radoran Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I guess Backstrom has a huge decision to make. and has to make it pretty quick. He is 37 years old and really has dropped in his play. He has to see the writing on the wall. He should for the sake of the team that pretty much made him walk away from his salary and call it a good career.The sake of the team that offered him the contract in the first place?How many people can you name that simply "walk away" from $4M?I could see him *maybe* taking a demotion or a trade. But his trade value sucks because he is 37 and his actual salary is HIGHER than his cap hit.Moreover, the Wild only gain a roster spot by demoting him - his cap hit remains in full. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unleashed Fury Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I agree that wlking away from 4 million sounds ridiculous, but I am sure he doesn't need the money and weirder things have happened. Maybe what could happen is a team loses there goalie due to injury sometime during the season and you know it will happen. That team just might be desperate enough to trade for a veteran goalie as a back up. We shall see and I do not ever wish an injury on any player. I don't care if it is Sidney Crosby who I don't like as a player, but I wouldn't want to see him injuried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radoran Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I agree that wlking away from 4 million sounds ridiculous, but I am sure he doesn't need the money and weirder things have happened. Maybe what could happen is a team loses there goalie due to injury sometime during the season and you know it will happen. That team just might be desperate enough to trade for a veteran goalie as a back up. We shall see and I do not ever wish an injury on any player. I don't care if it is Sidney Crosby who I don't like as a player, but I wouldn't want to see him injuried. Sure, but that doesn't help the Wild in the short term dealing with their roster crunch. I've seen a lot of situations where teams would like to get out of deals they made by saying "Hi, we made a terrible mistake - wouldn't you like to walk away from millions of dollars to help us out?" It never happens that way. And I really don't find it a compelling argument. And this is why the contract should have been structured exactly the opposite - $4M in Y1 and $2.5M in Y3. It makes him easier to trade and he would have value for, say, an Arizona looking for cap money at low actual salary (like they did with Pronger). But then they also added the No Movement Clause - which should really be reserved for a precious few on a roster and certainly not a 35+ goalie. The deal was made for, quite frankly, all the wrong reasons and it's biting the team in the tuckus this season. Add in the fact that Kuemper isn't waiver-exempt (if they send him down, 29 other teams can pick him up) and it's just a terrible situation for a mismanaged Wild team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unleashed Fury Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 @radoran it looks like the Wild have decided to keep all 3 goalies which I feel is a wasted spot on the roster that could be used elsewhere on the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radoran Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 @radoran it looks like the Wild have decided to keep all 3 goalies which I feel is a wasted spot on the roster that could be used elsewhere on the team. It absolutely is. The problem they have is much like the Flyers faced with their defense. If the Flyers had sent Manning or Gudas down they would have been claimed. No one will claim MacDonald. If the Wild sent Kuemper down, he would be claimed. They can't sent Backstrom down because of his contract, It's a cautionary tale of how teams hamstring themselves with bad deals. For more cautionary tales, just look at Paul Holmgren's tenure as GM of the Flyers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unleashed Fury Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 It absolutely is. The problem they have is much like the Flyers faced with their defense. If the Flyers had sent Manning or Gudas down they would have been claimed. No one will claim MacDonald. If the Wild sent Kuemper down, he would be claimed. They can't sent Backstrom down because of his contract, It's a cautionary tale of how teams hamstring themselves with bad deals. For more cautionary tales, just look at Paul Holmgren's tenure as GM of the Flyers. I wonder if backstrom could get a mystery groin injury in practice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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