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More on Brunnstrom—No Guarantees
by Alanah McGinley on 04/14/08 at 02:03 PM ET
Comments (8)
From Ansar Khan at MLive:
Brunnstrom narrowed his choices to Detroit and Vancouver six weeks ago. A few of the Wings Swedes, including captain Nicklas Lidstrom and Andreas Lilja, called him to try to convince him to pick Detroit. Brunnstrom is a big Wings fan and likes their puck-possession style, but he also wanted assurances that he would play on one of the top two lines. The Canucks apparently gave it to him, telling him he’ll be paired with Daniel and Henrik Sedin. But the Wings are too deep and too good a team to be offering any unproven prospect a guarantee like that. That’s not how this team operates.
Which is it: “assurances” or a “guarantee”?
First of all, no team should be offering a guarantee like that (well, with possibly the singular exception of the Vancouver Canucks, who would be unwise to turn down a well-fed monkey to play on their top-6 at this point). But that being said, I’d be surprised if Vancouver did anything of the sort.
Could they have made empty, encouraging promises—i.e. offered to buy him a poodle, sketched out Fabian-is-so-Fabio! billboards to surround GM Place, and told him he might get to be squeezed between a couple of Swedish twins on alternating Saturday nights?
Sure.
Did they put it in writing?
No way.
What Vancouver has that Detroit doesn’t is simple: total and utter desperation.
For Brunnstrom, that desperation—more than anything else—presents a big opportunity to make a name for himself.
Filed in: vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: detroit+red+wings, fabian+brunnstrom, prospects, vancouver+canucks,
Comments
Hell, after all this hoopla, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he signs the initial contract with Detroit, anyway.
Vancouver is cursed. 
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 04/14/08 at 02:25 PM ET
Well, give the Wings credit for trying real hard to recruit him.
Then they were up-front enough to say he would have to earn his place on the team, just like everyone else.
That is an organisation to be proud of.
Posted by w2j2 on 04/14/08 at 03:19 PM ET
Bah. I’m glad the Wings aren’t going to get him. The only thing it looks like he developed in Sweden was a fjord-sized ego. I can understand wanting to play right away, but at the cost of losing a lot of games on a bad team? We have no idea if he can even adapt to the North American game. This guy has “NHL bust” written all over him.
Posted by james from FArmington, MI on 04/14/08 at 04:21 PM ET
I hope the guy does well…but the demands are a bit far out for someone who has never played in the NHL. Big difference from the SEL.
Posted by yreland from Van Dieman's Land on 04/14/08 at 04:37 PM ET
Well, I don’t know any more than the rest of you, but I think it’s presumptive to believe that the so-called demands he made are actually true. Khan isn’t quoting anyone who says Brunnstrom definitely asked for such a guarantee.
It could also be that Brunnstrom’s agent is simply pushing to avoid a contract that would allow a team to dump him in him in the AHL all season… which isn’t an uncommon or unreasonable negotiation issue. But I can see how the Red Wings’ depth might make that an unattractive option.
However, Vancouver has no depth, thus, no problem!
Just a theory, anyway.
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 04/14/08 at 04:55 PM ET
and brunnstrom goes to the nucks and lanquishes in mediocrity for years or detroit and has a shot to win a cup,no brainer
Posted by Speedy Sammich from DTown on 04/16/08 at 04:04 PM ET
I think it’ll be wise to watch Fabian and the Stars…we need a scoring winger and we’ve got spots on both top lines
Posted by Oz from Dallas on 05/05/08 at 01:49 AM ET
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Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003 (with a notable gap in time through 2010, kicking it with new baby Lucy while living knee-deep in chaos while reading “parenting for complete idiots” during every spare minute) sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen.
In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla’s Korner, Alanah was one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast. She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York Times Slapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.
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...and then he can sign with Detroit once his initial contract is up. (I kid, I kid.)
Or sooner, if he decides to play the “liar, liar, pants on fire” card. (still kidding)
Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 04/14/08 at 02:22 PM ET