The Gustavsson Watch: 6/30/2009 (Pt. 2)

I can’t say I didn’t expect this somewhat.  The kid has decided to delay his decision according to his agent – who does an awful lot of talking for the young man, I must say.

According to sources, the agent says that it would be unlikely that we receive an answer before noon on July 1st.  Whether that means we’ll get one on July 1st AFTER noon or just simply a way of saying, “We’ll decide when we decide” – is up in the air.

A lot of readers are up in arms about it right now, which is understandable.  The kid has four premium clubs looking at picking him up, granted the “good ol’ days” of the Avs are long gone – the Stars have a great future save any fateful Joey N. fiascoes, the Sharks were supposed to win the cup last year and look to be a playoff contender again this year and Toronto is simply one of the Canadian seven.  So it’s not like he’s putting a Florida team on hold.  But, what can you really say?  He’s planning out his first season in not just the NHL but a new country as well – people tend to forget that America isn’t a surefire bet for a great life.  If you take the decision too lightly you might end up on a team that doesn’t fit you and have to travel across an ocean to get back to anything familiar.  Meanwhile, Dallas is the only real bet for even being on a team with a legitimate amount of fellow Swedes (that’s my shameless homer comment).  Here’s the quote acording to Sportnet.ca – thanks to Heika:

“It’s highly unlikely we’ll commit before 12 noon Wednesday. With so many teams potentially making major changes to their rosters, maybe it’s best to wait and watch it unfold first.”

While, I probably am giving him more slack than most of the fans out there that doesn’t mean I’m not a bit peeved about the whole thing.  July 1st isn’t a game.  People have to sign contracts and put money on the table.  Free Agents leave and unfortunately you probably won’t be able to get them back (e.g. Crombeen).   We don’t sign a goalie and all of a sudden we’re stuck picking up another unproven minor leaguer and just hope that Crawford manages him better than Tippett did with Stephan.  Next thing you know the kid chooses Avalanche just to go along with the rest of the unexpected decisions that have come this off-season already and I’m on my way to Colorado to burn a certain house down.

I don’t like committing arson Gustavsson – don’t you dare put blood on my hands big man.  DON’T YOU DARE.

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The Gustavsson Watch: 6/30/2009 (Pt.1)

According to Gustavsson’s “People” – he is supposed to make his decision before July 1st.  It hasn’t been made as of 6:30 am (CST) – that means we have until midnight tonight to hear from him.  I suppose he could technically give us his answer ON July 1st but that would be evil of him and who wants an evil goaltender on their team? We already have Marty Turco to punish us for our sins with terrible seasons and painful goals that involve him traveling out to the blueline or checking oncoming players.

At any rate, this entry is a primer that will hopefully lead to another later today that tells us just wear the young man chooses to tend this coming season as his first in the NHL.  In case anyone has forgotten, he’s listed four and while many were under the impression he had cut it down to two – he reaffirmed that as of yesterday (29th) he still has all four on his list.

• Dallas
• Toronto
• San Jose
• Colorado

And also I was directed to a nice article over at “The Goalie Guild” by Andrew’s blog about the destinations that you can find here: http://thegoalieguild.com/2009/06/20/a-blind-step-over-the-edge/

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