[News] Rostislav Klesla retires from the NHL

[moon]

Originally Posted by FAN

In hindsight, Klesla wasn't a terrible pick. Injuries derailed his career, but Columbus got almost 9 seasons out of him.

Like most picks by Maclean the pick wasn't the problem it was that they weren't picking higher that was the issue.

Maclean gets way to much crap for his time as GM and (like most guys) as a media guy now.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Someone's acting like a baby here and it isn't Klesla...

You're a better poster than that.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by moon

Like most picks by Maclean the pick wasn't the problem it was that they weren't picking higher that was the issue.

Maclean gets way to much crap for his time as GM and (like most guys) as a media guy now.

I don't know about that. He had many more top 5 picks than the Flames have in their history and had a pick in the top 10 nearly every season and many of those picks were outright misses that didn't even turn into serviceable NHL players.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Except, apparently, not being allowed to quit.

Seriously, who cares?

He's getting passed around like a half-eaten bag of licorice at a hotel management seminar and he's decided to get off the merry-go-round. What an awful person.

"I don't want to go to Buffalo to play out the depressing string with a cellar-dweller, so they can keep their money and I'll go home".

What a monster. How does he sleep at night?

Hockey players get dumped, ditched, cut, sent to the sticks, traded, and discarded all the time. I don't see much wrong with it when one of them wants to dump, ditch, or discard a team that isn't even trying to win.

Never called him a monster........ Stop trying to increase the dramatics to add credibility to your argument,that's called sensationalism and it's ridiculous.

Regardless, it would be interesting to see the reaction on here if the Flames went out and acquired a player, gave up assets for him and then he decided he didn't want to play and was retiring instead. Or if a player like say Wideman came out and said he wanted to keep playing but if the Flames traded him he'd simply retire, essentially handcuffing the Flames on his contract. I guarantee there'd be a lot less, "well they can do what they want, ce la vie" on here, but whatever.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Never called him a monster........ Stop trying to increase the dramatics to add credibility to your argument,that's called sensationalism and it's ridiculous.

Regardless, it would be interesting to see the reaction on here if the Flames went out and acquired a player, gave up assets for him and then he decided he didn't want to play and was retiring instead. Or if a player like say Wideman came out and said he wanted to keep playing but if the Flames traded him he'd simply retire, essentially handcuffing the Flames on his contract. I guarantee there'd be a lot less, "well they can do what they want, ce la vie" on here, but whatever.

You not only called him a monster, you called him a tyrant, a criminal, and asked if he might not be the long lost son of Charles Manson.

Where do you get off? Shameful.

If the Flames went out and acquired a player they didn't really want and were going to send him Abbotsford, the reaction here would not be interesting at all if he retired because nobody would care.

Wideman is an active player with three years left on his contract and isn't planning on retiring in two months so your comparison doesn't make any sense but WHATEVER!!!

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

You're a better poster than that.

Just calling it as I see it. Your stance is this thread is completely absurd and it's bewildering to many of us that after it has been pointed out to you numerous times you still can't see how ridiculous your stance is.

I'd suggest just dropping it. The majority of people are never going to sympathize with your position on this. You've made your point, almost no one agrees.

[FAN]

Originally Posted by moon

Like most picks by Maclean the pick wasn't the problem it was that they weren't picking higher that was the issue.

Maclean gets way to much crap for his time as GM and (like most guys) as a media guy now.

I don't know about this either. The Klesla draft was a coin flip so they couldn't have drafted higher. They drafted #8 the next year but I'm not sure if Maclean really did anything to boost the win total. Nobody told Maclean to draft Leclaire. The next season they finished 2nd last and traded up to draft Nash. The following year they drafted #4 and chose Zherdev. The next year they drafted Picard #8, but unless they had the first two picks it likely wouldn't have helped. And then came the lockout and lottery and they drafted Brule. Only guy who could have changed things was Kopitar. The next season they drafted Brassard 6th overall, but we are already talking about Maclean's 7th draft (meaning he shouldn't be drafting top 3).

In the end it was a combination of poor drafting, rushing of prospects, and poor free agent signings.

[strombad]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Never called him a monster........ Stop trying to increase the dramatics to add credibility to your argument,that's called sensationalism and it's ridiculous.

Regardless, it would be interesting to see the reaction on here if the Flames went out and acquired a player, gave up assets for him and then he decided he didn't want to play and was retiring instead. Or if a player like say Wideman came out and said he wanted to keep playing but if the Flames traded him he'd simply retire, essentially handcuffing the Flames on his contract. I guarantee there'd be a lot less, "well they can do what they want, ce la vie" on here, but whatever.

So you think fans would react differently if the Flames gave up an asset for a player, sent him down to the AHL, and he soon after decided to retire?

Hmmm, it's almost as if this exact scenario occurred only a month or so ago...

I don't recall a whole lot less "ce la vie" from intelligent posters. Seems like it was pretty close to par.

[Resolute 14]

One difference, of course, is that MacDermid retired in the legitimate sense. He's stated he's done with hockey. Klesla quit on his team with the intention of signing with a new one next season. He's not retiring at all. He's just refusing to honour his contract. But he's in a good situation to do so because there's no way the Sabres will waste the time to try and toll his deal. They will just suspend him and bid good riddance come July 1.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I don't know about that. He had many more top 5 picks than the Flames have in their history and had a pick in the top 10 nearly every season and many of those picks were outright misses that didn't even turn into serviceable NHL players.

They had 3 picks in the top 5:

Klesla- Maybe Hartnell would have been a better but not much next defenseman taken played 0 games so hard to fault that pick

Nash- Was a great pick and not likely anyone there who would have been better, Bouwmeester maybe equal?

Zherdev- Pick didn't wok out but the Russian factor main reason he did have 58 ad 61 point seasons before leaving but better choices including Vanek with next pick

Other picks were: Leclaire- only Ruutu chosen close that would have been better and even he isn't much of a choice

Picard- Smid would have been better everyone else after that would have been equally as bad

Brule- Kopitar at 11 would have been nice but I have heard him say he was leary of Euros after the Zherdev deal so went with the NA guy, maybe Setoguchi would have been marginally better but again not much

Brassard- Okposo probably better choice but other guys around there no better than Brassard

His drafting isn't great but there are some good players drafted later that he got. His top 5 picks are actually decent getting the best player in the draft the one year and likely the best option another.

I don't think he is a top notch GM and there are other moves that contributed to the team not involving drafting but he isn't Feaster level bad and gets too much flack at times for his teams not being bad enough to draft the no brainers.

[strombad]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

One difference, of course, is that MacDermid retired in the legitimate sense. He's stated he's done with hockey. Klesla quit on his team with the intention of signing with a new one next season. He's not retiring at all. He's just refusing to honour his contract. But he's in a good situation to do so because there's no way the Sabres will waste the time to try and toll his deal. They will just suspend him and bid good riddance come July 1.

He retired from the NHL.
It's not like he's looking for another NHL opportunity.

What exactly is the difference between that MacDermid retiring to go work a different job?

[Phanuthier]

Agreed with moon again... I don't see how Maclean made a mistake picking Klesa. He didn't go off the board or anything with that pick, there was no obvious reason Maclean could have seen not to draft Klesa. Etc.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by strombad

He retired from the NHL.
It's not like he's looking for another NHL opportunity.

No, he quit on his team with the intention of signing for another team. That the other team won't be an NHL franchise doesn't make it better.

[strombad]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

No, he quit on his team with the intention of signing for another team. That the other team won't be an NHL franchise doesn't make it better.

MacDermid quit on his team with the intention of doing something else too.

Whether you like it or not, it boils down to two men who "quit on their team" in order to pursue other opportunities outside the NHL. What those opportunities are is irrelevant to the discussion. What people do when they are retired is their own business.

We may just have to agree to disagree here.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

No, he quit on his team with the intention of signing for another team. That the other team won't be an NHL franchise doesn't make it better.

Only if you think the 'other team' is comparable to the NHL, which it is not

Nor does he want to play there this year. Once he is a UFA in the summer, it is moot.

So nothing to see here

[SuperMatt18]

In this case Klesla was a cap dump in the trade anyways and Buffalo likely has no issue with his retirement.

Friedman mentioned that after being hit very hard in pre-season and suffering a concussion that Klesla just wasn't the same player.

Also mentioned that it was a tough year for him and his family and Phoenix even gave him a personal leave earlier this season when he was waived so he didn't have to go to the farm team and be away from his family.

After hearing the news about Stajan yesterday I think we should probably slow down to understand why players do the things they do before criticizing them for it.

He is giving up a million dollars by staying home so it's no small decision.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Also mentioned that it was a tough year for him and his family and Columbus even gave him a personal leave earlier this season when he was waived so he didn't have to go to the farm team and be away from his family.

There was something going on in November. He missed a few practices which was originally called injury, then changed and called personal leave. He was waived shortly after right before Thanksgiving but they said that he wouldn't report until after the holiday weekend so that he could be with his family. And then recalled the day he was supposed to report with the reasoning that he had some family things to work out and couldn't report right away. He was also given additional time at the AHL All-Star break and didn't need to report right away due to a family leave.

What struck me as odd was that Rusty, who normally is someone who speaks to the media and comfortable with interviews and all that (to the extent the Phoenix beat writer has said he's never said no to an interview request) has not said a word publicly since November and the Coyotes were shielding him from the media while all this was going on (said he was not available to speak everytime someone asked). There are zero interviews with him, zero quotes from him, nothing.

He's been different since the hit, but not sure whether that's concussion related or the fact that his mind hasn't been in the game because of other reasons. There was an article on TheScore about him and other's walking away and I think a quote summed it up nicely:

Rostislav Klesla chose family and the familiarity of home. It's what he considers best for himself, and at this point in his career maybe that's all that should matter.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Wonder how many people on here calling Kesla a "loser", were the same ones begging for Kotalik to retire. Double standards are fun.

People retire before their contracts expire every year. Big deal.

[Flash Walken]

This is quite literally the same scenario Kipper faced last season.

Good for Klesla to see when it was the right time to get out.

[cKy]

Remember during the lockout, the players said the owners are treating them like cattle?

Apparently so do some fans.