At this time last year where would you have placed the odds that the Wilds 1st line at one point would be Heatley-Brodziak-Johnson?
Injuries happen, and with Leipold and Fletcher using injuries and a lack of depth as the reason they didnt make the playoffs last year, it seems odd that they would give away, at worst a solid depth player.
I believe in what Fletcher is doing and wont spend a whole lot of time crying about Lats, but I do think this has a chance to blow up in his face.
With last year's injuries (which were by far unprecedented in the modern NHL) Clutter still would not make the 2nd line without earning a spot with our depth this year.
With last year's injuries (which were by far unprecedented in the modern NHL) Clutter still would not make the 2nd line without earning a spot with our depth this year.
What depth? Of the players on the current roster, how many would you have ahead of Clutterbuck right now? I love the prospects on this team but clearing NHL players to make room for 20 year olds is something DR would do.
I said why I think Lats changed his mind before the last thread died. He was looking at a lesser one yr deal and seemed to be accepting of the idea... now with UFA starting in 4 days, I think he sees a chance for possibly a multi-year deal. Guaranteed money for multiple years has to look rather appealing to someone with his injury history.
I wouldn't be surprised to see him get somewhere between $2-$2.5 for 3yrs on the open market. I'm glad the Wild won't be paying that though. Too much of a risk IMO. I say props to Fletcher. GM's making the right decisions aren't always making the popular ones.
It's too risky not to sign him. You can't get rid of every player who had a concussion... you have to value the risk / reward of the player. We had a player who loved it here, and was a total beast when healthy. Yeah it sucks he got boarded and tried to come back too early, but he's 100% healthy now.
Like I said, the difference in qualifying him and his contract + bonuses would probably be only ~500k. For an organization that claims to want to win and claims that they'll spend the money, that's chump change compared to getting a power forward who can put up 25-30 goals.
I wish Lats the best of luck where ever he goes. Someone will probably give him a multi-year worth $2.5-3 million (a year). Prices will be high this week. And maybe he'll have a break out year. Then again, maybe he won't.
What I'd like to know is why Russo isn't commenting on the latest developments. Is somebody too scared to admit that they #@$!ed up?
It's too risky not to sign him. You can't get rid of every player who had a concussion... you have to value the risk / reward of the player. We had a player who loved it here, and was a total beast when healthy. Yeah it sucks he got boarded and tried to come back too early, but he's 100% healthy now.
Like I said, the difference in qualifying him and his contract + bonuses would probably be only ~500k. For an organization that claims to want to win and claims that they'll spend the money, that's chump change compared to getting a power forward who can put up 25-30 goals.
You know I don't agree that he's a 30 goal scorer considering he's never scored 30 goals. I've also said time and time again, that I have little to no faith in his ability to stay healthy. That's why I was ONLY willing to bring him back at a lesser deal. Sure... that's an unpopular belief... but so be it. I'm not here to spout popular opinion, and obviously Fletcher isn't running the team by popular opinion either.
Props to Fletcher for being willing to make tough choices despite overwhelming opinion going the other way.
We had a GM that caved to popular opinion at times (see Bruno) and look where that got us?
What depth? Of the players on the current roster, how many would you have ahead of Clutterbuck right now? I love the prospects on this team but clearing NHL players to make room for 20 year olds is something DR would do.
Latendresse wasn't "cleared." Even if you want to try make that argument, he sure wasn't cleared for "20 year olds." Presuming Bouchard is healthy, we have 6 forwards on the roster who will be playing top 6 minutes over Clutterbuck. If we were to actually sign Parise or another free agent top 6 forward, we would have 7. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but that's more than we have room for. Furthermore, we have Palmer who earned a top 6 spot during the injury plague until being injured himself. We also have McIntyre who would likely play over him as well. After going through those 3 playeres, then we could look into promoting a Zucker, Bulmer, Coyle, Larsson, or Phillips.
I am going to be beyond pissed at GMCF if Lats signs with someone else and has a breakout year.
Beyond pissed.
That's exactly what's gonna happen too. There goes our depth. Who the hell are we gonna rely on now? A "healthy" Bouchard. We're screwed without Lats. It looks like we'll have an even worse top 6 this year than we did last year.
****ing ****. I'm not even going to call him a 25 or 30 goal scorer. He is a good offensive player on a team that lacks offense. What the **** is this?
That's exactly what's gonna happen too. There goes our depth. Who the hell are we gonna rely on now? A "healthy" Bouchard. We're screwed without Lats. It looks like we'll have an even worse top 6 this year than we did last year.
You know I don't agree that he's a 30 goal scorer considering he's never scored 30 goals. I've also said time and time again, that I have little to no faith in his ability to stay healthy. That's why I was ONLY willing to bring him back at a lesser deal. Sure... that's an unpopular belief... but so be it. I'm not here to spout popular opinion, and obviously Fletcher isn't running the team by popular opinion either.
Props to Fletcher for being willing to make tough choices despite overwhelming opinion going the other way.
We had a GM that caved to popular opinion at times (see Bruno) and look where that got us?
I don't like Koivu's injury history lately either, but doesn't mean we should let him go. You can't hold this damn concussion again Lats. Yeah it sucks he wanted to help out the team earlier and prolonged it, but the initial one wasn't his fault. And, he was in shape and beastin prior to that. The lost potential vs. saving a small amount of money is just stupid, no matter how you look at it.
Latendresse wasn't "cleared." Even if you want to try make that argument, he sure wasn't cleared for "20 year olds." Presuming Bouchard is healthy, we have 6 forwards on the roster who will be playing top 6 minutes over Clutterbuck. If we were to actually sign Parise or another free agent top 6 forward, we would have 7. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but that's more than we have room for. Furthermore, we have Palmer who earned a top 6 spot during the injury plague until being injured himself. We also have McIntyre who would likely play over him as well. After going through those 3 playeres, then we could look into promoting a Zucker, Bulmer, Coyle, Larsson, or Phillips.
Can you honestly say that you would be comfortable with Palmer or McIntyre playing top 6 minutes for the Wild?
Squidz, I meant hosed in the Leddy deal. I think the Nystrom trade made sense for both clubs. I might be upset if a team claimed him on re-entry waivers though.
As for who whined about Nystrom, I really don't want to mentioned their names on here. But there were a few.
Back to Latendresse, the one disappointment I find in this whole mess is Russo getting people's hope up. He usually will never do that (I mean how many times has that man realistically explained to people on twitter, we might not get Parise or Suter) but the one time he does, it back fired.
I trust Fletcher. He knows that having Pittsburgh in the mix for Parise makes this offseason that much more difficult. I hope, he can sign some other free agents to fill in the roster. Because I don't see us trading for Bobby Ryan, Rick Nash, etc...
Only other time I can think Russo did the "get everyone's hopes and dash them like the 1998 Vikings" was Brian Rolston when he was a free agent.
The big issue, Latendresse or Latendresse, is that for a team who scored the fewest goals since the lockout they really are putting a lot of eggs in one basket. Don't know about that.
I don't like Koivu's injury history lately either, but doesn't mean we should let him go. You can't hold this damn concussion again Lats. Yeah it sucks he wanted to help out the team earlier and prolonged it, but the initial one wasn't his fault. And, he was in shape and beastin prior to that. The lost potential vs. saving a small amount of money is just stupid, no matter how you look at it.
Seriously? Koivu has played 126 games in the past two seasons combined... Lat's... 27!
Can you honestly say that you would be comfortable with Palmer or McIntyre playing top 6 minutes for the Wild?
As an injury replacement? Absolutely. That's what good teams do, plug a player like Palmer or McIntyre into their top 6 when they have injuries. The NHL doesn't work like EA Sports games where you can stick a high quality veteran top 6 player in as your 13th/14th forward.
