Ducks: $20,000 per week per player for the program 'suggested' by the GM?

Recently, we learned that the Anaheim Ducks have been lobbying for their players (including youngsters) to spend their summer in Florida with a certain Mike Barwis.

Who is Mike Barwis? He’s a trainer who specializes in the physical and psychological training of professional athletes, and who has the confidence of Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek.

Basically, the GM “suggested” that his players spend the summer in Florida to work with him. They say he suggests it because he can’t force the guys in the summer, but they also don’t know how hard he’s been pushing to get his players to say yes.

From what we hear, he’s been pushing quite hard, especially with the youngsters. And we know that a youngster who sees how tough GM Verbeek is (the handling of Trevor Zegras’ contract is a good example) probably doesn’t want to alienate him.

In short, some people must feel the need to say yes.

The question, at this point, was who was going to pay for it and how much it was going to cost. After all, it also makes a nasty difference in the management of the file.

And this morning, on the radio (BPM Sports), Renaud Lavoie talked about it.

What he noted was that it’s the players who are in charge of paying for it: the organization doesn’t do it. If the Ducks had done so, it would have been against the collective agreement.

But here’s what the reporter said.

The players paid for it. And wait: it wasn’t $5,000 a week.

The amounts I was told (…) I didn’t have time to verify the value of what I was told, but the amounts I was told were $20,000 a week per guy. – Renaud Lavoie

Lavoie mentions that sometimes guys pay $35,000 to $40,000 per summer for askills coach… but it’s for skills. And it’s for the whole summer.

To see a club *strongly suggest* that its players go to Florida (where they also have to find lodging) at $20,000 a week is a different matter. Especially for young players who have just arrived and aren’t millionaires yet.

Remember that the Ducks were fined $50,000 for all this. That’s quite a bit less than the amount per youngster for the summer.

Let’s also remember, as Renaud Lavoie mentioned, that it’s very different to see the Habs players spend the summer in Montreal to stay close to the training center and to see what the Ducks do.

In gusto

– Interesting.