Datsyuk will retire after Playoffs

[pilldoc]

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/15175374/detroit-red-wings-star-pavel-datsyuk-plans-retire-nhl-playoffs

 

The end of an era is about to decend upon Detrouit.  Pavel Datsyuk plans on retiring after the playoffs.  Datsyuk, 37, has been one of the faces of the Red Wings for years.  He has played all 14 seasons with the Red Wings.  A classy player, he will be missed by fans of the NHL.

 

   

 

[nossagog]

Doesn't this become a killer contract hit for the Wings?  He was over 35 when his current contract was signed, so don't the Wings keep his cap hit for the rest of the contract(only one year, but still).

[SpikeDDS]

5 minutes ago, nossagog said:

Doesn't this become a killer contract hit for the Wings?  He was over 35 when his current contract was signed, so don't the Wings keep his cap hit for the rest of the contract(only one year, but still).

Yes.

 

It hurts.

 

Hope the FA market is better NEXT offseason vs. this one coming up.

[yave1964]

I have always loved Magic but I have to admit that I am going to have a bad taste in my mouth with the way that he left the Wings on the hook for his contract and did not honor the final year. I have a real problem with that. My understanding is the KHL could not sign an NHLer who was under contract unless the NHL team allowed it, ala Kovalchuk.

  Perhaps Holland, based off years of service by Pavel simply agreed to let him go. Nonetheless, I will always admire the wonderful career but this will leave a black eye that will never go away not only to me but to other fans as well. We are now in a lurch, not only losing Datsyuk but behind a 7.5 million dollar hole because of the ridiculous way the rules are written.

  Common sense legislation apparently is as uncommon in the NHL as it is in Washington.

[SpikeDDS]

3 hours ago, yave1964 said:

I have always loved Magic but I have to admit that I am going to have a bad taste in my mouth with the way that he left the Wings on the hook for his contract and did not honor the final year. I have a real problem with that. My understanding is the KHL could not sign an NHLer who was under contract unless the NHL team allowed it, ala Kovalchuk.

  Perhaps Holland, based off years of service by Pavel simply agreed to let him go. Nonetheless, I will always admire the wonderful career but this will leave a black eye that will never go away not only to me but to other fans as well. We are now in a lurch, not only losing Datsyuk but behind a 7.5 million dollar hole because of the ridiculous way the rules are written.

  Common sense legislation apparently is as uncommon in the NHL as it is in Washington.

And see, I see the other side of it. Datsyuk ADMITS he made the mistake signing that 3-year deal. The right thing to do here would be to let him go. FORCING him to play against his will isn't right. The contract should be nullified except for the cap money that he has already been paid, but we haven't yet been assessed is rightly due. But the problem is with the rule as written.

 

(Actually, another idea occurred to me. That if a player leaves during a front-weighted contract, that they should be made to pay back the $ they were paid more than the average cap hit over the life of the deal multiplied by the number of years served. That would be fair.)

 

I do understand that this is a choice by Datsyuk. But ANYONE who puts their team before family has his (or her) priorities out of whack! Datsyuk made a mistake signing a 3-year deal. He admits that mistake. He wasn't going to sign with anyone else. The 3-year deal is NOT what made him stay vs. a 1-year deal (although his agent might have convinced him otherwise). It is stupid to punish the Red Wings for a mistake by the signing player. If anything, Datsyuk should be punished for bolting. But in my heart of hearts, I think he is doing the right thing now, something he almost did a year ago, but his respect for the organization was too great to put us in a $15M hole.

 

If his ankle were not as bad as it is now known that it is, I might see this differently. If it was merely preference to play in Russia, and the potential threat to the end of his career wasn't looming, I'd be more apt to say "a deal's a deal." But it's a family thing and his ankle has made him realize that his days as a skater are numbered.

 

I blame the CBA for this mess. That's where the blame truly belongs here. More than on Datsyuk, and MUCH more than on the Wings organization. They will be the victims here. So will we fans. But my family comes first for me. I would do the same thing Datsyuk is doing. He IS his daughter's father. He just plays hockey for a living. He's tried to balance this by staying longer than he wanted to. Tried to soften the blow. He's trying to do the right thing. It sucks for us, but it's still the right thing. I won't think very badly about it. Not 0%, but not much.

[yave1964]

8 hours ago, SpikeDDS said:

And see, I see the other side of it. Datsyuk ADMITS he made the mistake signing that 3-year deal. The right thing to do here would be to let him go. FORCING him to play against his will isn't right. The contract should be nullified except for the cap money that he has already been paid, but we haven't yet been assessed is rightly due. But the problem is with the rule as written.

 

(Actually, another idea occurred to me. That if a player leaves during a front-weighted contract, that they should be made to pay back the $ they were paid more than the average cap hit over the life of the deal multiplied by the number of years served. That would be fair.)

 

I do understand that this is a choice by Datsyuk. But ANYONE who puts their team before family has his (or her) priorities out of whack! Datsyuk made a mistake signing a 3-year deal. He admits that mistake. He wasn't going to sign with anyone else. The 3-year deal is NOT what made him stay vs. a 1-year deal (although his agent might have convinced him otherwise). It is stupid to punish the Red Wings for a mistake by the signing player. If anything, Datsyuk should be punished for bolting. But in my heart of hearts, I think he is doing the right thing now, something he almost did a year ago, but his respect for the organization was too great to put us in a $15M hole.

 

If his ankle were not as bad as it is now known that it is, I might see this differently. If it was merely preference to play in Russia, and the potential threat to the end of his career wasn't looming, I'd be more apt to say "a deal's a deal." But it's a family thing and his ankle has made him realize that his days as a skater are numbered.

 

I blame the CBA for this mess. That's where the blame truly belongs here. More than on Datsyuk, and MUCH more than on the Wings organization. They will be the victims here. So will we fans. But my family comes first for me. I would do the same thing Datsyuk is doing. He IS his daughter's father. He just plays hockey for a living. He's tried to balance this by staying longer than he wanted to. Tried to soften the blow. He's trying to do the right thing. It sucks for us, but it's still the right thing. I won't think very badly about it. Not 0%, but not much.

I get every single bit of that, believe me.

 

But in life your word is your bond, and signing a contract, is, well, a contract. He has one more year remaining upon his obligation to the Red Wings organization. He signed it, he should honor it.

  And the KHL and the NHL have had a no poaching agreement for years, it was waived to allow the Devils to escape the ridiculous Kovalchuk contract (and likely saved the franchise from relocating) but call me bitter, I do not care, I do not see how he should be allowed to play in the KHL next season. He is under contract to North America, he should not be allowed to play anywhere else during the 2016-17 season. I feel very strongly about the slippery slope that this allows for. If Illitch/Holland have told him thank you for the years of service, we are going to wreck our 2016-17 season with the cap hit, screw our fans and your teammates, go have fun on your Russian farewell tour, we will waive our rights to stop you, well, they need their heads examined. And as for trading the contract to help a team get to the cap floor, I do not have a problem with it, I defended the rights of the Flyers to trade Pronger but frankly I think it is more than a bit stupid. It is like dealing in junk bonds but hopefully we can get some cap relief that way or another. If someone had said Pavel was hanging them up, the Wings were able to wipe his contract off the books, which is freaking logical, well that wouldn't be as bad. But instead he is going to continue playing, albeit in another league and the Wings are on the hook for the cap hit. Absurdity in every word.

  I know I sound like a kid, pouting because a toy is being taken away. I don't care.

  He signed a contract. He knew he had a daughter when he signed. Don't bring her into it now. Honor the damn contract. I place this squarely upon his shoulders. Lidstrom struggled with the same thing for years, a wife longing to return home, he did not leave the organization in a lurch.

[SpikeDDS]

@yave1964

 

We don't disagree very often, you and I, but I think we will end up having to agree to disagree on this one, and it's OK.

 

I think there is a significant difference between Lidstrom and Datsyuk's cases. Lidstrom was able to be a father to his boys, albeit in a country that wasn't their "home." Datsyuk's family isn't here. He can't be much of a father to his daughter. BIG difference.

 

EVERYONE makes mistakes, yave. What's wrong with the system is that the Red Wings are being punished for Datsyuk's mistake. It's a stupid contract rule. Datsyuk should be made to pay back what he owes (see my above post), and the Wings should be held accountable for what the cap hit they haven't accounted for to this point, and that should be that. It's ridiculous that it is not that way.

 

Now, I will agree with you that he shouldn't be able to play in the KHL this upcoming season. That is wrong. On THAT, we DO agree. And if he is able to, that really DOES screw up this whole system. I agree with you that that isn't fair.

 

But he should be able to leave, paying what he owes, and without leaving the Red Wings in the lurch. He can't. So he compromised, and left 1 year after he really wanted to, out of respect for the organization and the Illitches. It IS a lesser of two evils thing, but to me it IS the lesser of the two evils.

 

And I know a deal's a deal, but you know what, having been through a bankruptcy before myself, and dealing with the guilt of feeling my violation of that very thing, I learned that in our system of government, the bankruptcy laws were written BECAUSE they realized everyone makes mistakes. It's actually a take-off of the Year of Jubilee, which is found in the Bible, where every 50 years all debts were forgiven. Our laws are written to give forgiveness for a mistake. That's a good thing, not a bad thing.

 

I'm not saying Pav's 100% right here. Lesser of two evils. I think he tried to find the balance to a situation where there IS no clear right way to do it. That the system is set up like it is where some are punished for someone else's mistake is stupid.

 

Like I said, we can agree to disagree on this one, and will have to, I suppose. But I'm not going to let a guy's desire to right a wrong within his family make me bitter towards him. I can forgive that, even though it hurts. But I will agree that he should NOT be able to play hockey there for that year. That's wrong. Let him be the dad he needs to be, but if he's going to forego his responsibility as a player, he should not be able to play over there instead. And if the KHL would do the right thing, honoring the agreement that is in place, not allowing him to play next season, this would be as right as it could be under the circumstances.

[yave1964]

There is a written agreement between the KHL and the NHL to honor one anothers contracts, to prevent poaching from one league to the other. The KHL was considered a minor threat until Russia's near economic collapse a few years ago but since then they have tightened their belt.

  When a player is under contract the other league will not attempt to sign them, plain and simple. The Devils agreed to allow Kovie to leave, but that was a financial decision and not this.

  In short, if Datsyuk plays in the KHL next season it is only because Illitch allows him to, which to me would be BS.

  I would have loved to have had Pavel around for one more year, to savor his memory. This will forever leave a bad taste in my mouth. I place the blame equally on Datsyuk, the Wings brain trust and the screwy way that the league has set up the system. In all honesty a review should be held for this situation, it is not an attempt to circumvent the cap by the Wings, quite the contrary. But to do so would allow others to continue saying the league favors the Wings.

  Good night sleep and still disgusted. I am going to enjoy him in the postseason and wish him well in his future endeavors but will continue to feel that he really screwed us for next year and if the Wings management is tacit in this they owe the fans an apology.

[SpikeDDS]

28 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

There is a written agreement between the KHL and the NHL to honor one anothers contracts, to prevent poaching from one league to the other. The KHL was considered a minor threat until Russia's near economic collapse a few years ago but since then they have tightened their belt.

  When a player is under contract the other league will not attempt to sign them, plain and simple. The Devils agreed to allow Kovie to leave, but that was a financial decision and not this.

  In short, if Datsyuk plays in the KHL next season it is only because Illitch allows him to, which to me would be BS.

  I would have loved to have had Pavel around for one more year, to savor his memory. This will forever leave a bad taste in my mouth. I place the blame equally on Datsyuk, the Wings brain trust and the screwy way that the league has set up the system. In all honesty a review should be held for this situation, it is not an attempt to circumvent the cap by the Wings, quite the contrary. But to do so would allow others to continue saying the league favors the Wings.

  Good night sleep and still disgusted. I am going to enjoy him in the postseason and wish him well in his future endeavors but will continue to feel that he really screwed us for next year and if the Wings management is tacit in this they owe the fans an apology.

Unless the Illitches and Datsyuk made an agreement that he would stay THIS year in exchange for their assent to release him from the deal after this year. If we are giving him the blessing, then that's on us, but again for a humanitarian reason for a player who has served us well. No one loses on this deal more than the Illitches will, and if they actually have given assent to his playing there, because they made such an agreement, I guess they reap what they sow.

 

Let's just say it like it is: He could have bolted after last year, and THEN he would have DOUBLY screwed us. He didn't. And if the reason he didn't was because the Illitches convinced him to find a balance to resolve this better, then like I said, this is the lesser of the evils. Since there is no perfect solution, this might be the best we could get.

 

The Wings and Datsyuk were both foolish to ink such a long-term deal with these risks involved. To be honest, since Datsyuk really had no intentions of playing with any other team in the NHL, they should have done a year-by-year deal, with options. Datsyuk, probably on advice from his agent, played his cards too close to his chest. He should have been more honest about his feelings about returning home.

 

But we DON'T know what was said or agreed upon, so this is all speculation.

[radoran]

The current "understanding" between the KHL and NHL expires after this season:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/38950/nhl-khl-extend-agreement-on-transfers

 

There are all sorts of ways to make the over 35 rule work better than it does now.

 

But those are the rules under which the Wings signed him. They knew it at the time.

 

As I said in the other thread, having a $8.5M player ($10M, $7M) on the roster for $7.5M allowed the Wings to have a Sheahan, Jurco or Larkin on the team.

 

They certainly benefitted from the front-loaded contract (as did Datsyuk).

 

I wouldn't mind a "cap recapture" penalty instead of a full fledged hit (assuming that they modify the CBA to extend that to every team going forward). But something needs to be done to prevent cap shenanigans like the Pronger situation...

[JagerMeister]

This will be a sad moment for not just Wings fans, but essentially everyone throughout the league. Iv'e met but one person who has shown any dislike for Datsyuk whatsoever, and that's because he was Russian.....Nonetheless, he remains one of the most unique and entertaining players of all time and you guys are incredibly fortunate to have watched the entirety of his NHL career, he was the epitome of intellectual prowess on ice. Here are some videos you can reminisce on

 

 

 

 

[OccamsRazor]

 

 

 

 

 

• Datsyuk's salary is $5.5M with a $7.5M cap hit. If he plays next year in the KHL, that entire $5.5M disappears from what's owed to him without the cap hit disappearing. He will either "retire" like Ilya Kovalchuk did or he'll be suspended without pay for not reporting to his team.
• Chris Pronger carries a cap hit of$4.94M with a real live salary of $575,000. A team carrying the guy so retired that he's already in the Hall of Fame does have to pay him this salary to go along with the cap hit.
• Both deals have only one year remaining.

http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2016/5/20/11722544/analyzing-a-potential-datsyuk-for-pronger-trade

[yave1964]

Absolutely absurd that a guy can walk away from one league to go play in another while still under contract. Bitter? Damn right I am.

 

  In years past the NHL and KHL have had a written agreement for no poaching of players between leagues. In essence, the NHL and KHL have agreed to honor each others contracts. It expired at the end of this current season.

  The reason the NHL has been in no hurry to extend it is because of the Russian economy, as the economy in NA gets stronger, the Russian one has been weakened severely for a myriad of reasons, most important is the fall of the price of crude which has hurt them severely. Lots of stronger KHL teams are poaching the poorer ones. Picture the NHL/WHA contract battles of the seventies. Nobody really knows who is playing where right now over there. in some cases teams are not even honoring rival teams contracts within their own league. It is a bit of a mess. So the NHL in their wisdom decided to kind of let it ride, not to extend the agreement to homor each others deals, at least for this year.

 And now it has backfired. Pavel Datsyuk can walk away from his current contract and go play in Russia and there is nothing the Wings or the NHL can do about it. Just another reason I cannot stand Bettman, his damn shortsightedness.

  I am not happy for Datsyuk, he can go to Hell as far as I am concerned, you sign a contract, you honor said deal. That is that. It is just like a fotball player signing a deal and then holding out the following spring. I have no use for that. As a rule I love the sport and dont give a damn about the money end of it or the colective bargaining end, who really cares? Lets have some Hockey. But now the Wings are saying the right things about letting him go back and taking the high road, but it is the fans who are screwed over on this one. I am hearing more about the damn Salary cap and expiring contracts and live salary and the rest of this BS than I ever cared to. And I am sick of it.

  Eventually, down the road I will put the magnificent career of Pavel in perspective but right now at this very moment all that I see is a selfish athlete who signed a contract and decided to not honor it and leave his team, my team, in a lurch for the following season. To Hell with him. To hell with Kenny Holland. To Hell with the KHL. The ones getting screwed are the fans of the Red Wings. The team is still going to sell out and make their money, the fans will see a lesser product on the ice because of his leaving while still under contract. I have no desire to take the high road. To Hell with all of them.

[OccamsRazor]

4 hours ago, yave1964 said:

Absolutely absurd that a guy can walk away from one league to go play in another while still under contract. Bitter? Damn right I am.

 

  In years past the NHL and KHL have had a written agreement for no poaching of players between leagues. In essence, the NHL and KHL have agreed to honor each others contracts. It expired at the end of this current season.

  The reason the NHL has been in no hurry to extend it is because of the Russian economy, as the economy in NA gets stronger, the Russian one has been weakened severely for a myriad of reasons, most important is the fall of the price of crude which has hurt them severely. Lots of stronger KHL teams are poaching the poorer ones. Picture the NHL/WHA contract battles of the seventies. Nobody really knows who is playing where right now over there. in some cases teams are not even honoring rival teams contracts within their own league. It is a bit of a mess. So the NHL in their wisdom decided to kind of let it ride, not to extend the agreement to homor each others deals, at least for this year.

 And now it has backfired. Pavel Datsyuk can walk away from his current contract and go play in Russia and there is nothing the Wings or the NHL can do about it. Just another reason I cannot stand Bettman, his damn shortsightedness.

  I am not happy for Datsyuk, he can go to Hell as far as I am concerned, you sign a contract, you honor said deal. That is that. It is just like a fotball player signing a deal and then holding out the following spring. I have no use for that. As a rule I love the sport and dont give a damn about the money end of it or the colective bargaining end, who really cares? Lets have some Hockey. But now the Wings are saying the right things about letting him go back and taking the high road, but it is the fans who are screwed over on this one. I am hearing more about the damn Salary cap and expiring contracts and live salary and the rest of this BS than I ever cared to. And I am sick of it.

  Eventually, down the road I will put the magnificent career of Pavel in perspective but right now at this very moment all that I see is a selfish athlete who signed a contract and decided to not honor it and leave his team, my team, in a lurch for the following season. To Hell with him. To hell with Kenny Holland. To Hell with the KHL. The ones getting screwed are the fans of the Red Wings. The team is still going to sell out and make their money, the fans will see a lesser product on the ice because of his leaving while still under contract. I have no desire to take the high road. To Hell with all of them.

 

 

Yes for reason you stated i think we will see an exodus of players coming over this offseason from the KHL. 

 

The KHL is in trouble. Pavel is wrong for not finishing his deal then going to the KHL and can't blame fans for being pissed.

 

But the NHL can fix this with the next collective bargain agreement if they want to this is getting out of hand.

 

If this only applied in the real world. I could leave my current job go work for someone else and my old employer would still have to pay me. Who wouldn't do that if they could.

[yave1964]

4 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

 

Yes for reason you stated i think we will see an exodus of players coming over this offseason from the KHL. 

 

The KHL is in trouble. Pavel is wrong for not finishing his deal then going to the KHL and can't blame fans for being pissed.

 

But the NHL can fix this with the next collective bargain agreement if they want to this is getting out of hand.

 

If this only applied in the real world. I could leave my current job go work for someone else and my old employer would still have to pay me. Who wouldn't do that if they could.

OR if you leave your job for a new employer, your old employer would have to go an entire year before they could replace you because HR still lists your salary on the books so the old employer is screwed. This is insane. If he wants to retire that is one thing, fine, see you at the HOFer ceremony. But literally walking out with a year to go and destroying the Wings salary cap for the coming year to go play elsehwere is unconscionable. It should not be allowed.  think what makes me the angriest is Holland taking it so well. Throw a fit, threaten the KHL with an injunction even if it is hollow and meaningless, make the fans think you are awake and care about them and it would at least feel better.

[OccamsRazor]

19 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

OR if you leave your job for a new employer, your old employer would have to go an entire year before they could replace you because HR still lists your salary on the books so the old employer is screwed

 

 

Sounds good sign me up!!!!!!!

[JagerMeister]

2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

OR if you leave your job for a new employer, your old employer would have to go an entire year before they could replace you because HR still lists your salary on the books so the old employer is screwed. This is insane. If he wants to retire that is one thing, fine, see you at the HOFer ceremony. But literally walking out with a year to go and destroying the Wings salary cap for the coming year to go play elsehwere is unconscionable. It should not be allowed.  think what makes me the angriest is Holland taking it so well. Throw a fit, threaten the KHL with an injunction even if it is hollow and meaningless, make the fans think you are awake and care about them and it would at least feel better.

You also gotta love the fans defending him " He's a superstar, one of the greatest ever and has served us loyally. blah blah blah blah blah " As if that absolves him from anything. He will always be one of my favourite players to watch, but this is unequivocally, a selfish action that will **** up the team you have been playing for during the entirety of your NHL career.

 

Fans have a tendency to be more tolerant when it comes to superstars, which is complete bullshit. Hold every player equally accountable.

[Old School Hockey]

While I certainty appreciate everything Pavel did for the Wings.  But when you sign a 35 plus contract you HAVE TO PLAY IT OUT.  Unless the contract traded this will hurt the Wings big time.

[OccamsRazor]

38 minutes ago, Old School Hockey said:

While I certainty appreciate everything Pavel did for the Wings.  But when you sign a 35 plus contract you HAVE TO PLAY IT OUT.  Unless the contract traded this will hurt the Wings big time.

 

 

They maybe able to trade his caphit. But it will cost like it cost the Blackhawks.

 

Maybe something like Jurco to go with him.....

[yave1964]

Obscene that a player can walk away mid contract and go play elsewhere. We had an agreement of no poaching players under contract with the KHL which conveniently for Pavel just expired.

  Good bye. Thanks for the memories. Maybe the bitterness will go away soon but not too soon. He screwed us for this year and perhaps longer. I guess a contract does not matter anymore.

[B21]

On 6/19/2016 at 10:55 AM, yave1964 said:

Obscene that a player can walk away mid contract and go play elsewhere. We had an agreement of no poaching players under contract with the KHL which conveniently for Pavel just expired.

  Good bye. Thanks for the memories. Maybe the bitterness will go away soon but not too soon. He screwed us for this year and perhaps longer. I guess a contract does not matter anymore.

 

I agree with you, Yave. Datsyuk has always been a class act and I want to give the guy the benefit of doubt but listening to the replay of Holland's comments this morning I think it's clear the Wings felt shafted.

 

Holland was asked about the option to do 1-year contracts (apparently you guys did this at the end of the careers and Yzerman and Chelios?). Holland stated that the agent at the time started off with a request for a 5-year dear and that if he had countered with a 1-year deal Datsyuk would not have remained a Red Wing. It was shortly after the 3-year deal was signed that Datsyuk made it known he wanted to return to Russia in 2015.  The Wings talked him into staying for 2015-16.

 

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2016/06/red_wings_ken_holland_no_hard.html

 

I give credit to Holland for taking the high road ("Datsyuk didn't know the rules."). 

 

I can only keep going back to Datsyuk's (alleged) unwillingness to take a 1-year deal and only making his intentions known after the 3-year deal was signed.

 

 

[radoran]

4 minutes ago, B21 said:

I give credit to Holland for taking the high road ("Datsyuk didn't know the rules.").

 

Then he's an idiot. And his agent is an idiot.

 

Was Pavel just not paying attention when they lost a year and a half of hockey to get the salary cap?

 

Does he - in his chosen profession - not pay attention to rules that even a mere fan of the game knows? Did his agent not understand how the 35+ rule worked?

 

In the end, the Wings just have to eat next year and keep moving forward. They got an $8.5M player for two years (they paid him $17M over the past two seasons) at $7.5M on the cap.

 

The only "big deal" they have to take care of is Mrazek and even with Datsyuk they still have $11M under the cap with 11 F and 4 D signed (two D are RFA-arbitration eligible).

[B21]

26 minutes ago, radoran said:

 

Then he's an idiot. And his agent is an idiot.

 

Was Pavel just not paying attention when they lost a year and a half of hockey to get the salary cap?

 

Does he - in his chosen profession - not pay attention to rules that even a mere fan of the game knows? Did his agent not understand how the 35+ rule worked?

 

In the end, the Wings just have to eat next year and keep moving forward. They got an $8.5M player for two years (they paid him $17M over the past two seasons) at $7.5M on the cap.

 

The only "big deal" they have to take care of is Mrazek and even with Datsyuk they still have $11M under the cap with 11 F and 4 D signed (two D are RFA-arbitration eligible).

 

"He" who? Holland? I don't think Holland actually believes that.  I think saying that is his way (Holland) of taking the "high road".

[radoran]

Just now, B21 said:

 

"He" who? Holland? I don't think Holland actually believes that.  I think saying that is his way (Holland) of taking the "high road".

 

No, Datsyuk for "not knowing the rules"

 

[B21]

2 hours ago, radoran said:

 

No, Datsyuk for "not knowing the rules"

 

 

I think he (PD) did.  Like I said - that's Holland taking the high road. Holland could easily be saying "Pavel knew the rule, knew he was headed to the KHL in 1-2 years, didn't tell us and asked for a 3+ year deal anyway."