Can the Canucks get back on track tonight against the Wild?
The Canucks' free-fall down the Western Conference standings continues, as we are now in 8th spot with several teams below us breathing down our necks. Ah yes, tense times. Thanks, Bettman. Actually I really like that so many teams are this competitive in both conferences. It's fun to watch, even though it is at our expense at the moment.
First of all, let's check into Markus Naslund's salary situation and what is being said by him about it. Personally, I do not believe he is earning his $6 million dollars at this point, and I'm sure that anyone over the age of 14 can realize that. Naslund, according to the Vancouver Province disagrees.
"Yeah, it does bother me," Naslund said. "It's easy to be negative and find things that are wrong instead of understanding the whole picture. If you haven't been a part of a team ... I think it's difficult for people to understand.Oh yeah? And what years were those?
I want to deserve what I earn. But if you look at my whole career, I don't feel guilty about my salary now because there were a lot of years where ... [I could have] made a lot more money."
Naslund almost redeems himself in my eyes when after the aforementioned, he stated he would consider a paycut:
"If the situation is right, yeah, I could see myself doing that," Naslund said. "I've always said my decision is based on how I feel and how I think I'm doing. I'm not going to play just for the sake of playing and collecting money. I have to feel I can contribute and look myself in the mirror and feel that I'm helping the team.
I haven't thought about playing somewhere else. You should never say never, but to me, Vancouver is my team. It's going to come down to sitting down with the family and deciding what the big picture looks like after this season is done."
I say the words "almost redeems himself" because I think that the above statement is frankly full of shit. If Vancouver management decides Naslund is worth less and Naslund and especially his agent disagree.......bye-bye Naslund. Screw loyalty and integrity.
Whoa, I got sidetracked. Back to the Wild and Canucks..
We have beaten them 2 out of 3 times, outscoring them 11-6. The Wild have won 3 of their last 5, beating Phoenix, Chicago and Detroit and losing to the Ducks and Flames in their last 2 games. The Nuckleheads are slumping, having lost 4 of their last 5. Out of those 5 games, only 1 team was currently in playoff position, the other 4 were NOT, as you can see in my left sidebar.
Face it, we suck against sucky teams. I don't know if we just don't mentally prepare for the weaker guys or what, but it really chaps my ass.
Minnesota is a formidable opponent and an enemy of ours. So I would look for a great effort from Vancouver tonight (yes I'm sticking my neck out) and the Canucks pulling out a 3-1 win.
End of story. I'm not going to analyze this team now. They'll break out of this slump eventually is my guess. They overcame a slow start to the season so.....stay positive, Canucks fans.
T Tags: Canucks Wild Preview Slump Naslund+pay+cut salary
9 Comments:
Parity is only good because all the competing teams (Avs, Canucks, Flames, Wild, Blue Jackets, Blues, Sharks and even the Coyotes) are decent teams.
Compare that to the NFL where there's "parity" but 85% of the teams are terrible and unwatchable.
Screw loyalty and integrity, eh? Even if loyalty and intergrity are what will help the bottom line? You were all aboard the Anti-Linden Wagon last year, but the fact remains his jersey is still the highest selling piece of merchandise in the entire Authentix store* :-)
That being said, if Naslund is going to earn 6 million dollars, how much should the Sedins make? Pyatt? Kesler? Every other player on the Canucks roster can look at this and use it as a standard for judging their own worth. And that's not a good thing!
*This piece of information may or may not be true
I'm saying, when it comes down to players taking a paycut so that their GM can re-sign other players on the team and keep it together, the morals of integrity and loyalty go out the window. It's all about $$$$ for these guys. Don't kid yourself. If Naslund took I serious cut I would respect him greatly. But the likelihood of that happening is about 1%. look at Ryan Smyth.....crying his way out of Edmonton.....wah wah wah, FUCK OFF. It's all about making money. And if Naslund attracts $6 million elsewhere when Nonis demands a pay CUT, he will go bye bye.
These damned players lie all the time about being loyal to a team. Lies lies lies. And I don't believe them when they say this shit anymore.
Now I sounded too serious. I think Kesler is worth $1.9, thanks Bobby Clarke. The Sedins could go for $5.0 - 5.5 million each. Pyatt isn't worth more than $2.0 million IMO.
Well look at that...wins by both the Coyotes and Predators tonight. Now they are only 3 points behind....and red hot right now. We have to win tonight.
Man, does Bryzgalov ever look good in Phoenix, eh? That could be the most "impactful" acquisition by an NHL team since the Canucks got Luongo.
If Naslund attracts $6 million by any team I will be stunned. Although stranger things have happened, I guess.
It's arguable about Ryan Smyth... sure he probably isn't worth 5.5 million (as far as point totals go), but then the Oilers go out and spent big money on Penner, Souray, Pitkanen... and they had signed Pisani to a big deal the year before. Oiler fans have no love for any other those guys (well, maybe Pisani). I don't see Souray jerseys flying off the shelves, or "Penner" hockey sticks as a big ticket item. The Oilers aren't a better team not than they would have been if they had kept Smyth (in my opinion). So I have to ask myself "WTF?". It makes more sense to me to spend the extra dough on Smyth and keep him around, precisely because he is a valuable marketing commodity (as well as a damn fine hockey player). But then again, the Oilers suck and nothing surprises me with those assholes anymore :-)
Obviously Naslund will not be back in Vancouver next season for $6 million. I don't think Morrison will be back either, and I think that is too bad. We could have used him over the past two weeks. But I am convinced someone will offer Mo $3.5, and he'll be gone.
I'm not sure why loyalty is always brought up when a player leaves, but never when an organization (or rarely)discards a useful worker.
Take Smyth for example, Lowe preached about loyalty and how that money could be used to sign better players, but wouldn't pony up the extra few $100k to resign Smyth. Then he went around throwing money at Vanek and Penner like he had money to burn.
Not that i mean to argue who was at fault for the Smyth debacle in Edmonton, but the point is that players are supposed to show loyalty, but Organizations get to discard players like replaceable parts.
"Not that i mean to argue who was at fault for the Smyth debacle in Edmonton, but the point is that players are supposed to show loyalty, but Organizations get to discard players like replaceable parts."
Well, yeah, that is how all organizations work isn't it? :) The boss rules all. The workers are the bitches and are supposed to show loyalty.
Jin: I am through with Morrison. Wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit if he went elsewhere.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home