16/17 Pavel Datsyuk Watch

[Winger98]

The Ilitch's wouldn't want a cash settlement. They would want him barred from violating the agreement. He could retire in actuality, sit out the year. That or as I said at the time actually put his money where his mouth was, sign for whatever Yekaterinburg could pay him and at least we would be having less of a debate.

If the 22 hour drive from his current team to Yekaterinburg, it's actually a shorter flight time from Detroit (17-19 hours).

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

If the 22 hour drive from his current team to Yekaterinburg, it's actually a shorter flight time from Detroit (17-19 hours).

But he will fly. I would guess including the game there Datsyuk sees her slightly more than her annual what was it two week visit to Detroit and the whole summer minus his camp commitments and World Championships.

He wanted to be on the best team possible and make the most money possible while being over there. It isn't a surprise, I said he would sign with one of the big three in terms of Dynamo, CSKA or SKA the moment this was being announced. He did, Yekaterinburg was always a pipe-dream in terms of him actually playing there, even if it was strongly hinted that was why he wanted to go.

It is just for those acting like he is next door, not really. They remain pretty far apart. Detroit to Miami is probably the best comparison we could come up with, that or half-way between Vegas and Denver in miles and flight time.

I didn't really expect him to sign in the Eastern Conference in the KHL either. Less money, less of the better hotels, and other things in the budget along with greater travel.

I am actually glad this argument is moving away from some of the initial excuses to he just wanted to leave and play at home. I have a feeling people will start to see the and make more money part of it too soon, we have already trended away from some of the initial excuses. My least favorite at the time was Datsyuk ever lauded as the intellectual by his teammates was too stupid to understand what he was signing...

 

[PuckDynasty]

Pavel even if the KHL went rogue which I kind of expect would like to compete in the World Championships and Olympic games, both would have been barred for him when a formal complaint was logged with the IIHF. So to say they had no teeth in enforcing this isn't really true either, even if he can play in Russia all he wants despite it being against the agreement it runs into huge problems in international play.

The problem is and it is probably less of a problem with their pay being so high in actual dollars, but this is bad for business if Malkin or Ovechkin follow suit. That contracts don't mean anything if you can go to the one league to make you whole. It is a huge let down for their partners and I am very disappointed the Wings didn't do what is in the best interest of the NHL. Same exact problem I had with a Devils owner who was trying to sell the team (eventually did) getting rid of a contract he thought could help him sell it despite it opening the door into what just played out to us.

The idea that they enforced this might hurt with future Marchenko negotiations I don't know. But there probably aren't a lot of people out there that would be worried about the vicious Wings known for reciprocating loyalty coming after their contract as long as they also plan on honoring it. As Winger pointed out the Krupp saga really crushed our ability and reputation with players league wide.

I mean what is the message of we let players quit on them and not honor their agreements. The country club and players call the shots actually runs even bigger in this idea. The mentality people hate Holland for or attribute to him just got a whole lot worse. That is at least as likely as the pitfalls you just lined out.

Players want to sign with good hockey teams. We are middle of the pack, our treatment of Datsyuk didn't factor into that. On the bigger picture it did reflect an important piece of business for the league moving forward and I think we let them down.

The Ilitch's wouldn't want a cash settlement. They would want him barred from violating the agreement. He could retire in actuality, sit out the year. That or as I said at the time actually put his money where his mouth was, sign for whatever Yekaterinburg could pay him and at least we would be having less of a debate.

The Wings did Datsyuk his solid, built all that good will and even managed to get out from under his contract. The Players leaguewide were so impressed that Stamkos wouldn't even meet with us... That worked out great.



This would have been more understandable. Though the idea that he didn't know the penalty existed first put out was pretty indefensible. But if he couldn't or wouldn't play hockey anymore what can you do. It would have been fine. I actually would have even been fine with him just sitting out a year to honor the KHL and NHL agreement. Finally relenting how special Pavel had been I would have been okay with him going straight to Yekaterinburg for the daughter reason. Turns out he did none of those, kind of like a lot of us said he wouldn't when this first broke.

But that was just my take on it. I understand those with such an attachment to Pavel that they don't want to look at him in any negative light.

Agree with all this. I also want to add that some of the bad feelings began when Pavel was "too injured" to play for the Wings, but played for Team Russia in Sochi.

You can speculate that he was too old or too injured, but he played like someone who didn't want to be here.

He also didn't do himself any favors by the way he handled the entire situation. He's been dishonest and wishy washy the entire time. The Mitch Albom interview was for no other reason that PR. He wanted the Lifetime Movie/Oprah treatment and he got it. Cue the music.....pass the tissues......the heart wants what the heart wants.....his daughter, his poor injured knee, his love for his country....but he didn't know about the over 35 clause........then when word got out (how did THAT ever happen?) and some fans weren't supportive, he got mad, blamed the media, changed his story and continued to play uninspired hockey when the team needed him the most.

Nothing will take away from his accomplishments or his talent, but he's kind of showed his true colors.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I don't think this is much different than a non compete clause, which are very legally binding and enforceable. Can a company force you to stay with them? No, but they absolutely can prevent you from working for someone else if you signed an agreement as a condition of your employment.

I don't think signing retirement papers necessarily "nullifies" your contract. Retiring means just that, retiring, not quitting to go play and collect a paycheck from another league.

Which are fairly commonplace agreements if you're lucky enough to get high enough up in the corporate ladder.

There are not many people making millions of dollars that don't have clauses in terms of departure from companies. So the he is a human being, most human beings have those parameters on their deals at his level of stature and we know he had them.

 

[Winger98]

But he will fly. I would guess including the game there Datsyuk sees her slightly more than her annual what was it two week visit to Detroit and the whole summer minus his camp commitments and World Championships.

He wanted to be on the best team possible and make the most money possible while being over there. It isn't a surprise, I said he would sign with one of the big three in terms of Dynamo, CSKA or SKA the moment this was being announced. He did, Yekaterinburg was always a pipe-dream in terms of him actually playing there, even if it was strongly hinted that was why he wanted to go.

It is just for those acting like he is next door, not really. They remain pretty far apart. Detroit to Miami is probably the best comparison we could come up with, that or half-way between Vegas and Denver in miles and flight time.

I didn't really expect him to sign in the Eastern Conference in the KHL either. Less money, less of the better hotels, and other things in the budget along with greater travel.

I am actually glad this argument is moving away from some of the initial excuses to he just wanted to leave and play at home. I have a feeling people will start to see the and make more money part of it too soon, we have already trended away from some of the initial excuses. My least favorite at the time was Datsyuk ever lauded as the intellectual by his teammates was too stupid to understand what he was signing...

oh, I know he'll fly, but still making the point that the guy still isn't next door to the family he shoved out in front of himself to deflect blame. And I'm not a fan of him claiming ignorance about his contract, either. The guy lost half a year's paycheck to a CBA that included that rule as one of the main additions. And he has this agent guy whose sole job is to know this stuff and to make sure his client knows it.

With all of the flak Fedorov still gets, the way the majority just blow this thing off with Datsyuk is laughable.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

oh, I know he'll fly, but still making the point that the guy still isn't next door to the family he shoved out in front of himself to deflect blame. And I'm not a fan of him claiming ignorance about his contract, either. The guy lost half a year's paycheck to a CBA that included that rule as one of the main additions. And he has this agent guy whose sole job is to know this stuff and to make sure his client knows it.

With all of the flak Fedorov still gets, the way the majority just blow this thing off with Datsyuk is laughable.

I know you're pretty strong still on Fedorov. What Datsyuk just did was worse than Fedorov in my opinion.

For those that want to bring up the first rough negotiation in terms of Fedorov which for me was far worse than when he actually left. Pavel leveraged the KHL way back when for his first big deal too. He was never the easiest negotiation himself either.

 

[Winger98]

I know you're pretty strong still on Fedorov. What Datsyuk just did was worse than Fedorov in my opinion.

For those that want to bring up the first rough negotiation in terms of Fedorov which for me was far worse than when he actually left. Pavel leveraged the KHL way back when for his first big deal too. He was never the easiest negotiation himself either.

Honestly, the "Best Wing" vote thing made me more raw than I was on Fedorov before. We have Lindsay who still shows up, spends time with the team, the fans, etc., and appears to bleed the Red and White, all while having a massive HoF career with us...and he's less of a wing than Fedorov?

Agree about Datsyuk being worse, though. I thought Feds just showed his true colors, and pegged him for someone who would eventually bolt, but what he did was entirely kosher with the NHL rules at the time. I know people are going to claim they don't see a difference between Feds and Datsyuk, and maybe they don't, but it's pretty obvious to me.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Agree with all this. I also want to add that some of the bad feelings began when Pavel was "too injured" to play for the Wings, but played for Team Russia in Sochi.

You can speculate that he was too old or too injured, but he played like someone who didn't want to be here.

He also didn't do himself any favors by the way he handled the entire situation. He's been dishonest and wishy washy the entire time. The Mitch Albom interview was for no other reason that PR. He wanted the Lifetime Movie/Oprah treatment and he got it. Cue the music.....pass the tissues......the heart wants what the heart wants.....his daughter, his poor injured knee, his love for his country....but he didn't know about the over 35 clause........then when word got out (how did THAT ever happen?) and some fans weren't supportive, he got mad, blamed the media, changed his story and continued to play uninspired hockey when the team needed him the most.

Nothing will take away from his accomplishments or his talent, but he's kind of showed his true colors.

I am not sure I want to go that far. I like Pavel, but it didn't end well and he handled it very poorly. It is a part of his tenure with the Wings.

He was still a great player and a good ambassador for years for the Red Wings. But he didn't exit well. It happens, life isn't a book and sometimes unfortunate things play out. He put himself in a situation where he couldn't pull it off the way he wanted to and a great deal of that is his fault. Hopefully he reflects on that and moves on or maybe he doesn't care at all. I am not sure his true colors is the big placement of this or some of the other actions, just that Saint like treatment of him is getting to be a bit much especially with how this went down I just cannot wrap my mind around it.

Either way it was great to watch him for the time we had him. But I likewise soured a little on the outright adoration when the Olympics thing played out the way it had. Part of that being he was the third highest paid player in the league in actual dollars that year while he set that up. Many rightfully brought up Yzerman, but the problem was he did get lots of heat for it and then he did deliver. Pavel didn't which was unfortunate and nobody wanted to see him get heat. There is a protective nature around Pavel that I don't quite get. Maybe it was for a long time he was a top 5 player in the game and we were the only ones that believed it. I don't know what it is, but it seems at times the guy can do no wrong. For instance what he did this summer was wrong. You can live with it, applaud him for ditching a struggling franchise as some have, you can give him a pass for another myriad of reasons, but it sucks it ended this way in my opinion. I noticed and I will remember it. It doesn't eliminate the great player he was, but it impacts my view of the guy.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

I'm not calling him a saint, but I also don't care that much about Datsyuk's leaving to really worry about whether or not he was "under contract" when he decided to leave the NHL.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I'm not calling him a saint, but I also don't care that much about Datsyuk's leaving to really worry about whether or not he was "under contract" when he decided to leave the NHL.

Well you know I guess I am the sad grown up version of Peter Pan...

Though when thinking about it Jack's baseball game is kind of like the Red Wings season. So maybe that is Pavel as the old version of Peter Pan.... Bench for the ruling?

Either way I am spinning this Hook reference and keeping it...

 

[Bench]

Datsyuk leaving us with the cap hit was indeed...

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I'm not calling him a saint, but I also don't care that much about Datsyuk's leaving to really worry about whether or not he was "under contract" when he decided to leave the NHL.

Honestly I'm not that upset about it either, i'm still a Datsyuk fan. But you don't need the quotes around "under contract."

 

[Retire91]

great career with the Wings.. one of the best all time, however, it is a shame that his whole legacy will be tainted by his lack of loyalty.

Or by Holland signing a near retirement legendary player to a 3 year deal and then icing an insultingly inferior supporting cast

Datsyuk leaving us with the cap hit was indeed...

Its on Holland, and of course instead of just eating it he manages to turn it into a downgraded defensive prospect. Holland holland holland not Daytsuk

 

[SirloinUB]

Pavel even if the KHL went rogue which I kind of expect would like to compete in the World Championships and Olympic games, both would have been barred for him when a formal complaint was logged with the IIHF. So to say they had no teeth in enforcing this isn't really true either, even if he can play in Russia all he wants despite it being against the agreement it runs into huge problems in international play.

The problem is and it is probably less of a problem with their pay being so high in actual dollars, but this is bad for business if Malkin or Ovechkin follow suit. That contracts don't mean anything if you can go to the one league to make you whole. It is a huge let down for their partners and I am very disappointed the Wings didn't do what is in the best interest of the NHL. Same exact problem I had with a Devils owner who was trying to sell the team (eventually did) getting rid of a contract he thought could help him sell it despite it opening the door into what just played out to us.

The idea that they enforced this might hurt with future Marchenko negotiations I don't know. But there probably aren't a lot of people out there that would be worried about the vicious Wings known for reciprocating loyalty coming after their contract as long as they also plan on honoring it. As Winger pointed out the Krupp saga really crushed our ability and reputation with players league wide.

I mean what is the message of we let players quit on them and not honor their agreements. The country club and players call the shots actually runs even bigger in this idea. The mentality people hate Holland for or attribute to him just got a whole lot worse. That is at least as likely as the pitfalls you just lined out.

Players want to sign with good hockey teams. We are middle of the pack, our treatment of Datsyuk didn't factor into that. On the bigger picture it did reflect an important piece of business for the league moving forward and I think we let them down.

The Ilitch's wouldn't want a cash settlement. They would want him barred from violating the agreement. He could retire in actuality, sit out the year. That or as I said at the time actually put his money where his mouth was, sign for whatever Yekaterinburg could pay him and at least we would be having less of a debate.

The Wings did Datsyuk his solid, built all that good will and even managed to get out from under his contract. The Players leaguewide were so impressed that Stamkos wouldn't even meet with us... That worked out great.



This would have been more understandable. Though the idea that he didn't know the penalty existed first put out was pretty indefensible. But if he couldn't or wouldn't play hockey anymore what can you do. It would have been fine. I actually would have even been fine with him just sitting out a year to honor the KHL and NHL agreement. Finally relenting how special Pavel had been I would have been okay with him going straight to Yekaterinburg for the daughter reason. Turns out he did none of those, kind of like a lot of us said he wouldn't when this first broke.

But that was just my take on it. I understand those with such an attachment to Pavel that they don't want to look at him in any negative light.

I guess we can debate the legality of it until we are blue in the face but ultimately the NHL decided on more than one occasion that it was not worth fighting these "retirements". Not only does that indicate how they feel on the matter, but it sets a precedent.

I'm not sure why you got fixated on Marchenko, but my point was that if we fought tooth and nail on the departure of banged up 38 year old legend it would not reflect well on how the Red Wings treat their players. We all know the treatment of loyal soldiers is highly important to the Red Wings organization. Will in impact potential FAs? who knows, but such a challenge would be a drastic move away from they typical Red Wings MO.

Fighting the Datsyuk retirement was something the NHL didn't see value in and is contradictory to how the Red Wings treat there vets.

Beyond all that is the fact that Pavel gave us everything he had until his body (literally) started falling apart. To hold a grudge over 1 season when he is a fraction of his former self, is petty.

As far as I am concerned, Datsyuk's departure, while disappointing, is not deserving of animosity on any level.

 

[Retire91]

In my opinion I am happy he left the way he did. It helped underscore and put a statement on how much of a failure the current teams direction is that they can't place Daytsuk in a sheltered role he deserves as a supporting veteran. Instead they put him and Z through the grind to try and stumble into the playoffs on a below average team. Trying to play #1 center in a broken body on a team with no defense on a line with Abby and Helm with marching orders to make the playoffs and 0 chance of contention is not something I would do with the last year of my storied career either.

I hold 0% against him for leaving and I am happy it shined the light on Holland's failures that it did.

 

[Ezekial]

Its on Holland, and of course instead of just eating it he manages to turn it into a downgraded defensive prospect. Holland holland holland not Daytsuk

Downgraded defensive prospect? You mean late rising defensive prospect and another (Hronek) defensive prospect.

16 defenders were taken before Duncan Keith in 2002. Cholo could end up being better than both Chych and Fabbro, you can't claim at this point who will have a better career. Rating a draft picks (outside of the obvious impact players) directly after it happens is silly.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I guess we can debate the legality of it until we are blue in the face but ultimately the NHL decided on more than one occasion that it was not worth fighting these "retirements". Not only does that indicate how they feel on the matter, but it sets a precedent.

I'm not sure why you got fixated on Marchenko, but my point was that if we fought tooth and nail on the departure of banged up 38 year old legend it would not reflect well on how the Red Wings treat their players. We all know the treatment of loyal soldiers is highly important to the Red Wings organization. Will in impact potential FAs? who knows, but such a challenge would be a drastic move away from they typical Red Wings MO.

Fighting the Datsyuk retirement was something the NHL didn't see value in and is contradictory to how the Red Wings treat there vets.

Beyond all that is the fact that Pavel gave us everything he had until his body (literally) started falling apart. To hold a grudge over 1 season when he is a fraction of his former self, is petty.

As far as I am concerned, Datsyuk's departure, while disappointing, is not deserving of animosity on any level.

To each his own. I don't think of it as a grudge and that is mostly because I like Datsyuk and I will always appreciate the accomplishments he had with the Wings.

But I don't have a lot of respect for people that don't honor their words or their literal signed commitments. That isn't just something in terms of hockey players. It is something I don't like out of friends, associates or co-workers, heck family. While not always the case it generally points to low moral fiber and you file it away, it is a part of who they are.

You can call it animosity, but I am not going to back-slap him and pump his tires for quitting on us. It was embarrassing, the way he did it was disgraceful. Good for him the Red Wings had his back, they shouldn't have.

The NHL is eventually going to fight one of these. Actually for all the reasons you think, Datsyuk was a perfect example to stop this crap with the KHL and I wish the Wings had stepped up for the league and their league-wide partners.

In my opinion I am happy he left the way he did. It helped underscore and put a statement on how much of a failure the current teams direction is that they can't place Daytsuk in a sheltered role he deserves as a supporting veteran. Instead they put him and Z through the grind to try and stumble into the playoffs on a below average team. Trying to play #1 center in a broken body on a team with no defense on a line with Abby and Helm with marching orders to make the playoffs and 0 chance of contention is not something I would do with the last year of my storied career either.

I hold 0% against him for leaving and I am happy it shined the light on Holland's failures that it did.

As always only really important if the Ilitch's actually share this near fantasy of an idea. They likely see it as wow, who thought Datsyuk would choose to disgrace himself on the way out of town that was shocking. By the way he confirmed his departure at his hockey camp before actually speaking to the Ilitch's like he said he was going to. I am sure that was also well received.

Datsyuk's leaving isn't going to be seen as some sort of referendum on Holland or the Wings by the people that matter. Look at exactly what they did in the wake of his departure. The people in that building aren't looking at the team like you are. Even if Datsyuk outright states it in an interview over there that is why he quit all he would do is completely destroy his chances of having an honorary night and I guess for some of you a Jersey Retirement I just don't think he belongs with that group anyway. It isn't like we will find that out if he is smart. But again wasn't it because he wanted to play at home, be near his daughter, he and his agent were too stupid to understand the contract he signed and the league agreement or finally he was too hurt to play in the NHL anymore. Now we are to we failed him so he could just do what he wanted. Interesting evolution there. Not particularly surprising since many of the excuses first trotted out in his defense aren't really lining up with how this played out.

I guess what sums up nicely my feelings on this whole deal is to Google the guilt of Pavel Datsyuk and innocence of Sergei Fedorov.

It outlines a lot of my stunned feelings on how people are okay with this, especially since a big portion of our franchise has hunted Fedorov to this day and some how we are doing backflips to defend a pretty indefensible act out of Datsyuk? What just happened.

This is two straight summers where entire swaths of our fan-base are basically acting like the hopeless guy that got dumped by their hot ex and defends her to his buddies. It isn't a good look and I don't get it. You can say hey maybe that will snap us out of it. No it is to move on... They are no longer here, they choose not to be here, at least Babcock did it in the classic way when he was supposed to. I am guessing that is how they are handling it in the building. Wasn't the same amount of thank you stuff going around as when Lidstrom or heck Holmstrom just left and that is pretty telling in my opinion in how this was actually received inside the JLA. Curious to see how that evolves as we move away from this in the years to come.

I can separate the act. It applies to a total picture that was a great one for a lot of years. Thankful for the time, I don't care if it goes poorly in Russia though or not. It shouldn't given the team he joined, but I am never applauding this decision and the way he went about it.

 

[Syckle78]

oh, I know he'll fly, but still making the point that the guy still isn't next door to the family he shoved out in front of himself to deflect blame. And I'm not a fan of him claiming ignorance about his contract, either. The guy lost half a year's paycheck to a CBA that included that rule as one of the main additions. And he has this agent guy whose sole job is to know this stuff and to make sure his client knows it.

With all of the flak Fedorov still gets, the way the majority just blow this thing off with Datsyuk is laughable.

Because once again one of them is 38 and clearly worn down by injuries and the other tried to leave at his peak on a contender. It's apples and oranges. When have fans ever whined about a 38 year old hanging them up?

 

[BinCookin]

Because once again one of them is 38 and clearly worn down by injuries and the other tried to leave at his peak on a contender. It's apples and oranges. When have fans ever whined about a 38 year old hanging them up?

This pretty much sums this entire situation for me.

"Oh no, Datsyuk is playing in Russia"

Ok well the KHL is for NHL drop outs or never has beens. As far as im concerned Datsyuk retired.

He was already not playing as well as he did a few years ago.

I remember Datsyuk in his prime, and it was a gift and a privalege to watch it.

1 more year of Datsyuk right before he retires is not a big deal to me.

If our team isn't strong enough to afford our 35+ players retiring... thats another problem entirely.

 

[Bench]

Cholo could end up being better than both Chych and Fabbro [...]

True. And boy do I hope that's how it works out. But if he's not... oh man, it's going to look bad trading back because of the cap hit.

 

[Ezekial]

True. And boy do I hope that's how it works out. But if he's not... oh man, it's going to look bad trading back because of the cap hit.

Me too, luckily I like Cholo for now, he really is a slick skater. He's got some potential that's for sure, Dante and Chych definitely look good as young players and I was praying for chych when we were on the button. Late bloomers can be big pickups, fingers double crossed.

 

[Shaman464]

To each his own. I don't think of it as a grudge and that is mostly because I like Datsyuk and I will always appreciate the accomplishments he had with the Wings.

But I don't have a lot of respect for people that don't honor their words or their literal signed commitments. That isn't just something in terms of hockey players. It is something I don't like out of friends, associates or co-workers, heck family. While not always the case it generally points to low moral fiber and you file it away, it is a part of who they are.

You won't like me, because I am about to break a year contract to go work for the best person in my field while earning my PhD, instead of teaching an intro class at a major university.

And literally everyone in my department I work for is telling me if I don't break it and work with him I am a fool.

Did I sign the contract with the knowledge I would break it less than 2 months into it? Nope. I expected that I would fulfill it to the letter. Guess what? Life happened in the intervening 4 months between the date I signed and today. I got an opportunity that I literally couldn't pass up. And no one blames me for it. In fact, my bosses are elated that I could. And I know something about commitment, I was in the military.

Why tell you this? I have a contract with a group, one as legally binding (if not more so, they have more lawyers than some countries have, and that's not a joke), yet, I was well within my rights to break my contract. It was because I didn't sign it in bad faith. And you know what? I believe so did Datsyuk. But you know what? Life happens. You make the best decisions at the time, but no one knows what the future holds. And in the end you can't blame him for making it, because it seems he went where his heart is. If you can't understand that people will sign a contract in good faith, but then something could come up that changes their circumstances, then you don't understand the real world.

I know a few people are pissed that this makes the wings a slightly worse bubble team, but lets all be honest, Pavel didn't steal a Cup run from this team. Lets just be happy that Pavel's happy and get on with it.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

True. And boy do I hope that's how it works out. But if he's not... oh man, it's going to look bad trading back because of the cap hit.

Did Detroit even want him? My understanding was they didn't which is why they traded down.

 

[Retire91]

Downgraded defensive prospect? You mean late rising defensive prospect and another (Hronek) defensive prospect.

16 defenders were taken before Duncan Keith in 2002. Cholo could end up being better than both Chych and Fabbro, you can't claim at this point who will have a better career. Rating a draft picks (outside of the obvious impact players) directly after it happens is silly.

I certainly hope as a fan it pans out as the right move too but given Holland's track record I am certain that the move was about getting rid of the cap space to sign garbage and less about which prospect is better. Which is why I have a problem with the trade. The focus should be on the better future and not the better now when now is at best only a little more mediocre after this off season. Its not the move itself but the behavior that underscores a commitment to continued mediocrity.

Its just too bad people don't see Daytsuk's leaving for what it is, a protest for how poorly the the roster is being managed.

 

[Ezekial]

I certainly hope as a fan it pans out as the right move too but given Holland's track record I am certain that the move was about getting rid of the cap space to sign garbage and less about which prospect is better. Which is why I have a problem with the trade. The focus should be on the better future and not the better now when now is at best only a little more mediocre after this off season. Its not the move itself but the behavior that underscores a commitment to continued mediocrity.

Its just too bad people don't see Daytsuk's leaving for what it is, a protest for how poorly the the roster is being managed.

Well that's purely conjecture. He wanted to leave after year 1 of the 3 year contract. If you want to believe that drivel, go ahead