Captain Greed will get his 7 million and hope in 4 years Buffalo would have numerous #1 picks ala shitsburgh Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
It's still kind of sad that after all he meant to this team, he let money win out. Definitely worked out though. Does anybody believe we would have gotten this far if we still had Callahan instead of St. Louis? Hell, Callahan would have broken his hand/ankle/shin blocking a shot in the first series.
I agree Sorr, I dont think we're here if that trade doesn't happen. That said though, I'm not going to pile on Callahan right now. He meant a lot to this team for a good number of years. After the trade McDonagh said (paraphrasing) "He taught me so much about what it means to be a player in this league and how to prepare day after day." Do you guys think McDonagh develops at the same pace if he was learning from some jackoff captain like Ovechkin? Maybe, but who knows. Kreider made similar comments. Shame he ended up chasing money, but "Do It the Right Way" Callahan meant a lot to these young guys who are now succeeding.
Yea, not fair to pile on Callahan right now. He did a lot for this team in the years he was here and we should be enjoying what this team is doing without having to throw stones someone else's way. That said, we looked pretty bad in Gm 4 of the Pens series, and MSL was on that team. I think the one thing that brought this team together was the death of his mother, and made the team want to play more for each other than ever before.
Cally did get greedy but it worked out great for us. He was a warrior for us and I could never get on him.
Callahan gave everything he had so I'm not going to get on his either. Whatever advice he got from his agent obviously wasn't the best but as some have said it worked out great. This team was more in need of a guy like St. Louis for a long playoff run. He has won before, is a much more potent scorer and has a flair for scoring big goals.
I am with you guys. I don't understand the Cally hate now. Yes, he asked for too much money and was not worth it but the guy gave it all while he was here. Like I said above, blame the greedy agent who was salivating at the bonuses he would receive if cally signed a huge contract. Messier left also for the exact same financial reasons.
I'll bet Callahan made plenty of phone calls congratulating his former team on making it to the Finals ...
I know he's from that area but I don't know why he'd want to go to Buffalo when they're 4-5 years from being a SC threat. Seems he should either stay in Tampa or maybe go out west to StL or a team ready to win now.
Problem with that is that no team which is able or ready to win now will ever pay him the 6.5m+ he apparently wants. Only real young teams like BUF or FLA will ever be able to pay him that. Maybe seeing all his buddies in the Stanley Cup Final will change his tune on that.
Its not really Cally hate it is disappointment in that he had to be let go because of how much money he wanted. No one wanted him gone but they literally had no choice. And of course it worked out in the end as without MSL during these last 2 playoff series this team probably does not make the finals.
I like Cally a whole lot. He always led by example. But I honestly can say THE TEAM would not be in the finals if he got his demands. It was a tough business decision. But it had to be made. Yes, I would bet, he called several ex-teammates to congratulate them. Choices and decisions are an integral part of the game......on and off the ice.