Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts
I mean he had no reason to pout and cry, he is getting paid millions, and the Flames aggressively tried to get him signed all season until they couldn't.
This isn't free agency, he is still contracted to the team. Going around telling teams to stay away was classless by the agent. He will get to UFA he can sign with whoever he wants.
How can you say you respect someone so much, but have your agent actively try to sabotage a trade in the background. Makes no sense.
Zadorov was different he was shooting off his mouth, and had his agent throw shots at the team on Twitter, because the team didn't prioritize signing him and rightfully so.
Lindholm came at us with unrealistic demands, and pouted his way out of town, but it looks like his play has carried over to Vancouver and he has killed his chances of robbing a team of a big contract.
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As you said, Hanifin is/was contracted to the team to perform his duty and he did exactly that. in fact, as soon as those trade rumors surfaced his play went up substantially. He completely outplayed his contract, and did so knowing full well he could have easily packed it in and bided his time before leaving. Instead he played like a top pairing D and drove his asking price up. I respect Hanifin because once the rumours were out, he not only continued to live up to his contract, but out performed it. While I may not agree with his agent doing what he did, I can appreciate a player not causing a distraction and instead upping his play. Very rare to see something like that, let alone a Flames' pending UFA, when so many guys mail it in once the trade request is made.
What his agent did in the background was snakelike, sure. But agents do what is best for the client and tow the line. We now live in a social media age where people are leaking info all the time and it is now a tool to give players leverage. Strange to me that we all hang around the trade/rumours thread waiting to hear about leaks and insider info, but we get angry at the player for "playing games" with us once we find out what the leaked information is.