Maybe this is just the way I see things, but when something is for sale, it is actively trying to be sold, not if the price is right. There is a price for Patrice Bergeron too, that doesn't mean he's for sale to me anyway. Charlie McAvoy has a price too, also not for sale.
I agree that there absolutely is a price though as there is for any player. If you want to look at it that way then every player is for sale, that is not what I was talking about though.
Just speaking from my point of view, my house is not for sale but if someone offered me enough I would sell it to them. To me "for sale" indicates an action, a decision to be a seller. A lot of things have their price that aren't for sale. That is just the way I see things, I am not saying it is how you should see things.
not everything {everyone} has a price. its hard for me to put this into words but sometimes things have a value that is above money.
when you are putting together a 'team' there will sometimes be elements of that team [or family] that cant be tampered with unless you are prepared for the team to suffer
I wonder if an example in real life im thinking of can help explain? there are people in this world that sell dogs and cats... its part of their living. they might be breeders or own a pet store. to them a dog or a cat has a price. its for sale if you meet that price
then there are people like me... my cat would not be for sale at any price. someone could offer me a million dollars and I would not be able to accept. I could never sell 'my family'
when we apply this line of though to a hockey team... there are players on most teams that are so fundamentally at the core of the team... they cant be sold.
then there are pieces that might have value... but don't fit anymore
we had a saint Bernard when I was a kid. we lived in a mountain village and that dog had all the room in the world to roam. we had to move for a job to a city. we knew our situation was changing and it would be 'unfair' to that dog to take it away from the life it needed. luckily we had a very good neighbor who had a strong relationship with that dog and wanted to care for the dog.
we didn't sell the dog off for a price... but we came to an understanding that for the good of the family we had to move in 2 directions.
I think when we are talking about david krejci… theres a lot of evidence that it might be best for both the team and krejci to find a spot where he can be happy but not with boston.
its going to be hard decision to make. hes been part of the family for some time now. but for everyone to have a happy tomorrow, maybe its not a fit to stay together now.
while I wouldn't say I think they are actively shopping him... I do think they are respectfully testing the market where he would be happy at. these things must be handled with the utmost of respect because he does have a ntc
there wouldn't even be 1 whisper about it if the team hadn't approached him and tested these waters ahead of time. Sweeney and neely are not so classless that they would try to force a vetern out the door. I fully believe krejci has told the team where he might be willing to go... and so as to not handcuff the team in negotiations, this info was never made public
now an inside source says he has heard that krejci is in play
long time bruin observers like myself have seen the writing on the wall for years now that krejci maybe should be moved. but always, this was a delicate situation. he is after all, a good player... a good citizen.
I wont be surprised at the end of the day if nothing happens this year. boston would need to have a plan to add someone else if they were to move krejci. unless we actually are after Tavares... who could be the replacement?
its far more likely boston has told krejci that if he has a favorite spot to end up {Carolina} they would be very considerate and ONLY offer him there... or if he had 2-3 teams... let him be the boss of where he goes... and they offer him this because next year his ntc becomes much more open
they tell him... let us trade you this year... we will move heaven and earth to land you where you want to be... but next year you might have to settle for 9th or 10th spot on your list
its kind of the same for backes. hes very well respected vet. they did convince him as an ufa to trust them. they will have to respect his ntc when they move him. if they abuse a recent ufa signing it will haunt them in the future.
at the end of the day... neither guy is likely to be dealt for full value because of this circumstance. and I don't really see what the other teams are offering to make a huge difference. I will imagine the number of teams krejci/backes are willing to move to is very limited.
it probably does come down to a salary management question for boston. if they think they are in on Tavares or something similar... maybe the trade for karlsson… im not sure... but whatever... if they actually do need the cap room, then I can understand why they are 'selling' krejci and backes {be it with the upmost of respect}
it doesn't have to disappoint our fans that our team sometimes is the one to offer players for sale. when seguin was being shopped I said weeks ahead of time we would likely shop him. my fellow bruin fans said maybe other teams were asking but we would NEVER shop him. then we watched behind the b's and yes... yes we did shop him
I had the same discussion about boychuk… about lucic… about joe thornton back in the day. its not so horrible that we shop our players sometimes. it might be horrible that we do it on the qt and sometimes don't seem to get full value
hell... theres been a few times gm's have said in the press they didn't even know we were trading a guy...
we don't run a meat market. we aren't cold blooded selling to the highest bidder necessarily. we do respect our players and try to find soft landing spots for them.
we sent lucic to the west coast where he wanted to be. we sent ray bourque where he wanted to be. and if krejci and backes are moved im sure it will be to where they want to be too