The first day of free agency has come and gone in the CCHL with the Fort Erie Falcons walking away with arguably the best forward available.
The Falcons were able to come to terms with forward Joe Pavelski on a monster contract that is four years in length and totaling a massive $42 million dollars.
We knew that Pavelski came away impressed with his visit to Fort Erie last week during the five-day window in which teams can talk to players before offering a contract.
Pavelski was shown around some of the neighborhoods in Fort Erie where his now teammates live, the arena, practice facility and was treated to lunch at the prestigious "Happy Jack's" Chinese food restaurant.
At the end of the day, Pavelski chose Fort Erie over Portland because of Happy Jacks.
"Listen, the team is great that we will have in Fort Erie. $42 million dollars is a generous offer as well and I'm thankful for it. At the end of the day though, my wife just loved Fort Erie and could not imagine going through life without being that close to Happy Jack's going forward. It became a really easy decision for us," said an elated Pavelski on Saturday night.
Fort Erie General Manager Matt Young was pleased to nab Pavelski.
"I had a feeling he was going to sign with us. If I didn't I would not have traded Patrice yesterday. He liked the offer, the team, his teammates and of course Happy Jack's certainly helped. $42 million dollars is going to buy his family a lot of chicken balls, folks" said Young.
While the team was also the high bidder on Henrik Zetterberg, the organization has chosen to walk away from that offer per league rules.
"We love Hank but with Pavelski, Mika and Dvorak on board, we don't have the time available for Hank that he deserves. He can check out things with Las Vegas now to see if there is a fit there. We appreciate his interest and wish him well in his career," added Young on the negotiation.
While it remains to be seen what happens in round two, Young has vowed that he isn't done just yet.
"I think we're looking at another player or two. We'll see. We're hoping Elisha Cuthbert likes Happy Jack's as much as Mrs. Pavelski did."
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