Quote:
Originally Posted by bondon
Good point which I hadn't thought of. I like your Ryan Miller theory better though haha. I guess in recent years even we have seen this though, when the Red Wings tried to sign Nabokov to that cheap contract to get him back into the NHL.
Maybe I'm making it into a bigger issue than it is, but I really can't see how a team, unless very desperate, could give Thomas a chance considering what he did off the ice last year. It was a big time distraction, not to mention he bailed on his team.
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I don't think Thomas is as much of a "distraction" as people say. I've been in lots of hockey locker rooms with guys that had been going through divorces, criminal trials, even one guy that had apparently beat another player in the parking lot. Once guys are in the locker room, everything is all hockey. The other stuff goes away. It's not a distraction. Hockey players are only focused on the hockey. (Now, if the distraction actually affects play, like Carter/Richards conditioning/leadership in Philly... then you've got a different story. But I don't think "opinions" are actual distractions to a hockey club.)
On Ryan Miller... I think the Wings should make him their long-term option for 2014-beyond.
Tim Thomas as a one-year contract would work VERY nicely for the Wings.
And I think Thomas might agree to that... he get's to be close to home and it's a short committment.
The situation in Detroit now is very similar to 2001.
The team had several aging stars (Yzerman, Shanahan, Robitaille, Hull, Larionov) that were 3 years removed from their previous Stanley Cup (1998).
Holland probably felt like this team had one last good-shot at a Cup... and he signed the old proven goalie (Hasek).
The Wings next summer (2013) will be 5 years from their previous Stanley Cup (2008).
Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen are entering the tail-end of their careers like Yzerman, Shanahan, Robitaille, Hull.
Very, very, very similar situation.
