A surprise buyer in the NHL’s free-agency store stepped up Friday and purchased Tony Amonte, the biggest name left on the shelf.
Amonte, the former Blackhawks captain, signed a four-year contract Friday with the Phoenix Coyotes that league sources say will pay him $5 million a season.
Amonte will earn another $1 million a year–as sort of a deferred signing bonus–for four years beginning in 2006.
“I’m very excited to be joining the Coyotes,” Amonte said. “They are building a great team. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Hawks general manager Mike Smith said Friday that the last official offer he presented to Amonte and his agent, Mike Gillis, was a two-year extension on his last contract that would have given Amonte an additional $2 million on top of his $3.4 million salary and then two more years at $5.4 million a year.
Smith said he was willing to increase the offer to an additional $2.6 million on Amonte’s salary last season and two extra years at $6 million per.
Negotiations broke down in November and Smith never increased the offer as the two sides never resumed negotiations.
The Hawks eventually pulled their original offer off the table.
“Tony left Chicago for the money he never got,” Smith said.
Amonte signing with Phoenix was a surprise for two reasons.
First it appeared Amonte would end up either with the New York Rangers or New York Islanders. Both teams inquired about the three-time 40-goal scorer, but neither made an offer.
Secondly, Phoenix had been trimming payroll the last couple seasons–first trading Keith Tkachuk to St. Louis and then allowing Jeremy Roenick to sign with Philadelphia as an unrestricted free agent.
“We began conversations with [Gillis] late last week,” Phoenix general manager Mike Barnett said. “We put our best foot forward, we offered what we were capable of offering on terms we can live with over a payment schedule of years.”
The Coyotes were one of the league’s biggest surprises last season, finishing sixth in the West with 96 points and making the playoffs with a roster void of stars.
“We are a team that needed the speed he offered and the additional offense,” Barnett said. “It really was a case of wanting to get better.”
Amonte was third in scoring on the Hawks last season with 27 goals and 66 points. He failed to score and had one assist in the Hawks’ first-round playoff loss to St. Louis. The 27 goals were the fewest Amonte scored in a full season since 1993-94, when he had 17 for the Rangers and Hawks.
“Sometimes a change can get a player back on track,” Barnett said. “I don’t necessarily think he had a bad year last year.”
The signing affects the Hawks on two fronts. It ends the Tony Amonte/Mike Gillis/Mike Smith saga that loomed over the team last season. It also likely means Phoenix is out of the running to sign free-agent winger Theo Fleury.
The Coyotes were rumored to be interested in the 34-year-old sniper, as are the Hawks. Don Baizley, Fleury’s agent, said again Friday that he doesn’t expect Fleury to decide until early August where he wants to play.
The Hawks signed a former Toronto Maple Leaf on Friday, but it wasn’t Tie Domi. The Leafs re-signed Domi to a three-year contract Friday morning. Later in the day the Hawks signed defenseman Nathan Dempsey, 28, to a two-year deal.
Dempsey played just three games with the Leafs during the regular season and six in the playoffs.
