njx9
Registered User
- Feb 1, 2016
- 2,161
- 340
With all due respect this is not true at all. You could have traded Tatar last year when he still had RFA status and was under club control. I have no idea how much validity there was to the suggestion that Tatar would have been part of a trade for Cam Fowler but that just goes to show that Tatar had high value at that point while Fowler hadn't fully developed to the point he did just this season. The larger point is guys have more value when they are a RFA at the end of their contract. Anyone who get Tatar now is likely getting a rental.
I don't disagree with the idea that he should've been traded prior to now and that, once again, management found a way to fail to understand how bad the team actually was, and that an incremental rebuild wasn't going to happen. But there's still no reason in the world to hang on to him any longer. So, maybe I mis-wrote something and I'm not seeing it, but I don't think we really disagree here.
The response to me doesn't seem odd at all. Failing to put together a competitive team is not the same as rebuilding.
If Tatar's contract demands are true, it probably is better that the Wings don't lock him up for 6 years. But part of the reason for that ask and part of the reason it's a problem is because of the terrible long term contracts Holland has handed out. When someone like Abby gets a 7 year deal it's not a big surprise Tatar would want 6.
So yes Holland will be moving an asset but it will be a trade deadline rental for a player who doesn't have a great playoff track record. He'll be moving Tatar at what is probably his lowest value. It's not hard for me to see why people wouldn't be praising Holland for this fantastic rebuilding move.
Whether Tatar wanted 6 or 4 or 2, he still shouldn't be resigned to this team. That's all I'm finding odd - that there's any contingent at all (at least, apart from the minority who think this team could still make the playoffs) who want him resigned or who are upset that Holland didn't/couldn't/won't bring him back on a long term deal.
And while I absolutely agree, again, that Tatar should've been moved before now, moving him now is still an infinitely better move than resigning him on a 'real' contract.