Confirmed with Link: Datsyuk Leaving Wings

[jkutswings]

Mrazek has done nothing but show he can be one of the best goalies in the game at 23 years old.

Go easy. He's been one part great potential and one part wildly inconsistent. I have lots of hope for Mrazek, but he's still very much a question mark at this point.

 

[Ingvar]

Fedorov did everything within the confines of the rules both with the Carolina situation and when leaving for Anaheim. He actually left for less money to play more. Datsyuk is leaving for equal or more money to play less. I like how he's "fielding" offers from KHL teams. Surely dear sweet innocent Pavel isn't interested in money?!?!

This is false. Even life.ru, notorious for looking for sensations and scandals, estimated his salary as 340.000.000 rubles a year for 2 years. Using current exchange rate it is 5.250.000 dollars a year - Datsyuk could have easily earned as much staying in Detroit, possibly even more.

You guys seriously overestimate how much hockey players earn in Russia.

 

[evolutionbaby]

Ya enough with the "he can do what he wants" and "family is first" stuff. If he was going to be with his daughter, why wouldnt he sign with his hometown team? Is he really going to travel back to his hometown on every off day he has to see her? She cant just up and leave school to come see him. My favorite player was Sergei Fedorov then it was Datsyuk. I never understood the Russian hate amongst many but, THIS is why you should be skeptical about signing Russians. Ever watched the "Red Army"? There is some strange loyalty to that place. The whole thing stinks. Sure we would all be complaining about paying him 7.5 Mil this year when he plays like a shell of his former self but he should have left 3 years ago. We would have got over that. But to say he's too hurt, he wants to be with his daughter blah blah, why is fielding offers from teams? Unless its things like fine print and use of their private jet to get to see his daughter....

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Go easy. He's been one part great potential and one part wildly inconsistent. I have lots of hope for Mrazek, but he's still very much a question mark at this point.

If blashill didn't keep playing him injured he'd have a few vezina votes

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Ya enough with the "he can do what he wants" and "family is first" stuff. If he was going to be with his daughter, why wouldnt he sign with his hometown team? Is he really going to travel back to his hometown on every off day he has to see her? She cant just up and leave school to come see him. My favorite player was Sergei Fedorov then it was Datsyuk. I never understood the Russian hate amongst many but, THIS is why you should be skeptical about signing Russians. Ever watched the "Red Army"? There is some strange loyalty to that place. The whole thing stinks. Sure we would all be complaining about paying him 7.5 Mil this year when he plays like a shell of his former self but he should have left 3 years ago. We would have got over that. But to say he's too hurt, he wants to be with his daughter blah blah, why is fielding offers from teams? Unless its things like fine print and use of their private jet to get to see his daughter....

You do know it's easier to travel inside a country then over the seas right

 

[obey86]

You do know it's easier to travel inside a country then over the seas right

You do know it's easier to travel from your hometown to your hometown than it is to travel from another town to your hometown right?

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

But there's a difference between Datsyuk and Datsyuk's agent. I don't think for a second Datsyuk wanted all those years.

And didn't he say Datsyuk wanted out like a week after the contract was signed? They should have thought about it more seriously. If a guy doesn't want to play, he doesn't want to play. They could have torn up that contract. But they found a way to get him to play, and then it happened again the next year, and they actually strong-armed him into playing that year. Why are we so surprised that he left this year? He tried in the first year to get out, tried in the second year to get out, and now he's succeeded in his third shot. Sounds to me like his message has been pretty consistent.

Jesus. They should have just let the guy go home. He clearly has wanted this for a long time now.

That's pure speculation on your part that Datsyuk didn't want those years. Here's what he tweeted at the time of the signing. (Dan Milstein is that dastardly agent who got Datsyuk $23 million)



And there really isn't a difference between Datsyuk and his agent. Datsyuk was a 35 year-old man who had been in the league over a decade. We're not talking about some 19 year old. The agent negotiates the deal but ultimately it's Datsyuk approving or declining it.

The Wings can't pretend that the contract didn't happen once the paperwork has been filed with the league. They would've been stuck with the cap hit for three years then instead of one.

Counterpoint: the Wings should have let him out of the deal when he came asking a week later. He changed his mind, and they should have let him go home like he wanted to. This wouldn't have been nearly as bad if the Wings hadn't tried to play hardball with him.

So it's the fault of the Wings and not the guy who changed his mind a week after signing a three-year contract?

 

[evolutionbaby]

You do know it's easier to travel inside a country then over the seas right

I didnt realize that, thanks for clearing that up!

When is he going to travel to see her? If they have an off day is he going to hop on a plane to see her for a half a day then fly back every single chance he gets?

 

[jolly roger]

No taxes paid over there. Money under the table. The whole thing stinks. Let's quit pretending it's the "daughter" thing. If that was it just bring her over. You think she'd prefer to be in Russia or in a US mall?

 

[obey86]

Counterpoint: the Wings should have let him out of the deal when he came asking a week later. He changed his mind, and they should have let him go home like he wanted to. This wouldn't have been nearly as bad if the Wings hadn't tried to play hardball with him.

Yes, it would be much better if the Wings were stuck with 3 years of a dead cap hit instead of 1.

 

[Heaton]

Yes, it would be much better if the Wings were stuck with 3 years of a dead cap hit instead of 1.

Can you imagine how many great draft picks we could've gotten with 3 years of 7.5m in dead cap space? Would definitely have been more worthwhile than these last few playoff flame outs.

 

[HisNoodliness]

Yes, it would be much better if the Wings were stuck with 3 years of a dead cap hit instead of 1.

If you want a silver lining that would have almost certainly forced a rebuild and we'd probably be a good team in 2019 instead of mediocre and going down the tubes slowly like we are.

 

[Flowah]

No taxes paid over there. Money under the table. The whole thing stinks. Let's quit pretending it's the "daughter" thing. If that was it just bring her over. You think she'd prefer to be in Russia or in a US mall?

A lot of people prefer their "home country."

There are plenty of places better than the United States but I'm still not moving. There are plenty of places better than Michigan yet here we all are.

Can you imagine how many great draft picks we could've gotten with 3 years of 7.5m in dead cap space? Would definitely have been more worthwhile than these last few playoff flame outs.

But this thinking still applies for anyone looking to castigate Datsyuk for ditching us his last year. We're not a threat with him this year. So what's the difference other than his leaving either giving us a shot to be a lottery contender or potentially moving his cap and getting someone who can replace him?

 

[obey86]

If you want a silver lining that would have almost certainly forced a rebuild and we'd probably be a good team in 2019 instead of mediocre and going down the tubes slowly like we are.

yes because every team that tanks and rebuilds ends up being good a few years later.

 

[HisNoodliness]

yes because every team that tanks and rebuilds ends up being good a few years later.

Well some don't but the wings have been shown to draft and develop well so I expect we'd be a more effective rebuild than most, especially if we started two years ago when some of our assets were more movable (Ericsson, Kronwall, Howard etc.) whereas now they're useless and struck with us forever so we are going to be forced into an ineffectual tank by the weight of terrible contracts and the slow decay of Zetterberg.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

You do know it's easier to travel from your hometown to your hometown than it is to travel from another town to your hometown right?

Better to see her a couple times Then like once. And could he even have played for his hometown though.

 

[SoupNazi]

Counterpoint: the Wings should have let him out of the deal when he came asking a week later. He changed his mind, and they should have let him go home like he wanted to. This wouldn't have been nearly as bad if the Wings hadn't tried to play hardball with him.

And eaten the contract for three years. That would have been brilliant.

 

[chances14]

I get the fact that we all love datsyuk as a player but the excuses people are reaching for to defend him now is downright embarrassing

If you were in holland's shoes and datsyuk originally told you he wanted a 5 year deal, would any of you thought datsyuk would have wanted out only few months into the deal?

This whole thing is of datsyuk's doing. whether you hold that against him is up to you. but this is in no way the red wings fault

 

[Claypool]

yes because every team that tanks and rebuilds ends up being good a few years later.

A lot of people around here don't understand this.

 

[TheRedMachine]

I get the fact that we all love datsyuk as a player but the excuses people are reaching for to defend him now is downright embarrassing

If you were in holland's shoes and datsyuk originally told you he wanted a 5 year deal, would any of you thought datsyuk would have wanted out only few months into the deal?

This whole thing is of datsyuk's doing. whether you hold that against him is up to you. but this is in no way the red wings fault

Did Datsyuk draw up the contract and send it in to the NHL for approval?

Yep, The WHOLE thing is Datsyuks doing.

I chose to place the blame on the GM, ya know, that guy whose job it is to plan ahead. The guy who should have thought of every angle with a player who openly announced he wanted to return to Russia before signing the contract.

The whole thing is on Datsyuk, right.

 

[TheMule93]

yes because every team that tanks and rebuilds ends up being good a few years later.

Higher chance of being good 5 years from now if we tank for a season or two, than to wallow in mediocrity and most likely not get any game changing prospects leaving us in the same situation we are in now.

 

[Claypool]

Higher chance of being good 5 years from now if we tank for a season or two, than to wallow in mediocrity and most likely not get any game changing prospects leaving us in the same situation we are in now.

How is this team going to tank exactly? Are you going to break Mrazek's legs? Send Larkin to Russia with Datsyuk for a few seasons? Make AA wear cement skates?

Like it or not, this team is too good to be awful.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Yes, it would be much better if the Wings were stuck with 3 years of a dead cap hit instead of 1.

They wouldn't have been stuck with any hit. They could have gone to the league together and gotten the contract voided.

 

[Shaman464]

I'm pretty sure most people working in the league would say you're extremely pessimistic. Mantha and Svechnikov have very good chances at being top 6 players. Bertuzzi, AA, Sadowy have very good chances at being good bottom 6 players. Sheahan, Tatar, and Nyquist have all proven to be top 9 players, no matter how poorly you view them.

Sproul just had his best run as an AHL defensemen in the playoffs. XO has showed well in all of his games with the Wings. Russo had a tremendous rookie season with the Griffins. Saarijarvi looked like a Vatanen-clone in the WJC.

Mrazek has done nothing but show he can be one of the best goalies in the game at 23 years old.

We lack elite prospect talent in very specific areas - those being center and defense. Those areas can be addressed in this draft. It's also very possible some of these spare parts you've maligned exceed your lowly expectations.

An elite center? Probably better not to get your hopes up on that one.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

A lot of people around here don't understand this.

But the reaction to this shouldn't be "well, let's just not rebuild at all!" it should be "crap, let's be careful about this."