Forget About Svhela; Sign Players

[lapniappe]

that's my advice. end of story.

he's being a selfish git, him and his agent, because "he's not sure if he really wants to retire yet" so sayth his agent. the leafs are trying to put him on the retirement list w/o him having to sign, but there is no word yet on the league's decision.

Svhela's indecision is the reason why Weasly isn't signed.
end of story. (however, the leafs AND weasly's agent are both optimisic that they'd get something done soon. v. good).

but sorry. Svhela stated how many times to count that he will not be coming back. he's the assitant coach of his team in Slovakia. so, at least for the year it's not like he can come back anyway. so compromise. sign the retirement papers, then come back in the 2004 season (if there's a season).

if not, retire as your heart chooses, because goodness knows he's not going to stick around in there's a strike/lockout.

and then sign Federov (who really wants to come to Toronto and make them a contender; whose great friends with mats, who's been making appeals to him to work with Quinn, and talked to Domi and other players about living in Toronto), de Vries and other players.

beacuse if I were quinn and Svhela came up to me and said (after telling him 5 times no he's retiring) and said he wanted back on the team, i'd go sod off, and coach your slovkian team.

i can't stand nonsense like this.

[Gerard]

I'll second that lappi. He should have been given a deadline and not a minute more. Hell, he's a solid player but he's no Orr. AND, as you say, that money could have been used for somebody who actually wants to be in TO.

[Leafs_Pam]

Maybe he thinks if it has worked for Hasek, it will work for him too. It's one thing to say you want to retire and mean it, or to say you think you might retire but you have to think about it, and quite another thing to say you are retiring but won't file the retirement papers. But apparently Svhela likes to make these 1 year deals and retire just to come back. Anyone with that much indecision isn't worth it. Could be nothing more than a ploy to get more money like Hasek does. Let's just say I'm getting so tired of players yanking teams chains and that I'm suspect of any player now who pulls these kind of retirement things. I have to agree with OM that these retiring players need to be given a deadline and if they don't make their mind up by that time then the team should say, "see ya!!"

[freshwind]

The retirement ploy is something that would have to be put into the cba. A date would have to be specified that you are frozen out of next season if you are not signed by that date. If you then choose to retire, you are not allowed to play in Europe, and if you return, you are penalized a % of your contract. With the league wanting a hard cap, they will never get any of this in the next cba.
The Leafs cannot use Svehla as an excuse, he is an asset, and could be either traded, or free up someone else for trade if he came back. If he stays retired he costs them $0.
This is why this situation is different from Berard, if Berard DIDN"T play, he would STILL be paid his full contract.

[Leafs_Pam]

FW, I like your idea! Too bad it can't be made part of the CBA this time.

[Leafs_Pam]

Someone needs to visit Svehla and kick him in the butt so he'll sign those papers!! I hate it when a player holds his team, in this instance our team, hostage this way.

www.canoe.ca/Slam030703/nhl_tor1-sun.html

Maple Leafs warn Svehla to remain or retire

By MIKE ZEISBERGER -- Toronto Sun

Pat Quinn yesterday called for Robert Svehla to stop shuffling his feet and make a decision.


Play the coming season for the Maple Leafs or sign your retirement papers -- one or the other.


"Either honour the contract or go away," Quinn said candidly, obviously irked that Svehla's waffling has left the Leafs in limbo in the hunt for free agents.


With the likes of defencemen Glen Wesley and Bryan Marchment available and wanting to play for the Leafs, Quinn's hands are tied.


Until he receives a definitive answer from the player himself, Quinn will not spend the veteran's $4 million US salary for a replacement on the blue line only to see Svehla potentially return.


It's a scenario that would send the team payroll soaring over its pre-determined budget.


"The only one real way to find out (his plans) is to get a hold of him," Quinn said. "He's on vacation right now. We've had indications from other sources, not neccessarily him, that he still has not made up his mind.


"If he said "I'm not coming," then we'd step up and maybe try to fill the hole of the veteran guy (Svehla) who's leaving. (But) we can't presume he is or is not going to come. That's what freezes us up right now."


Whatever the reason for Svehla's posturing, Quinn emphatically said the player will not squeeze any more benefits out of the Leafs, who last season sent a significant financial package to Svehla's home-town team, Dukla Trencin, in Slovakia.


"We're just not going to entertain any suggestions in that fashion," Quinn said. "It's not going to happen. We in good faith stepped up last year and probably paid a little more than market value for him to come here. We're not going to get in that game again."


Ritch Winter, Svehla's Edmonton-based agent, can sense the Leafs frustrations.


"They appear to be that way a little bit but no more or less than I am," Winter said. "I would like him to come back."


In any event, Quinn is sticking by his stance that there will be no spending sprees for the Leafs this summer, especially on big-name, big-buck free agents like Sergei Fedorov, Paul Kariya and, likely, Derian Hatcher.


"To suggest we're going to take on a high-end contract, well, we're not going to do that," he declared.


In the meantime, the Leafs have held discussions with the representatives for Wesley, Marchment, Greg de Vries, Ken Klee, Oleg Tverdovsky and Joe Nieuwendyk, among others.


Wesley received a one-year contract offer Tuesday from the Carolina Hurricanes, his former team. He is said to be looking for three years in the neighbourhood of $3 millon per.


Mats Sundin is the only Leaf with a guaranteed contract for 2005-06, an indication that the organization is preparing for potential labour strife next year.


"Last year Glen waived his no-trade for a shot at the Cup with the Leafs, and now he would like to stay," Rick Curran, Wesley's agent, said. "But if he moves to another country with his family, buys a new home and puts his kids in school there, he would understandably like more than one year."


At least six teams have inquired about Wesley's services.

[stugats1]

I like that Q comment. either sign the conttract, or go away. It is getting sickening. Not sure if it his agent or not playng the tricks. Who does he think he is? The leafs should really forgett about him. Move on. I for one would love to see Federov in the blue and white. When he wnats to he can be a gifted player. I think he would be out to prove how much he can still play this yearr (see Ed Belfour). i just don't see it happening.He'll probably go to colorado!

[Leafs_Pam]

stugats1 said:

I like that Q comment. either sign the conttract, or go away. It is getting sickening. Not sure if it his agent or not playng the tricks. Who does he think he is? The leafs should really forgett about him. Move on.

Me too Stugats. This whole Svehla/retirement thing is really annoying me. I just wish someone would kick him in the butt and get him moving to filing the retirement papers. I don't believe for one minute that Svehla doesn't realize he is holding the team back from signing another player because of the game he is playing. I really am beginning to wonder if this is a ploy he deliberately uses to try and get more money from his current team.

stugats1 said:

I for one would love to see Federov in the blue and white. When he wnats to he can be a gifted player. I think he would be out to prove how much he can still play this yearr (see Ed Belfour). i just don't see it happening.He'll probably go to colorado!

I've never been a Federov fan, but it would be interesting to have him on the Leafs and have him be a Wings killer for the Leafs. If he was on the Leafs and was a Wings killer, that would sure be fun. It would be great to have him as a weapon against the Wings. ;D He would have to put out consistently though and that isn't something he has always done.

[Mike]

Wasn't Svehla supposedly retiring last year?

It was a bad idea to trade for this guy even though he played well last year. He was a high priced player who obviously wanted to end his career and basically only came back for the money. Oh well, it's a good lesson to the Leafs to be very wary who they sign and there status in the league.

[Gerard]

How is it that we are consistently the laughing stock around the league yet the good old Leafs mgmt. just keep going on as if we're setting the pace instead of lagging behind it?? They have no accountability. Last year we got veteran players in Gilmour/Nlan/Wesley etc. yet this year we have to listen to the voice of Pat Quinn say how we're gonna hold the fort down w/ these high salaries and refuse to be goaded into spending high-priced money to aquire players. About how we've got youngsters who are gonna step up and fill the holes for us. Us Leaf fans are among the most hated in the league but, soon enough, we'll be labelled as among those to feel sorry for. Our 'mgmt.' has seen to it by playing a 180 degree turn and acting as if they've got some inside track on strategy for building a team. Unfortunately, outside of that same 'team', no one believes them. If this team wasn't my team thru a life-long family tradition i'd have dumped them ages ago. Unfortunately for myself and many like me Leaf ownership knows we make up the majority of their fans and will never switch loyalties. We are trapped and that's just how mgmt wants us. With good old Pat Quinn acting as if he really wants a winner. Acting.

[stugats1]

In what other profession (job) can you tell your boss you quit, or retire only to not really mean it yet? This is crazy. I am really starting to turn on robert. Even if he un-retires I will probably harp on him for every littel mistake "whishing" he stayed retired.