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Ballard reclamation project?


Watsuko

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May Ray is going to stay with the team mark my words. he has so little trade value and so much up side if he can bounce back. Even if he doesn't hes still one of the best clock munchers in the league. A wasted scoring chance is always better than an odd man rush against in my book.

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Signing Barker, who comes with a low cap hit, could grease the way for MG to make a move similar to what Montreal did with Gomez. The Canucks have to get down to a managable cap hit by next season which means that they are going to have to execute at least one of the buyout options and still field a competitive team. Montreal sent Gomez home because they couldn't take the risk of him being injured in which case they would not be able to buy him out. There are probably at least a couple of roster spots that MG feels could be filled with players that are just effective and have a much lower cap hit. I will not speculate on who they might be, I leave that to the experts on CDC.

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The whipping boy phenomenon is for juveniles and Mike Keenan types - it's right up there with hazing rituals.

How about we just scrap the idiotic tradition as opposed to searching for a new scapegoat.

p.s. Ballard's gonna rock this year. Expectations may be low, but his talent sure as hell isn't. If he's healthy he won't be quite as hesitant about going to the boards and paying the price to move the puck, which as far as I'm concerned, is one of the few criticisms that are actually fair regarding Ballard.

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Ballard won't do anything if he is not given the chance or ice time and that is how it has been for him since we got him. I thought he was going to be in our top 4 when we got him, he obviously got 4.2mil for a reason from the Panthers.

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Plus One!   :lol:

Gomez is a different league of dissapointment compared to Ballard, is amongst the highest paid players in the league plus he has had 3 or 4 years to recover already!  They are not just trying to save cap, but to save 1/3rd of the remaining real dollars.

You guys obviously don't sign pay cheques with your own money if you think a player like Ballard will be bought out.  Buy out a productive guy, to pay someone else more money?

And even in the context of cap; we can eat half his salary to a team that needs to get up to the cap min. They absorb all his cap and get a productive player for $2.1 mill in real dollars.  That's half the cost! Gillis has better options.

IF it were necessary, but for now I'm quite sure we can still use Ballard! <_<  

Bouncebacks; how about Kesler, Daniel and Henrik?  They all have proven they can play better than last year as well!

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Meh; our opinions differ, nothing wrong with that. Summary of mine;

I think Ballard is good enough to keep; and when you shed salaries for Malhotra, Lou and possibly even Higgins (all have cheaper replacements in our pipeline that have more potential) we are at our required cap for next season. That still assumes we keep Booth.or Raymond, possibly both.

We would only need to move Ballard if Edler is re-signed and we picked up salary elsewhere. And if we did move Ballard, we have options besides a buyout which is a complete waste.

Buyouts are for guys like Dipietro, possibly Bryzgalov and Wade Redden. These guys have zero usefulness and their cap completely destroys their teams ability to compete if they sit on the payroll. And even then someone might pay half Brygalov's salary; so they may have options as well? But really, I only see Redden fitting here, because guys with terms as long as Dipietro's are owed sooooo much money that I bet someone will try and salvage some value.

I never said that they would buy Ballard out. What I was pointing out is that something similar to the Gomez buyout could be in the works now that the newer cheaper players are being signed. MG has to free up cap room for next season. I actually like Ballard (and I don't hold anything against him for his cap hit either). I am also tired of posts whining that Ballard is AV's whipping boy. You can't play a player that is injured. If he is competitive at this years camp,he should have no trouble earning a roster spot. However, with a shortened season there is little room for slow starts or players not giving 100%. A newbie could very well steal a spot this year if anyone rests on their laurels. A Gomez stategy would be a smart move if you have to shed salary. Let's say a player is on the bubble and gets hurt, you can't use one of the two buyouts because he has to be free of injury.

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