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UFA2B #2: Ryan Callahan. Heading Home? Lavy Heads to Smashville |
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Thought I would tackle another big UFA in the UFA2B series...Ryan Callahan.
The NY Fallout...
To me the Ryan Callahan story was like a great movie with a sucky ending. Or rather no ending... You had this great standoff going between Ryan and Glen Sather in NY. On one side the affable protagonist Ryan Callahan, the team captain, oft-injured heart and soul player the Rangers players couldn't live without. On the other side the ornery antagonist Glen Sather, staring down the barrel of the gun thinking (and sometimes even saying), "Do we really have to play 6.5 million for a hockey player to have heart?
It was all heading towards some sort of Alberta standoff when Marty St Louis decided he wanted to be a Ranger and Sather was spared the lose/lose decision and instead opted to trade problem for problem and Callahan found himself in Tampa.
Does Tampa want to keep him?
Absolutely. Callahan is a perfect fit for the Adams nominated Jon Cooper who says things like, "He is exactly what we needed, and we didn't even realize how much until he got here." Callahan also appeared to have enjoyed his time in Tampa, fitting in well with the room and drawing high praise from everyone, including Steven Stamkos.
Does he test the market?
Based on all I am hearing, yes he does. Remember the argument in NY was Cally was asking for money he would never get on the open market. Well, I am not so sure on that, and come to think of it, name the last player a team was right about when they said, "You are asking too much, go become a UFA and you will see how wrong you were." It may have happened...but I can't think of one off the top of my head and suffice to say more often than not it doesn't work that way.
Where does he want to go?
My sources have been telling me since way, way back that the reason Callahan could be so confident in his demands was because he knew a team he wanted to play for who would pay him what he wanted....The Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres have the money and need a leader/captain to build around. A player who can teach the young players how to play the game the right way. With Callahan the conversation starts on July 1 in Buffalo.
Who else will be involved?
So far, besides Tampa and Buffalo, I have heard NJ and the Islanders have large interest. The advantage to Callahan would be he would be able to live in his current house and not uproot his family if he stayed in the NY Metro area.
I have also heard the Coyotes have interest, and after that we could see one of the new coaches (not yet hired) make play for Ryan Callahan. He is the kind of player everyone wants, the question is, how much and does he have his head set on returning to Northern NY to play for the Sabres?
What do you think Ryan gets on the open market, and how much should he get?
Lavy Heading to Smashville!
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