Historically in the working world, bad news is saved to be delivered late in the day on a Friday.
Even better yet, late on a Friday afternoon prior to a holiday weekend.
The Detroit Red Wings announced Friday that they’d agree to terms on a one-year contract with forward Daniel Cleary.
The media release arrived at exactly 4:59 p.m. EST.
We know you’re upset, so go ahead and release that primal scream.
We’ll wait.
There. Done?
OK, back to the topic at hand.
The reasons for anger amongst the Red Wings faithful are understandable and justified. Cleary’s best before day has long since expired. He’s not even a shadow of the player he once was, nowhere close to the guy who scored 26 goals for Detroit in 2010-11.
It’s easy – and frequently stated – to suggest that Detroit general manager Ken Holland has lost track of his senses.
There are a couple of aspects here, though, where this deal contains at least a modicum of logic.
First of all, it’s a one-year, one-way deal that will pay Cleary $950,000, all of which can be easily buried in AHL Grand Rapids with no impact whatsoever on Detroit’s salary cap.
If the Wings are a healthy group, that’s exactly where Cleary will be headed. The Wings won’t keep him in Detroit at the expense of anyone who must clear waivers to be sent down to the minors.
The reality, though, is that Detroit won’t be healthy when the real pucks first drop on Oct. 9 and the Wings play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Joe Louis Arena. Center Pavel Datsyuk (ankle surgery) will definitely be out. The status of forward Johan Franzen (concussion) remains uncertain.
Who would you rather have sitting in the press box on game night as Detroit’s 14th forward, unlikely to play unless it’s an emergency? Anthony Mantha? Andreas Athanasiou? Dylan Larkin? Or Cleary?
As much as it upsets you to say it, you know the right answer. And it’s the only way Cleary starts the season in Detroit, as a spare part. Otherwise, he’s in GR waiting to see if there will be any room for him at some point with the big club.
It’s the role he filled last year, appearing in just 17 games. You don’t want a kid still learning the game to play that little. It serves no purpose and does the player no good at all.
The final reason why this is good – and this is probably the hardest of all of the elements of this situation to swallow – is that it speaks volumes about the trustworthiness of the Red Wing organization.
Cleary reportedly came to the Wings three seasons ago to tell them he had a verbal agreement with the Philadelphia Flyers on a three-year pact. He stayed in Detroit on a one-year plus an option deal, and Holland has opted to honor the third year of the Flyers pact that Cleary turned down out of loyalty to the Wings.
Now you can argue that a verbal agreement isn’t worth the paper that it isn’t written on, or that Holland’s greatest fault is his sense of loyalty, but you know whom this move really resonates with? NHL players, that’s who.
Several hockey people have pointed out that it’s moves like this that makes the Wings an attractive option, and when you think about it, when was the last time you heard anyone say a bad thing about the way the Wings do business?
You don’t have to like the Cleary deal – and it’s apparent that 99 per cent of you don’t – but those are the reasons why they did it.
HockeyFest The Wings confirmed Friday which current players will be in attendance at this year’s HockeyFest on Sept. 13 at Joe Louis Arena.
Sorry. Cleary isn’t among them.
Joakim Andersson, Danny DeKeyser, Jonathan Ericsson, Landon Ferraro, Luke Glendening, Jimmy Howard, Niklas Kronwall, Drew Miller and Gustav Nyquist will be signing autographs and participating in interactive games from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wings alumni in attendance that day will include Daniel Alfredsson, Jimmy Carson, Joe Kocur, Darren McCarty, Eddie Mio, Larry Murphy and John Ogrodnick.
General admission adult tickets for the event are $20, while kids tickets (12 & under) are available for $10. Fans can purchase general admission tickets at the Joe Louis Arena Box Office (313-471-7575), any Ticketmaster outlet (800-745-3000) or online at DetroitRedWings.com. A limited number (50) of exclusive Gold Tickets are also available for this event at a cost of $750 apiece. Gold Ticket holders are guaranteed to have two items signed by every current Red Wings player in attendance at HockeyFest.
More information on this event, as well as the complete set of guidelines regarding the autograph session, can be obtained by visiting DetroitRedWings.com/HockeyFest.
Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer