Case T.Ruutu alkaa pikku hiljaa liikahdella. Nyt on saatu Chicagolta jo hieman asiallisempi tarjous, joskin erimielisyyksiä vielä riittää:
Chicago Tribune:
Hawks get aggressive with Ruutu
Draft pick's agent happy with progress
Blackhawks general manager Mike Smith has offered $3 million per season in potential bonuses to unsigned draft pick Tuomo Ruutu, according to Ruutu's Chicago-based agent.
"It's a good starting point," Bill Zito said.
On the surface, the offer is more than what Rick Nash—the first overall pick last season—received from Columbus.
Smith, who made the offer to Zito over lunch Wednesday with club vice presidents Bob Pulford and Peter Wirtz, called the offer a "significant change" in the Hawks' position.
Individual performance bonuses, referred to as the "model" that virtually every first-round draft choice receives, is the crux of the dispute between the Hawks and Ruutu, selected ninth overall in the 2000 draft.
According to the Hawks, the dispute isn't over the amount of money that the Hawks are willing to offer, but "what [Ruutu] has to do to get it," Smith said.
Zito said the threshold for Ruutu to achieve the bonuses is "ridiculously inconsistent" with model bonus packages other players have received.
Zito said if Ruutu and Dan Heatley, who has a package that is similar to what Zito is asking, have identical seasons, Ruutu would make considerably less money than Heatley under the Hawks' proposal.
Under many of the "models," a player who reaches just two of his bonuses would be paid for all of them. There is also a provision in many that if a player fails to reach bonuses one year, they would carry over to the next. So if a player reached a bonus his second year, he also would be paid the previous year's bonus.
Those provisions are why Smith is opposed to giving players the "model." He wants to pay Ruutu only for the bonuses he achieves and does not want to roll over unpaid bonuses from one season to the next.
Zito said Smith, Pulford and Wirtz acknowledge Ruutu should be given the opportunity to make the same other top 10 picks can make, but they object to the model provisions.
Zito said he coming up with a counter-proposal he hopes addresses the Hawks' concerns. "We're going to try to come with something that works," he said.
The negotiations Wednesday were the first in more than a year. Ruutu is skating again after sustaining his second major knee injury last winter. If the two sides can't come up with a deal, Ruutu is likely to play another season in Finland.
"We're trying to find a way to get the guy signed," Smith said.
(Jostain syystä en saanut linkkiä tuohon toimimaan, siksi pitkähkö lainaus. Olisiko syynä että vaatii rekisteröitymisen?)
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...7hawks,1,5238562.story?coll=cs-home-headlines