciplined playmaker. iv. Overall Contribution to the Success or Failure of the Club in the Preceding Season The Edmonton Oilers organization finished 29th in the league with 74 points in the 2011-2012 season. 12 Despite the 29th place finish, the season was a 12 point improvement over the previous two seasons which found the Oilers placing 30th in the standings. 13 Gagner s offensive production saw him finish 4th overall in points, and 3rd in assists amongst all Oilers during the 2011-2012 season. On a team that was had an overall plus/minus rating of -26, Gagner had a 9 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474040#&navid=nhl-search 10 http://forecaster.thehockeynews.com/hockeynews/hockey/player.cgi?6052&showallmoves=1 11 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474040#&navid=nhl-search 12 http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20112012&type=lea 13 http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20102011&type=lea 3
career high +5 rating, which tied him with defenseman Andy Sutton for the highest rating on the Oilers this past season. 14 Gagner also contributed the most prolific scoring burst that the Oilers had seen since the 1980s. His 4 goals and 4 assists scored in a midseason game against the Chicago Blackhawks tied Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey for most points in a game by an Oiler. 15 As impressive as his game against the Blackhawks was, Gagner followed up that transcendent performance with a 3 point game, capped off with an impressive shootout goal against the Detroit Red Wings a couple of nights later. 16 In all, Gagner finished with 11 points in 2 games against two of the top teams in the Western Conference, going head-to-head against world-class defenders such as Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Nicklas Lidstrom. v. Special Qualities of leadership or Public Appeal In Gagner, the Oilers have a young player with excellent creativity who is one of the team s leaders. He plays hard, hates to lose, does not make excuses, and he produces points without a lot of powerplay ice time. He has shown that he is willing to stick up for teammates, getting in scraps with players that based on size alone should provide for an overwhelming mismatch. 17 Gagner shows heart and possesses strong hockey sense and intelligence, qualities that you cannot teach. II. Salary Arbitration Principles The present arbitration hearing has several unique aspects, making it necessary to briefly outline the relevant principles of Salary Arbitration. Valid comparable players have been identified as those who were arbitration eligible at the end of the 2011-12 or the 2010-11 14 http://oilers.nhl.com/club/stats.htm 15 http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=386789 16 http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=386985 17 http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/01/14/kudos-for-oilers-gagner 4
seasons. It has been agreed however that due to a limited number of comparable players, players who were eligible for arbitration in earlier seasons may be used, with the exception of a salary arbitration award issued in 2005-06. All tendered comparable players must have reached a settlement with their club or received an arbitral award. Pursuant to Article 12.9(g)(iii) of the current CBA this does not include instances where a club exercised its walk away rights. While traditionally the most persuasive comparable players are those that received an award or settlement for a short contract, in instances such as the present arbitration where there is a limited pool of comparable players it has been deemed necessary to review comparable players with longer-term contracts. Finally, it should be noted that for the purposes of this brief all salary numbers are posed in the form of average annual salary. III. Selection Criteria for Comparable Players: In order to select appropriate comparable players for Gagner, players were excluded who received an award or reached a settlement prior to the 2009-2010 season, as those contracts are relatively outdated considering the changes in the salary cap. The search was then narrowed to comparable players to players who, during their platform years, were within 3 years of Gagner s age, whose weight in their platform year was within 6 pounds of Gagner s, whose height in their platform year was within 2 inches of Gagner s, who had played over 250 games in their NHL career, and who were awarded with, or settled for, a contract that paid them over $3 million per season. This search yielded two comparable players: David Perron and T.J. Oshie. Player Age (at time of contract) Height Weight (lbs) Games Played Average salary rewarded (millions) Gagner 22 5 11 195 366? 5
Perron 24 6 0 200 292 $3.8125 Oshie 25 5 11 194 264 $4.175 IV. Valid Comparable Players Sam Gagner v David Perron Signed to a 4 year deal in 2012 worth $14.25 million with an average annual value of $3.1825 million 18, David Perron is valid comparable for our player. Even though Perron is 2 years older, both forwards have been playing in the NHL since the 2007-2008 season. Perron is one inch taller, and has a slightly lighter build. 19 Using per game averages over their career, the two are very similar in both goals and assists and have nearly identical points per game numbers - 0.59 for Perron and 0.60 for Gagner. 20 By comparing the two solely based on their platform year, it is clear that our player is a more complete forward. He may not score as often, but is a far more durable player, having never played fewer than 68 games in a season. Perron, on the other hand played only 57 games in his platform year, and 10 the year before. 21 This was the result of a concussion, sustained in November 2010. Statistically, Perron did more than our player in fewer games, but the risk of reoccurring symptoms still lingers. While our player missed only 2 games due to concussion-like symptoms in December of 2008 22, Perron s injury was much more severe. In August of 2011, more than half a year after the concussion, Perron had not lifted weight yet or trained since the injury. 23 18 http://capgeek.com/players/display.php?id=962 19 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474102&view=splits#&navid=nhl-keymatch 20 http://www.coppernblue.com/2012/7/19/3170382/sam-gagner-edmonton-oilers-heading-to-arbitration 21 Ibid 22 http://forecaster.thehockeynews.com/hockeynews/hockey/player-pn.cgi?6052 23 http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/will-david-perrons-concussion-cost-him-another-bluesseason?urn=nhl,wp10104 6
His comeback is nothing short of remarkable, but the risk cannot be overlooked. Our player provides no inherent risk. He fits in comfortably as a high-end second line centre, and can effectively fill the void of a first-line centre should Ryan Nugent-Hopkins suffer more injury problems. From January 31st to February 21st, our player put up 20 points (9 goals) in 12 games, with 38 shots on goal. Most of this happened when he took Ryan Nugent-Hopkins spot in the lineup, playing between Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle. 24 Our player centered the very successful Penner - Hemsky duo from 2009-2011 and the Hall - Eberle duo in 2010-11. His role as a centre cannot be overlooked, and his improvement at the position adds more value when compared to Perron. It is also important to note that the Oilers are a young, rebuilding team, while the Blues, who finished second in the Western Conference last year, are more than capable of making a Stanley Cup run with the pieces they have in place. At 22 years old, our player fits the mold of what the Oilers are looking for at the centre position: young, reliable, experienced and creative. While David Perron may have the statistically better numbers, he cannot offer the same level of consistency that our player can. Sam Gagner v T.J. Oshie Signed to a 5-year deal worth $20.875 million with an average annual value of $4.175 million, T.J. Oshie is a valid comparable for our player. Oshie has an almost identical frame, but was 3 years older than our player during their platform years. He averaged about 2 more minutes of ice time per game, although most of that was spent on the penalty kill (1:48 vs 0:02), as both players had near identical values otherwise. 25 24 http://.coppernblue.com%2f2012%2f8%2f5%2f3221617%2foilers-top-25-under-25-6-samgagner&ei=xrhtuincb6fryqgg1ihydg&usg=afqjcnhfc-ec_wc0l4rfuaaf0hbwv8ok4q 25 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8471698&view=splits 7
Despite being 3 years older than our player, Oshie has played in 100 fewer NHL games, alternating between healthy and injury-prone seasons. 26 A left ankle fracture in late November 2010 kept him out for 3 months 27, but similar to his team-mate David Perron, Oshie retained his production upon return. This indicates that he was rewarded for achieving a healthy season in his platform year and the potential to continue to produce at a healthy rate. While Oshie is considered to be a 2-way forward, he cannot match our player s ability at centre. The following table shows our players face-off winning percentage. While Oshie s percentages may be increasing, the actual number of faceoffs taken has drastically reduced from his peak in 2010-2011 with 227, to 53 in 2011-2012. 28 Conversely, our player took 701 face-offs in the same year, second on the Oilers to Eric Belanger at 1001. 29 However, to suggest that Belanger is more skilled than our player as a result of this one statistic, would mean over looking point production and ice time, among other things. Season Gagner s Face-off Percentage Oshie s Face-off Percentage 07-08 41.8% N/A 08-09 42.0% 43.1% 09-10 47.4% 41.8% 10-11 43.8% 44.1% 11-12 48.7% 45.3% Additionally, the experience and positive leadership that players bring to the locker room cannot be overlooked. Oshie has had some issues with leadership in the past. He missed a practice in March 2011, and was suspended for 2 games. 30 In 2007, while Oshie was still at 26 Ibid 27 http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=543176 28 http://espn.go.com/nhl/statistics/player/_/stat/faceoffs/sort/totalfaceoffs/league/west 29 Ibid 30 http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6277561 8
school in North Dakota, he and teammate Jonathan Toews pled guilty for being minors inside a tavern. 31 Conversely, our player is ready to step into that leadership role. Over the last few games here, I ve had an opportunity to play with Taylor [Hall] and Jordan [Eberle]. They re both great players. I enjoy playing with skilled players like that, especially their caliber. I think it brings out the best of me. When you play with skilled guys like that, you want to be the guy. 32 At 22 years old, he has 5 years of experience on an Oilers team ripe with young talent. Creativity is important, but the Oilers have struggled with defensive responsibility as well. Our player can provide guidance to his inexperienced wingers, as well as young centre Ryan Nugent- Hopkins. A combination of his experience, leadership and positional value are what make our player more valuable to his team than T.J. Oshie. V. Conclusion and Salary Request: The preceding arguments indicate that any player of Sam Gagner s skill-set should be valued at more than $3.2 million. Our player provides more versatility than David Perron, and more reliability than T.J. Oshie. At this point in time, the Edmonton Oilers are looking for a centre who is experienced, while being able to fit in with the young core of talent. At 22 years old, our player serves the youth movement well, and brings 5 years of NHL-ready experience. The addition of Nail Yakupov means that the Oilers could have 5 of their top-6 forwards under the age of 22, and all with no more than 2 years of NHL experience. The team is heading in right direction, and as former head coach Tom Renney stated: I think in Edmonton, there's no question that there's a building process involved there that takes time and I think the one thing that's required in those circumstances is patience. 33 31 http://frozennotes.com/2011/03/29/oshie-to-sit-two-games-for-absence/ 32 http://oilersnation.com/2012/7/25/gagner-talks-about-his-new-contract 33 http://www.dailytownsman.com/article/20120725/cranbrook0201/307259997/-1/cranbrook/tom-renneyhired-on-by-detroit-red-wings 9
While those young stars are talented players, the nature of the new NHL is such that offensive-minded players still need to learn to be good at both ends of the ice. As a former firstround pick himself, our player is the perfect leader for those young stars to learn from. As Renney pointed out in 2011: Well hey, what s been lost in the equation with Sam (Gagner), and the expectations that he certainly has for himself, but also everyone else does too; he s really worked on his defensive game. He s worked on his two-way game. The number of clips that we showed last year of Sam being sorta that third guy high in the offensive zone reloading hard and getting back above the puck as the first forechecker taking his responsibility right back deep into our own end. Those are huge commitments from players and certainly a player like Sam, where instinctively at least, the offense comes real easy to him. 34 This level of commitment and poise is hard to find in any 22 year old, let alone a professional hockey player. Having a player that is looking to get better every night at that (consistency) and making sure he s good on both sides of the puck 35 is an asset for the Oilers and a role model for the Edmonton community. Based on the information presented, we respectfully ask that any award for our player be set at a price above $3.2 million. 34 http://oilersnation.com/2012/7/14/signing-samwise 35 http://oilersnation.com/2012/1/10/father-knows-best 10