Ladies and gentlemen, the votes are in and it's a unanimous decision – this year's salesman of the year is J.P. Barry. Yes, it's only May but there is no way anyone can top our man.
That was settled on Thursday when Barry, the Calgary-based agent for Fabian Brunnstrom, announced the Dallas Stars won the bidding war for his client. Barry did such a masterful selling job that at one point, 15 NHL teams were slavering for his services.
Barry held the NHL, not to mention much of the North American hockey media, spellbound while his client, a 23-year-old Swedish hockey player, pondered his decision. Thanks to a video clip on You Tube showing Brunnstrom doing some fancy stick-handling, more than a few media types were clamouring for the team in their market to open the bank vault and pay whatever it took. Teams were said to be offering guarantees he would not have to sully himself with so much as one minor-league game.
When Barry announced last weekend that Brunnstrom had narrowed his choice to four teams – Dallas, the Detroit Red Wings, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens – there were tears of joy in the lucky communities.
All of this for a 6-foot-1, 203-pound winger who never played in the Swedish Elite League before this season, at the age of 22. For a guy who did not exactly tear up the Elite League either, tallying 37 points in 54 games. For a guy who was not invited to play for Sweden at the world championships despite the fact many Swedish NHLers took a pass on this year's tournament.
Okay, I understand the guy is a late bloomer. Maybe he'll be a decent NHL player some day. But to offer the farm for someone who scored all of nine goals in the Swedish Elite League at the age of 23? Yeesh.
This is where you have to take your hat off to Barry, the main man for for Creative Artists Agency's hockey division along with Pat Brisson. He managed to whip up a frenzy for his client, perhaps by whispering to the NHL's general managers that they would not want to overlook the next Daniel Alfredsson, who just happens to be another of his NHL clients.
Alfredsson was not drafted until he was 21 and the Ottawa Senators got him 133rd overall in 1994. There is also Red Wings forward Johan Franzen, who was taken 97th overall in 2004 and broke through this season with 27 goals and is now tearing up the playoffs. He scored seven goals in his last season in the Elite League, two less than Brunnstrom.
But there is also Ray Stazak. He was an American college player who scored 37 goals in 38 games in his last season in the NCAA. Under the NHL's rules at the time, he was a free agent after college in 1985 and the Red Wings signed him to an unheard-of entry-level contract for more than $200,000 (U.S.) a year. He wound up playing all of four games for the Red Wings and had one assist.
His agent at the time? A fellow named Brian Burke.
