Kukla's Korner Hockey
Lilja Gambled And Lost
by Paul on 10/05/10 at 12:57 PM ET
Comments (10)
from The Sporting News,
Things are not going quite the way Andreas Lilja planned when he opted to go to San Jose’s training camp on a tryout basis rather than accept a firm contract offer from the Red Wings. Suddenly, he finds himself out of work and facing a visa deadline that could force him to leave the United States.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Lilja turned down a one-year, $1 million summer offer from the Red Wings, for whom he had played the last five years — including their Stanley Cup-winning season of 2008. On Tuesday he was told he will not be offered a contract by the Sharks.
Filed in: NHL Teams | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Andreas+Lilja,
Comments
Shocking…
Posted by SYF from the bottom of my, what, 11teenth pint of Guinness? on 10/05/10 at 01:07 PM ET
Kinda’ hard to feel sorry for a guy who rewarded an org for sticking with him through missing an entire calendar year by flying the coop and looking for a bigger payday we all knew wasn’t there.
I really don’t feel like you can blame him for wanting something more long-term.
His next shift could be his last and all teams know it. He had to figure, judging by the market for D-men on day 1, that he could get a 3-4 year deal and have some security down the road. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t work out that way. I, for one, will bear the guy no ill will and would not feel a twinge of regret should the Wings find a spot for him down the road if the Ericsson Experiment is scrapped and The Rig is traded/snatched off waivers, etc.
Furthermore, the entire calendar year he missed was missed due to an injury he sustained being the one guy willing to drop the gloves and try to motivate the Wings during an absolute drubbing they NEEDED to get woken up out of. He was playing the best defense on the team of anyone not named Lidstrom for most of that season and would’ve been in for a whole lot more money had he not gotten such a bad deal in the post-concussion lottery.
Posted by shanetx from Floydada, Texas on 10/05/10 at 01:15 PM ET
Sorry Andreas, you’re a good dude and hopefully something works out for you soon.
Posted by some kid on 10/05/10 at 02:09 PM ET
I don’t begrudge him… hindsight is 20-20. Hope he lands somewhere good. Maybe Tampa… 
Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 10/05/10 at 02:20 PM ET
Yeah it’s business for sure. Too bad for him.
You gotta wonder how much his agent influenced his decisions. Andre always sounded as if he was calling his own shots but he had to base his decision off something - information that the market was there.
Posted by TheFreak on 10/05/10 at 02:22 PM ET
Kinda’ hard to feel sorry for a guy who rewarded an org for sticking with him through missing an entire calendar year by flying the coop and looking for a bigger payday we all knew wasn’t there.
I’m sorry, sticking with him? Lowballing him on a one-year deal is sticking with him?
Right.
Posted by Garth on 10/05/10 at 02:51 PM ET
I didn’t know about the Oct. 10th visa deadline. That sucks. I really hope someone picks him up before then. I was just talking to a Sharks fan who was very surprised that he wasn’t signed - said he’d looked great throughout camp and even scored a goal to top things off. Guy really can’t catch a break.
Posted by Sadie from Ann Arbor, MI on 10/05/10 at 04:35 PM ET
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Kinda’ hard to feel sorry for a guy who rewarded an org for sticking with him through missing an entire calendar year by flying the coop and looking for a bigger payday we all knew wasn’t there.
If his decision was ‘business’ than this outcome is just “business” as well.
Posted by Primis on 10/05/10 at 01:05 PM ET