After former Philadelphia Flyers winger Arron Asham signed with the rival Pittsburgh Penguins over the weekend, his agent wasted no time revealing the reason for his decision to take less money with the team. “We had several very good offers,” Jarrett Bousquet told InsidePittsburghSports.com. “In the end, [Asham] felt Pittsburgh was the best place to win the Stanley Cup.”
Players turning down more lucrative offers to play for the Penguins is nothing new for the team. In 2008, Brooks Orpik shunned the New York Rangers and others to stay with the team, as General Manager Ray Shero explained at the time:
You have guys who have called me — the same situation as last year — who really want to play here. I’m happy Brooks Orpik took less money to be here. He wants to be here.
Last summer it was veteran forward Bill Guerin who took a $2.5m reduction in pay to remain in Pittsburgh:
There’s a lot of good teams I could have played for but this obviously was the best fit. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that [Sidney Crosby] was one of the big reasons I wanted to stay. It’s so much fun to play with him.
Matt Cooke, Jay McKee, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mike Rupp, Brent Johnson, Evgeni Malkin. These players and more have likely accepted less than their market value to sign with the Penguins in the last two seasons – but why? Searching for a reason starts with the player that made the 38-year-old Guerin sound like a child describing his idol.
Sidney Crosby is the rare sports superstar that has lived up to the lofty expectations bestowed on him since his teenage years. In just five NHL seasons he’s won a Stanley Cup, Hart Trophy (league MVP), Art Ross Trophy (leading scorer), Rocket Richard Trophy (most goals), Mark Messier Leadership Awards, and has appeared in multiple All-Star Games. In February, he scored the game-winning overtime goal in the Gold Medal game at the Olympics for his home country in Vancouver.
A player with half the resume could command top dollar in the NHL, yet Crosby took a hometown discount to stay with the team for just $8.7m a season. Players are eligible to receive $11.88m a season this summer under the CBA, but Crosby and Ray Shero know paying that money to a single player can be crippling under today’s salary-capped NHL.
Shero and his vastly underrated sidekick Jason Botterill have transformed a franchise once withering away in bankruptcy into a potential dynasty capable of imitating the success of the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980′s. With the help of Crosby’s unselfishness, the Penguins have created a culture built on patience, hard work, and sacrifice for the greater good.
Sustained failures and a little luck has surely paid off as well for the Penguins in the draft. In addition to Crosby, the team features a second superstar in Evgeni Malkin who also earns just $8.7m a year. Malkin was a 2nd overall pick in 2004 and joins Marc-Andre Fleury (#1 – 2003) and Jordan Staal (#2 – 2006) to form one of the best young supporting casts in league history.
The Chicago Blackhawks followed a similar path to a Stanley Cup by building through the draft, but underwent a massive overhaul this summer as aggressive spending led to a salary cap crunch. Meanwhile, fiscal responsibility allowed Shero to lure in two prized free agent defensemen last month in Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek. The Phoenix Coyotes reportedly pitched hard to retain Michalek’s services, but it can’t be easy competing with a suitor like Pittsburgh when your franchise is facing constant bankruptcy and relocation headaches.
In addition, the exciting core of young talent in Western Pennsylvania is owned by former superstar Mario Lemieux who pulled the franchise out of bankruptcy in 1999. Lemieux used his popularity and connections to keep the team in Pittsburgh after working out a deal with the city to build the world-class CONSOL Energy Center scheduled to open this fall. With a legendary owner, a brand new arena, a passionate fanbase, and the opportunity to play with Crosby, it’s no wonder that players are lining up at Shero’s door.
The lure of the Penguins franchise is comparable to the aura of Berkshire Hathaway in the financial world. Berkshire’s Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett spoke to the power of reputation when it comes to acquiring assets on the open market in his 2005 Letter to Shareholders:
Forest River, our second acquisition, closed on August 31. A couple of months earlier, on June 21, I received a two-page fax telling me – point by point – why Forest River met the acquisition criteria we set forth on page 25 of this report. I had not before heard of the company, a recreational vehicle manufacturer with $1.6 billion of sales, nor of Pete Liegl, its owner and manager. But the fax made sense, and I immediately asked for more figures. These came the next morning, and that afternoon I made Pete an offer. On June 28, we shook hands on a deal…
…On November 12, 2005, an article ran in The Wall Street Journal dealing with Berkshire’s unusual acquisition and managerial practices. In it Pete declared, “It was easier to sell my business than to renew my driver’s license.”
In New York, Cathy Baron Tamraz read the article, and it struck a chord. On November 21, she sent me a letter that began, “As president of Business Wire, I’d like to introduce you to my company, as I believe it fits the profile of Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary companies as detailed in a recent Wall Street Journal article.” By the time I finished Cathy’s two-page letter, I felt Business Wire and Berkshire were a fit.
Buffett has the luxury of choosing his acquisitions from an array of suitors because he’s built a company founded on respect and prudent decisions. The Chicago Blackhawks of the financial world crashed and burned in the recession when the boom years came to a screeching halt. Meanwhile, Buffett and Berkshire opened their wallet to parlay billions of dollars in available cash into investments such as Goldman Sachs, General Electric and Burlington Northern Santa Fe; just as Shero did for the Penguins over the summer.
Marek Svatos, a promising young free agent winger who once scored 32 goals in the NHL, would relish the opportunity to suit up in the Penguins Black and Vegas Gold this season. “Marek would certainly be able to provide offence for a team like Pittsburgh, and on paper it looks like a good fit,” his agent Richard Evans told me. “But ultimately that is up to Ray [Shero]. Pittsburgh is a team that Marek would be very interested in joining.”
Sound familiar? As Shero kicks back in his chair, looks out on the shiny new CONSOL Energy Center, and channels his inner-Buffett, Penguins fans know the future of their team is in safe hands.
*This article also appeared on Forbes SportsMoney*