It happened, one of the key deadline acquisition by Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff finally signed a deal with another team after the Jets elected to let him go. It should not be a huge deal exspecially at only an $800,000 deal but that's exactly what it is for many, why?
Let's start with social media
Tlusty makes less than Thorburn and only $125,000 more than Peluso.
Think
About
That
— Peter Tessier (@Teddier) September 16, 2015@DreamofJanney @Teddier $800 K for a player of his caliber is insanely cheap. It defies logic that only one team offered it.
— Stephen Burtch (@SteveBurtch) September 16, 2015Mark Scheifele 1.6 points per 60 5v5 minutes
Jiri Tlusty 1.8 points per 60 5v5 minutes
https://t.co/WqqcCOMHMI
— Garret Hohl (@GarretHohl) September 16, 2015That's just a smattering of comments in my timeline with me mentioned, there's so much more.
The problem is not whether the Devils signed him or not but why the Jets didn't. What was too hard to overcome to make him stay in Winnipeg? Was it money, because giving him an extra 200k over New Jersey seems feasible and on a team with a better chance to win.
Was it the city? He has a friend in Pavelec here but 29 other teams elected to pass too so he clearly did not have a lot of suitors. Winnipeg would only have been the the worst of the bottom and money can overcome that.
Was it the team? With Little, Scheifele Lowry and Burmistrov all down the middle where was Tlsuty going to play to get minutes? Perhaps that open side next to Scheifele on the RW with Perreault on the left.
Was it the coach, GM, players? Who knows but at some point GMs are going to have to stop the madness of retaining guys like:
Thorburn
Peluso
and add guys like Tlusty so your 4th line can actually play significant minutes and not be uses so sparingly.
Therein lies the challenge for the Jets balancing the new with the old and maybe the days of placeholders are gone so that the Copps and Ehlers of the organization have a clear path. That would be fine logic if Peluso an Thorburn did not each have two years left on deals to do the same thing as each other. The point here as to why bloggers are looking at Tlusty is he is the type of player that GMs should exploit as part of market inefficiency, i.e cheap and effective.
We know what Peluso and Thorburn bring, but what about Ehler and Copp? Tlusty would be far more comfortable for many Jets fans even on the 4th line. He's also make it less likely that Matt(s) Fraser and Halischuk see less ice time too.