They are getting a 2nd round pick as compensation. Phoenix did the most they could do to retain him, they offered him the max rookie contract under the old CBA. Wheeler must have his heart set on playing somewhere else or he must hate Phoenix.
Makes no sense to me. Phoenix is one place I go if i'm a young forward, they have alot of openings & have Kyle Turris as a future linemate. Maybe he wants to sign closer to home, who knows, the kid could be a total headcase I suppose.
Makes no sense to me. Phoenix is one place I go if i'm a young forward, they have alot of openings & have Kyle Turris as a future linemate. Maybe he wants to sign closer to home, who knows, the kid could be a total headcase I suppose.
I agree, Phoenix would appear to be a great environment to flourish as a young foward right now. Plus he is leaving money on the table by not signing with them. Which makes me think he really has his heart set on playing for a specific team/area.
Coyotes GM Don Maloney was heard giving a radio interview, during which he discussed Phoenix prospect Blake Wheeler. He was the fifth overall pick in the 2004 draft, and remains unsigned. The way Maloney was talking, it didn't sound like a deal would get done, either. Stay tuned on that front.
Just seems odd that Phoenix would let him go for nothing, you think they wouldve known this was on the way.
they get the 35th pick in the draft as compensation...and they aren't exactly 'letting him get away'. they did absolutely everything in their power to sign him and he said no.
and since they made every effort to sign him and wanted to keep him, at the deadline they probably couldn't trade him for much more than that pick in a deep draft to make giving up on signing him back in march.
I agree, Phoenix would appear to be a great environment to flourish as a young foward right now. Plus he is leaving money on the table by not signing with them. Which makes me think he really has his heart set on playing for a specific team/area.
Sucks that there is such a loophole that alows any 20 yr old to chose his team like this though.
Its hard to like this kid after this. If it comes out later that he needed to stay near home for some reason then i'll retract any negative comments about him. But he totally walked away from an organization who has been building with him in mind for the last few years. He played HS hockey with Peter Mueller, seems really weird that he'd walk away from that situation.
I agree, Phoenix would appear to be a great environment to flourish as a young foward right now. Plus he is leaving money on the table by not signing with them. Which makes me think he really has his heart set on playing for a specific team/area.
he might simply want to play for a certain team (likely the wild)...or maybe he looks at the yotes with doan, mueller, turris, hanzal, etc plus another high pick this year and thinks that he'd have a better shot of making the top 6 this year on another team. (not saying i agree with that).
they get the 35th pick in the draft as compensation...and they aren't exactly 'letting him get away'. they did absolutely everything in their power to sign him and he said no.
and since they made every effort to sign him and wanted to keep him, at the deadline they probably couldn't trade him for much more than that pick in a deep draft to make giving up on signing him back in march.
yeah 35th pick, still doesnt make up for losing a top 5, though i'm not sure he's ever gonna amount to such high expectations.
yeah 35th pick, still doesnt make up for losing a top 5, though i'm not sure he's ever gonna amount to such high expectations.
he wasn't supposed to be a top 5 pick though, they went completely off the board at #5. he should have been closer to 20-25
and phoenix took him out of high school knowing that he was headed to college and knowing that he'd be old enough to become a UFA before his senior year, its not like this supposed 'loophole' just snuck up on them last week. thats the risk you take drafting any player going to college, if he stays in school for 4 years you might lose his rights...
and would it be any different if he had to re-enter the draft? how would that change things for phoenix?
he wasn't supposed to be a top 5 pick though, they went completely off the board at #5. he should have been closer to 20-25
and phoenix took him out of high school knowing that he was headed to college and knowing that he'd be old enough to become a UFA before his senior year, its not like this supposed 'loophole' just snuck up on them last week. thats the risk you take drafting any player going to college, if he stays in school for 4 years you might lose his rights...
and would it be any different if he had to re-enter the draft? how would that change things for phoenix?
I know he went way higher than he shouldve, still he ended up a top 5 ASSET.
Theres kind of an unwritten rule though, be careful who you step on going up the ladder there BLAKE.
The Prospect Park has a long post on why we should stay far away from Wheeler. He sounds A LOT like Jessiman.
Quote:
Wheeler needs a lot of work just for his development and we start with his lack of agility as Wheeler could be called "The Accidental Diver" as he falls way too much for a player of his reported skill set.
Wheeler either needs to change his entire skating style or he is one heck of an actor. In either case when a player has to change what he has been doing his entire career then it hurts his development. We could see something like this causing Wheeler to spend at least 2 years in the AHL trying to catch up.
The next issue we have is a matter of physical toughness as unlike what people may believe it is not as easy to teach a finesse player how to transform himself into a physical player. You either have it or you do not. We do not think Wheeler has it and the Rangers do not need a soft giant.
hmm id still take the risk, at worst we can trade him.
"At worst" we wouldn't get anything for him. I really don't what we have to lose by giving him a shot. Now keep in mind I have no idea what kind of money he's asking for but still.
he wasn't supposed to be a top 5 pick though, they went completely off the board at #5. he should have been closer to 20-25
and phoenix took him out of high school knowing that he was headed to college and knowing that he'd be old enough to become a UFA before his senior year, its not like this supposed 'loophole' just snuck up on them last week. thats the risk you take drafting any player going to college, if he stays in school for 4 years you might lose his rights...
and would it be any different if he had to re-enter the draft? how would that change things for phoenix?
If he didn't go to Phoenix at #5, he would have went no later than #15 to the Icelanders (tee-hee) Milbury wanted him bad.
I just don't see it happening. 1) he's hinted he wants to stay in Minnesota (should stayed in college, dinkwad) + 2) a club with more cap space & the Great One(Phoenix) couldn't entice to sign his ELC = 3) a brat of a player who wants to stay close to his mom's apron strings, and would be chewed up in NYC.
kinda sounds like a Marcel Hossa....a giant softie winger.
Hossa wasn't soft, and he skated well. He just wasn't a gritty player (and there's no real reason people should have expected him to be, but people are ridiculous about their expectations)
The Prospect Park has a long post on why we should stay far away from Wheeler. He sounds A LOT like Jessiman.
that might be a reason to not trade for him or to not waste a draft pick if he was re-entering the draft. but NONE of that matters with him a UFA. its a low risk/high reward move cause he's got a big upside and will cost us just $$. if he's a bust he'll spend 2 years in hartford and then we can let him walk. if he works out we got a big time steal...there are ZERO negatives to signing him.
Hossa wasn't soft, and he skated well. He just wasn't a gritty player (and there's no real reason people should have expected him to be, but people are ridiculous about their expectations)
hossa may not have been soft but if a player who is big as him does not wanna play physical than something is wrong.
and similar reasons were given to justify not signing umberger, and now he's a big huge 2nd line winger that can score 20-30 goals...sometimes these question marks turn to bust, but sometimes they work out.
but NONE of that matters with him a UFA. its a low risk/high reward move cause he's got a big upside and will cost us just $$. if he's a bust he'll spend 2 years in hartford and then we can let him walk. if he works out we got a big time steal...there are ZERO negatives to signing him.
Agreed. I am sure alot of teams will be offering him the rookie max under the new cba and we should be one of those teams. There is really no risk in this from our perspective outside of him becoming a serial killer and murdering Bobby Sanguinetti in Hartford.
sad but true.
