As The Groin Pulls -- The Marian Gaborik Drama

In Minnesota, things continue to play out in the media in nasty fashion. Reporters and bloggers and fans are all venting their frustration and ire as the stalemate between the Minnesota Wild and Marian Gaborik continues. To be fair, there's more than enough blame to go around, but no matter how much spin agent Ron Salcer tries to put on the situation, most people tend to not buy into the prospect that Gaborik is not getting a fair shake.

Yesterday, Salcer spoke to the media and announced that none of the offers being bandied about ($8 million for 8 years, $7 million for 7 years, $10 million for 10 years) have truly been offered by the Wild to his client. He also says that Gaborik is being treated unfairly by the media and the bloggers and the fans because Gaborik has shown his loyalty to Minnesota.

Let's stop right there, shall we?

I think it would be a pretty fair assessment that any reader would conclude that Salcer is, of course, going to be pointing fingers at the Wild and trying to label them as the bad guy. That's his job, to fight like a wolverine, rightly or wrongly, for his client. If he can whip up a storm of perceived ills being visited upon Marian and can sway folks to his side then he wins...for his client and his own pocketbook.

So what of this contention of Gaborik's "loyalty?" Does one truly show themselves to be loyal by simply playing under the contract for which they are already signed? I call that holding to your obligation as a player under contract to the team, not loyalty. Would this be the same "loyalty" Gaborik showed in 2003 when he refused to report to camp and missed the first month of the season as he tried to strong-arm the Wild into a lucrative deal, only to sign for essentially what he had been offered months before? Is that the loyalty we're supposed to be impressed by? I would counter that loyalty is better expressed by many of the guys in Detroit, who literally gave back pay to the team so that more players of higher quality could be brought in, recognizing that they were just one small cog in a machine that needs many working pieces to win a Cup. That's loyalty

What everyone needs to do is look at the plain and simple facts:

Gaborik is going to pull down $7.5 million this season, the last of his contract. That ranks him 14th in the NHL, making the same bucks as Zdeno Chara of Boston and Ilya Kovalchuk of Atlanta.

No one really believes that Gaborik will seek to stagnate his payroll and settle for the exact same cash, so you have to believe he's looking for $8.5-$10 per season, which puts him alongside Dany Heatley ($10 million), Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin ($9 million), and Miikka Kiprusoff ($8.5 million).

To be honest, no matter what Gaborik thinks of himself or what a pocket of still die-hard believers in him may think, Gaborik does not belong with that crowd. Frankly, he hasn't earned it. Unlike Gaborik, each of those guys has some hardware to their names and excepting Ovechkin, they've all made it to the Finals, and done so while acting as leaders.

Gaborik, by contrast, has hardly been a leader. He was given his first shot at commanding the ship in last year's playoff run. At no time did Gaborik seem to captain the team and he virtually disappeared in their 6 game implosion. Unlike those others, Gaborik is also not a game changer to the level they are. Gaborik does not dominate games like Crosby or Ovechkin, and his efforts tend to pale by comparison.

Injuries have plagued his career in Minnesota as well, rendering him highly paid and unavailable. In the past three seasons he has missed close to 60 games, including a whopping 34 in 2006-2007. And, as one would find slightly humorous were it not so predictable, Gaborik is already missing games this season with a "lower body injury" suffered while playing hackey-sack with teammates.

Come next summer the Wild will have 7 other UFAs and 4 RFAs to deal with, the biggest being goaltenders Niklas Backstrom (UFA) and Josh Harding (RFA). They are already up against the cap now so they are going to have to make some room to fit in a larger Gaborik deal or they need to cut their losses now and try to find a willing buyer for his services this year.

Rumors continue to swirl that some talks have taken place with teams like Los Angeles and Montreal, with Pittsburgh, the New York Rangers, and Buffalo Sabres also interested. You would think that any team would be interested but one has to also balance the fact that anyone making a deal:

a) knows they're getting damaged goods and
b) they're not going to swing a sweet deal unless Gaborik will agree to a longer contract in whatever new city tries to land him.

Some team somewhere will pay him an extraordinary sum. Of that I have no doubt. I do not, however, think that team should be the Wild. Yes, there is some sentimentality to the Gaborik mystique. He was the team's first draft pick and he has been the statistical leader in many categories.

Even so, he is not the heart of this franchise. Mikko Koivu, in a short period of time, has stepped up to the plate where Marian has floundered. He may not put up the numbers Gaborik does but he is more of a rounded player on which a team can build. Even Brent Burns has improved and grown into more of a presence.

Should the Wild see fit to part ways with Gaborik the team will not suffer so greatly and, in fact, may actually find their play elevated by relieving itself of the burden of stardom.

Wild Prospect Bolts For Home.

21-year-old Petr Kalus has abandoned his post with Houston of the AHL and decided to make his way back to Europe. Kalus has played in two games for the Aeros this season, posting up zero points.

Kalus came to the Wild last summer in the deal that sent Manny Fernandez to the Boston Bruins.

This is now the second AHL player to bolt from the Aeros in just two seasons. Last year forward Roman Voloshenko departed to jump start his career in Russia...a move which has not yet paid off.

Wild GM Doug Risebrough told local media that Kalus "just wanted to go home." No doubt the kid was frustrated at being leap-frogged for NHL duty by James Sheppard last season and by Benoit Pouliot and Colton Gillies this season but this is hardly the way to prove your worth.

Even with his departure, the Wild still own his rights through the end of June 2010.

Gaborik Out Vs. Florida Tonight.

Word from Michael Russo, the intrepid reporter from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, is that Marian Gaborik is out of the lineup against the Florida Panthers tonight. As one would expect, the team has given very specific descriptions of the nature of the injury...

Lower body injury.

Not much of a surprise. Gaborik has struggled with groin injuries throughout his career and this preseason had fought with an injured quadricep.

This becomes more troublesome for the Wild. For starters, contract talks with the winger have stalled leaving many to believe that Risebrough was fielding calls about potential trades, which could be withdrawn in light of Gaborik's fragility. They did not need him injured while trying to move him.

Or....

Perhaps this is merely a Minnesota Wild ruse and it is a precursor to them pulling the trigger on a deal?

In any event, the Wild are now severely tight with the roster. With Gaborik now out, in addition to Owen Nolan (lower body injury in Atlanta), Pierre-Marc Bouchard is back in Minnesota with back problems, and defenseman Marek Zidlicky placed on IR yesterday, the team will be scrambling the lineup.

Cal Clutterbuck received the call-up from Houston to take the place of Nolan.


UPDATE

Defenseman Tomas Mojzis has been tapped to play this evening but he has been inked to fill in on the wing as opposed to patrolling the blueline. It will be the first regular season appearance for Mojzis.

Introduction from the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Heading into this 2008-2009 NHL season, I have the great opportunity to keep you apprised of all things Minnesota Wild, but before we really get into all of that I think you should get to know who I am just a little bit.

My name is Steve and I have not always been a Minnesotan. In fact, I grew up just outside of Buffalo, New York, watching the likes of Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin, Phil Housley, and Tom Barrasso battle it out with Adams Division foes like the defunct Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques. Back in the days when jerseys were jerseys and not form fitting RBK wetsuit designs with ugly logos more deserving of the old Roller Hockey International league. Back in the days when you honored hockey's founders with division and conference names instead of needing to have geography explained to you.

And to the dismay of my family, while I watched every Sabres game I could, as well as any Hockey Night In Canada game I could pull down off the antenna on the roof from channels 5 or 11, I was a die hard bleed-orange-and-black Philadelphia Flyers fan. As such, I had to share in the successes and failures and heartbreaks all on my own.

I moved to Dallas in 1991 and rumors of the Winnipeg Jets making the shift to the Lone Star State were rampant. I was all for it. After just a few months of Texas, I couldn't stand it. I needed seasons, I needed brisk autumns and frigid winters. And mostly I needed hockey. When it didn't look like much was going to happen, the winds of change pushed me to Minnesota where, only months later, everyone was told the North Stars were moving to Dallas.

Grrr.

After a few more years in south Florida, where I attended a few Panthers/Flyers matchups, it was back to Minnesota in 1997. Even without pro hockey you are never far from a game in Minnesota. As a kid who has played from the age of 7 right up to today, this area is perfect for the hockey lover. I've officiated. I've coached. And now I get to watch my own son begin his hockey life in my living room, in our driveway, and on the ice. He also has a Flyers jersey.

And a Wild jersey.

Why the Wild if I am such a Flyer backer you may ask? Proximity is the main thing. I live only 20 minutes from the Xcel Energy Center and I am an original season ticket holder. There is Wild gear all over my house mingling with autographed memorabilia. Yes, I am a Wild fan, to be sure, although I did wear my Flyers jersey to the first ever Wild home opener (which ended in a 3-3 tie!), and I have enjoyed the opportunity to watch a team built from the ground up and suffer through the trials along the way.

In the end, though, I am a tried and true fan of the game of hockey, and my passions for any particular team does not dictate my work or my opinions. So while I may be presenting the Wild to you, what you will find is that the filter on these eyes is wide open and I have no problems in criticizing or praising with equal measure. Simple rah-rah pieces are not my shtick.

Hopefully you'll come back often and see what I've got to say about the defending Northwest Division Champs (which, honestly, is a big "whatever") and we can banter a bit about the State of Hockey.