I am struggling to understand why Florida did this from their perspective. It seems like very short-term thinking, costing them more in the long run to clear out just a little bit of cap room this year.
Well, they did get a sixth-round pick.
As others have pointed out, the structure of Reimer's contract created a weird buyout cap-hit issue that Florida needed to avoid to sign any big contracts this summer. They preferred the more standard structure of Darling's buyout even if it was a little more expensive in total.
Why not just re-sign McElhinney for 2 years $2M per year if the goal is a reasonably priced backup?
I love these comments. The amount of assumptions in one under-20-word sentence is just staggering. On top of massively under-estimating Mac's value, this presumes that the team and the player are a match, and everything we've heard this offseason suggests that Mac eliminated us as a possibility very early in the process. I'd assumed it was over contract length, but if Reimer sticks around, that doesn't hold up. Maybe Mac just didn't really like it here for one reason or another.
Plus, doing it this way got rid of Darling, and can you really put a price on that?
All I know is that this is fun. I've gotten past the thinking that Dundon/Waddell are over their heads and I've started to trust them. It enables me to look at moves like these -- and the de Haan trade -- in terms of "what's next" instead of being critical. I'm 100 percent certain this group has a plan and they are steadfast in executing it. It's new for us, because we're used to JR not having a plan, and RF having an ultra-secret plan that only he was privvy to. This group works it all out in plain sight and I freakin' love it.
If Reimer ends up being a Mac replacement, I'm good with that. He's a good backup goalie. A little pricey, but it got rid of Darling's buyout, so probably cheaper than Mac in the end. If he moves on, that's cool, too. I'm just here for the ride.
