Yashin

One week ago it was confirmed that Yashin had been bought out by the New York Islanders. I started discussing the possibilities with Gary. For the sake of discussion I decided entertain the possibility of Montreal making an offer.

Gary went in poo flinging mode (Something I’ve only seen before when the Maple Leafs were the topic). I gave him some time so he’d tire out and run out of ammunition. Once he calmed down we started discussing.

“I understand your reaction Gary. Yashin at $8M/year was a horrible deal. And there are still questions about Yashin’s commitment to his team and to the game.”

Apparently he still had some ammo left.

“But this contract is now a thing of the past. I think we could at least entertain some of the possibilities his new UFA status has created. Maybe not as a number 1 center and probably not as option A or B but I’m sure a big sized 30 goal scoring center might be interesting for some teams. Especially if the contract is acceptable.”

Finaly there was a breakthrough.

“What do you mean acceptable?” Gary asked.

“I realy don’t know…But I think it’s safe to say it won’t be $8M/year and it won’t be long term.”

He had finally run out of ammo but I could see his eyes scanning his immediate surroundings for possible projectiles.

“What I’m saying Gary is that we should just remove all this overpaid loser stuff from the equation. Let’s at least try to look at things coldly and with a bit of objectivity. It might still turn out to be a totally insane idea. But at least we’ll have thought this through.”

“He’s overpaid and he sucks.”

“No Gary. He’s not overpaid. He’s only overpaid if his next contract is too high….right now we don’t know.” (It’s one of these things with Gary. You have to repeat things over and over again until he brain finally pays attention.)

“He sucks.”

“Ok well that’s debatable but…at least we can start talking.”