AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > July > 02
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Somebody Give Donny An Egg
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yesterday morning on Mike Knobler’s blog, BG33Brown posted the following comment in regards to how he felt in anticipation of the upcoming free agent signing season:
“I slept last night about as well as a kid on Chirstmas Eve. Hopefully we have a good day”.
I wonder how he’s enjoying that lump of coal left for him this Christmas in July? Don’t feel too bad, Brown…we all got one too.
To me, today feels sort of like another holiday…Easter Sunday. Specifically, the tradition Easter egg hunt where all the kids scramble to find the nicest, best decorated eggs fill with the finest candy. And, as per usual, there is always that one poor, distraut child who stands in the middle of the field with tears in his eyes…sobbing…inconsolable. His basket is empty…no eggs did he find as all of the older, bigger, faster, sharper kids beat him to them.
The child’s name…Donny.
Worse, Donny had to also look on as the mullet-headed kid from Tampa has already begun to enjoy his bounty of treats gathered in over the past few days. All the other kids joined him on the porch…counting their eggs…laughing.
At least, that’s the mental image I got while seeing each of the big-name players removed one-by-one from the board of the available.
All through the afternoon, team after team were able to find and sign one player after the other. The big prize on defense, Brian Campbell, was snatched up by the Chicago Blackhawks. But not before Don Waddell and others made a run at him.
The contract offer that eventually landed Campbell was for 8 years and $56.8 million. That’s an average of $7.1 mil a season… Michael Russo of the Star Tribune in Minneanapolis-St. Paul blogged that he was told Waddell had happily waived $60 million for 8 years under Campbell’s nose.
If indeed correct… then Waddell lost out to a team that last qualified for post-season six years ago and, in 2004, was named the worst franchise in pro sports by ESPN…. and for LESS money!
(Insert curse word of choice here).
But still, there was Wade Redden. Surely Don could run over to him and flash the cash to him in order to….oops, gone to the Rangers. 6 years $39 million.
Mike Commodore?…Nope, off to Columbus. A team that has never qualified for the playoffs. 5 years $18.75 million.
Michal Rozsival? Staying with New York. 4 years $20 million.
Brad Stuart? Ummm, no. Detroit didn’t wanna see him go. 4 years averaging $3.75 million per.
Mike Green? Washington locked him up early in the morning. 4 years for $21 million.
Hey…at least we can settle for Mark Streit. He’s pretty good. He can…DOH! He went…straight…to the Islanders for 5 years and $20.5 million. Oh crap!
OK…maybe someone to help on the forward lines?
Our old pal Pascal Dupuis? Nope, Pittsburgh re-inked him for 3 years averaging $1.4 per.
Brian Rolston? He decided to test the UFA waters and landed in New Jersey for $$20.25 mil over 4 years.
Michael Ryder? 3 years and $12 million was enough for him to put on a Bruins uniform.
Radim Vrbata? Adam Hall? Off to Mulletville for 3 years $9 mil and 3 years $1.8 mil respectivly.
When the dust finally cleared at the end of the day…there stood Donny…in the middle of the field…basket empty.
Can the situation be salvaged? Sure…sure it can. This is but day 2 of the UFA season.
Available still…. Brooks Orpik and Ron Hainsey. Very fine players that could help this team’s defense…but hardley the “Big Splash” signings that were hoped for. For the forward lines… Todd Bertuzzi and Pavol Demitra are still out there. Heck, so too is Maian Hossa.
Of course, there are trades that could be made…(visualize here Cobourn for Zhitnik, February 2007).
Regardless, Waddell still has a lot of the money left to spend to get the job done.
Well, actually, he still has… ALL… the money left to spend.
(sigh)…
In the mean time…will somebody please give Donny an egg?
