Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Potato Standing By
The position the team was in, even if Johnny would of said he wasn’t re-signing they more then likely would not of traded him anyways as they were also in a position to make a run.
|
It depends when he would have said it. If it was part way through the season, then no, of course they wouldn't. JG said before the season even started that he wasn't interested in negotiating until after the season.
From a pure asset management perspective, the best moment to trade him was after being dismantled by Colorado when he would have been more than a rental. I agree it would not have gone over well then, but sometimes hard decisions need to be made.
Just never, ever, go into the last year of a franchise player's contract with no ongoing negotiations. You end up putting yourself in a position where you can't trade them if the team is on a run and the lack of negotiations means you are probably not re-signing the player. Almost every time a UFA player says they don't want to negotiate during the season, it means they likely aren't re-signing.