Are you referring to Jovo, Upshall, Flash, etc? While I agree these guys did not at all deserve the financial contracts they got, Tallon was cramped by cheap owners and a franchise that very few legitimate players wanted to sign with at the time. I think any good GM would have done more or less the same signings, and I'd like to hear what some legitimate other options would have been. At least he was smart enough to have most of these contracts expire within the next season or two. They were a band-aid while our youth developed (a poor-man's bandaid, but a bandaid nonetheless)
A smart poor mans band-aid. Upshall, Jovo and Flash are all the sort of pro role-models our young guns needed to learn from.
In Vancouver the Sedins, Kesler, Burrows and other core Canucks single out Trevor Linden and even Sundins brief stay as being tantamount to their development as professional athletes and successful, consistent NHL'ers.
In Jovo's case I'm not even sure they want or expect him to be a legitimate 3rd pairing player. But if they can keep him in the lineup without it hurting too much on the ice can you imagine the sort of signal it sends to Kuli/Guds Petro/Robak M/M Weegar/Brown Olsen/Raccine (dare I say Ekblad)? Not to mention the huge impact of the coaching that I'm sure Jovo gives to anyone who will listen. And then the PR is a whole other deal.
Upshall and Flash* (or even Gomez, in some ways) are the sort of guys I want a Howden/Shore/Pirri/Trochek/Grimaldi learning from. Even a Hubby/Juggs/Barkov can and will learn things from those guys.
It's stupid little stuff, how to eat, how to do your taxes. It can make a big differerence.
* I realize Upshall/Flash is not = to Linden/Sundin but we were on a budget.
