It sure as shit looks like not qualifying Wood would have been the right call but Fitz can’t change that now even if he wanted to. 3m is going to Wood unless they negotiate the number down someway or trade him.
If plan along was giving Wood that price 1 year deal it was a dumb plan, he’ll be a UFA coming off a incomplete season but other GMs will be intrigued by the idea of having him in their bottom six. We’ll just be another bidder.
Wood is the kind of player that you REALLY don't want in his late 20's or early 30's..... Unless he's on a very friendly contract. $3 million per for a guy that's played 3 games in the last year and still remains sidelined 3 months after the season has concluded (and close to 4 months since he lastplayed) is not what I consider a friendly deal.
And I said the same about Zacha and Henrique, that we didn't want them in their UFA years, but for much different reasons.
Wood is the kind of player that doesn't age very well. And Wood coming off that kind of an injury is really one that will set the bulls running. Wood is the kind of player that even without the injury we would have really needed to strongly consider whether to keep or not going into his late 20's. Not too many players of Wood's like are hanging around at 30 years old with the same NHL team that drafted them anymore. They either became better than Wood is or they played for really cheap. And it's because there's a salary cap that Wood is the type of player that you really need to be wise about.
And Wood got injured last September? Or was it early October? Came back and played 3 games in April and as of the second week of July still hasn't skated again.
Wood will provide barely any value this coming season if I had to guess. Yes, the goalie situation sucks and they're overpaid (or just injured in Bernier's case), but they were already signed for this year and in Blackwood's case he was signed for this year at this salary two years ago.
www.nhl.com
