The Miami Heat signed Shaquille O’Neal to a 5-year $100 million contract today. This will actually result in a pay cut for Shaq, because his old deal (which he has now opted out of because of the new deal) would have seen him make over $30 million next season, but it gives the Heat more flexibility to be able to sign more players and still stay under the cap. The quote from Shaq that I thought was funny:

This contract allows me to address all of my family’s long-term financial goals while allowing the Heat the ability to acquire those players that we need to win a championship…

Sorry, Shaq, but if you haven’t addressed your family’s long-term financial goals by now, 12 seasons into your hall-of-fame multi-million-dollar-per-year career, either your financial goals are a touch lofty, or you really suck at financial planning.

So Gary Roberts and Joe Neiuwendyk (yes, I had to look up the spelling) have signed with the Florida Panthers, and so will not be back with the Leafs next season. I liked both of them, but I can’t say I’m really all that broke up about it – both of them are still good players, but well past their prime and too expensive. I’m sure players that are just as good, younger, and cheaper are out there — one of whom is Jeff O’Neill, who the Leafs just signed. Now if I could only convince the Leafs not to resign the vastly overpriced Tie Domi (unless he agrees to a big-time pay cut), I’d be a happy guy.