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Originally Posted by Sydor25
Seriously? He didn't want to take the risk of a long term contract with one of the top players in the league. Hossa was the only one he was truly trying to get. He used the injury excuse with Gaborik even though half the players he has brought in had injury "issues".
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The guys he brought in didn't get 5 year deals at $7.5m per year or more. I don't understand why you don't see the difference. The closest was Handzus at $4m for 4 years and he hasn't missed 1 game (I think) in that time. Although, he did have a bad first year. We can all agree on that. The point is, DL was interested but I don't blame him for not commiting that kind of money for a huge question mark. Lets not forget this is Gaborik's first year of the deal and his first healthy season in very long time (so far at least).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sydor25
In the cap era, you can't offer top talent short term deals when they are UFAs. You have to take a chance on a long term deal. Lombardi took a chance by trading assets for Williams and didn't want to spend the money for Gaborik.
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I don't disagree on your first point but only New York (who has a history of making FA blunders) offered him that term/money so what does that tell you?
And at this point it is possible that 2nd round pick ends up being hte most valuable asset and that second round pick won't be an NHL player probably for at least a few years. It was a risky move but I don't think losing Patty O was that big of a deal (and I was a Patty O fan).