No one has ever said they don't make mistakes. My issue is with the blanket statements you and others are making about how you know how this guy sucks and this contract is terrible and he'll be passed up etc etc etc when you have not seen him play one game for the Wild and I'd bet you've not seen him play more than a handful of games for Buffalo...if any.
You are so sure that guys who have played zero pro games will pass him up...again without any evidence to point to as fact and then make comments about Brodziak being twice as useful...again without backing it up.
Foligno, on a terrible team, put up as many goals as Pominville did. Are Pominville's 20 some assists more worth the 3 million more he makes? I sure as hell don't think so. People also whine constantly about how the Wild lack a physical presence, which is something that Foligno will bring and yet all it is around here is complain complain complain.
Also something to differentiate your other signings there you are complaining about is age. Foligno is 26 and entering his prime, not over it. Yet you seem certain (without evidence) that he can and will amount to nothing here. Just because other moves may not have worked out does not mean this one has no chance to.
Complaining is one thing...but when he has played zero minutes for this team you can not make the claims you are making. Fletcher and Boudreau have faith in the guy and until I SEE otherwise, for the time being that's enough for me.
I've seen him play plenty of times. I watch an obscene amount of hockey and Buffalo is on nationally more than any team but Chicago and Pittsburgh because they get insane ratings for some reason. I've probably watched 3 dozen or more buffalo games in the past 4 years.
And the problem isn't even with Foligno, he's an above average 4th liner, who probably shouldn't be in the top 9 of a team with playoff aspirations. He has value for a hockey team.
But he's replaceable. And you just can't give those guys term, especially at almost 3 million dollars and especially with the cap situation we've been in and will continue to be in. There is zero reason to lock into a player of Markus Foligno's caliber 4 years from now at 3 million dollars.
It's a mistake. It's a mistake Fletcher has made time and again. Term to 4th liners for too much. And almost without fail, he has to dump those players within two years. Nystrom, Staubitz, Mitchell, Powe, Cooke. Same thing, over and over again. 4th liners of varying degree's of skill level, that have to be dumped.
Forgive me if i'm disheartened our GM can't seem to learn the basic principle of you shouldn't give term to 4th liners, that keeps biting him in the ass.
You're more than welcome to continue to defer to the authority that has had to dump almost every 4th liner he's ever acquired. I'll continue to think it was a terrible decision to put one one the books 4 years from now at 3 million dollars