Island Nucklehead wrote:Hockey Widow wrote:
Luongo's cap is not the problem. 5.3 for a starter is not a problem for any team. The salary may be a problem for some teams and the term maybe a problem for some teams. But the cap is not a problem.
HW, have any of your connections corroborated (or better, refuted) Mark Spector's claims that Nonis wanted Gillis to eat some of Lou's salary?
It just seems completely nuts that Gillis would consider moving Lou for that little to begin with, and then Nonis having the gall to ask to eat some $$$ off what's a very good contract, AAV speaking.
The pieces I have are this. Luongo was pulled off the ice with about 15-20 minutes before the trade deadline expired. He was sitting with MG and others, not sure who, and was told that MG and Nonis had agreed in principle to a trade. Luongo asked what the return was. MG told him a back up and two picks, not a first. Luongo asked MG if he was satisfied with the deal. MG told him no, he was not getting anything back that would help the Canucks now but that he had tried to find a better trade and just ran out of time, nothing better was offered. MG told Lou he wanted to accommodate his desire to return to the East and play for a team where he would have a significant role as a number one. He told Lou that he was waiting for Nonis to call back but they wanted him present in order to waive his NTC . Apparently MG and Nonis had agreed on the pieces being moved and Nonis was to call him back after doing some final things on his end. No idea what that involved, may have been ownership approval.
MG and Lou had a very short discussion about why no better offers. MG told him that moving a player of his stature was better done in the off season and not a deadline day. The new CBA was still being digested and some GM's needed time to digest the new CBA and Lou's contract before they could decide if it would work. This was the point where Lou began to get pissed off. He took the whole thing very personally. Thus his sarcasm about his contract sucking. He was disgusted with the whole thing, and insulted. Thats Lou.
Anyway, Nonis did not call back so MG called him just before the deadline expired. Nonis told him they didn't have a deal unless MG was willing to absorb 50% of the contract but that he felt he could live with a smaller number if that worked for MG. Apparently MG lost it. He had told Nonis and every other GM that it was simply non negotiable keeping any part of the contract. It became a heated exchange but I don't know what was said other than it was heated. At this point MG said no deal. Luongo was sitting there waiting to be asked to waive but it never came to that. MG pulled the deal off the table when Nonis back tracked at the last minute and demanded he keep part of the salary. It was a slimy last minute move intended to either quash the deal or strong arm MG. So when Luongo says he was never given a chance to waive he is telling the truth.
All of this is consistent with what I was told over the summer. The leaves were using bullying tactics to try and strong arm a deal. Burke had threatened MG that when the new CBA came down it would have hold back provisions and any deal made after the new CBA the leaves would insist on the Canucks holding back some of the contract. I think what was frustrating for MG was that he lower his demands, caved into the pressure to move Luongo for anything and the leaves still instead on a hold back, after he thought they had a deal in principle. He would never have called Luongo out of practice early if he knew Nonis we going to pull that shit. So MG was pissed as the gamesmanship. Luongo was pissed because he thought there was a deal and he was there to waive.
After the new CBA was signed MG had said that if a deal wasn't worked out in the first few week of the season then it would probably not get done until the off season. he had told Luongo at camp that he was prepared to go the whole season with both goalies but that Luongo had every opportunity of winning the net, there was no commitment to one over the other at the start of the year. Luongo was fine staying the whole season if he had to but he wanted to get back east if at all possible. MG told him then that it might be hard to move him with the new CBA, lowering of the cap next season, until teams had a chance to absorb the details and assess their respective clubs. He had asked Luongo if he wanted him to pull him off the trade circuit until the season was over. Luongo said no, if you can work out a deal with a team in the East he'd prefer to move on sooner rather than later.
I did also hear that there never was a previous deal in place with the leaves. Luongo was never asked at any time to waive. He has never been asked to provide a list of teams. He has had several discussion with MG about where he would like to go, teams he may not like to go to and it is geography based.
I firmly believe, as I did last summer ( hey isn't that a song) that the leaves have deliberately leaked disinformation to obstruct this whole process. At first I thought it was simply to strong arm and get Luongo for a steal. But after this I think it is more than that. I heard some very interesting things on Kipper. It was all BS, the stories being floated around by none other than Dreger. Kipper told the leaves days before the trade deadline that he would not report, he thanked them for their interest, but for family reason he was staying and he has every intention of retiring. He was not interested in an extension. The leaves knew this days before April 1st but somehow Dreger gets all this info that the leaves are close to a deal with Kipper and an extension is all but agreed upon. It was all lies. All the lies and innuendo have originated from Toronto media who have been spoon fed titbits from the leaves. MG and Nonis weren't even on speaking terms and talks resumed because Gillman and Fletcher talked.That was instigated by the leaves. Suspiciously just a couple of weeks before the trade deadline.
As to Luongo's emotional sate, I am told he is angry. Not at the Canucks. He is angry at the offers, angry at Nonis, angry at the process, angry at the disinformation and rumours. Like I said he takes it personally. He is also tremendously relieved that it is over for now. He is committed to doing whatever is asked of him, it whatever capacity, to help the Canucks win. He is resolved that he will not be back next season and I think that he and his agent will be given permission to talk to other teams and try and work something out once the season is over. MG has over come the obstacle of high expectations so I think a deal gets done and we all move on.
As to some of his teammates. Well, there is tremendous relief that he is still with the team. He is very popular and highly respected.
MG I think is just tired. Someone said it in another post, this luongo stuff was his main focus in the days leading up to the deadline and on deadline day. How much that may have distracted them from other deals who knows, I suspect not much, other than consume energy. But I have to think he wished he had just come out in February and said no trading of goalies until the season is over. Its what he wanted to do but tried to accommodate Luongo.
It isn't really an option at this point to trade Cory. Luongo wants to go back east and he is firm on that. I am lead to believe that he is willing to waive to any team in the East and if it is another western based team he will talk it over with his family before he rules out a deal.