A guy who won’t is useless, he is playing his own selfish game all the time. You can teach the guy who wants to.

My .02 cents is that Gaby took himself away from the team. Wild is not perfect but we are winning. So, I do not see him a part of the team anymore.

There is no way for me to gauge how the team feels about him but if I was on the team I would be highly resentful. JL has hinted similar thoughts. So, I think it will be difficult for the team to put Gaby in a Wild uniform again.

Dan:

Getting back to you. You mentioned my forecasted trade with Ottawa doesn’t work. It doesn’t straight up, but it’s only short by .347M, which isn’t hard to fix. I’m sure it wouldn’t be a deal-breaker.

Ice:

Agree with your previous statement that #5 is playing some good hockey - for once. That makes him easier to trade, since he’s never been worth his salary up until now. Plus, given his age, it would be prudent to move him now and free up some space for signing Backs and some of our other younger players. DR would have never been able to move him last year at his salary, but now he’s playing like he’s worth it - so I think now is the time to make the move.

Sunshine:

I see you didn’t like my comparison with Koivu lol! Well, I didn’t mean they are exactly the same style of players - but they both have that ability to dominate and control the play. Whereas Koivu plays better D, Spezza plays better O. He’s bigger and faster than Koivu, but they’re both playmakers. That’s my meaning.

Not that we should debate whether he’s as good or better than Koivu, the issue is that he would be replacing Gaborik’s production in the lineup. But he would give us the one thing we lack: A #1 center. Yeah, Mikko is the guy, so to speak, but JL loves to use him in so many different situations - and there’s only one of him. After that, we’re left with Shep, Belanger and B-B-Benny.

Going back to the comparison with Gaborik, here’s one thing that really struck me. Had to yank this quote from the Ottawa Sun, cause I can’t find it on TSN anymore.

Spezza’s response when asked about new coach Craig Hartsburg:

“We sat down at the beginning of the year, I told him, ‘If you don’t think I’m playing well, I want to know. I want to know, and I want you to challenge me. “

Now, would you ever have heard that from Gaborik? What a world of difference.