Cut Havlat Now
November 19th, 2009 | by Roy |
Ok, it was worth a shot. We were losing Marian Gaborik and had to add some scoring punch. The Wild had the money to spend and Martin Havlat was coming off a great year in Chicago. “Why not?” the Wild thought.
Well, one-quarter of the way into the season we can officially say he’s having a bad year. How can a forward play 20 plus minutes of a game and not get a single shot on goal? He looks like Aragorn out there, lost in the Woods of Rohan, unsure of where the net is. Even James Sheppard has looked better than him this season, a commentary that should speak volumes.
Can we release him now? Buy out his contract or something? My guess is that sooner or later they’ll fake an injury, sit him a few games to clear his head and try and get him a fresh start.
Yes, the releasing comment is purely tongue-in-cheek, but I don’t think the team would miss him at this point.
By Terry G on Nov 19, 2009
how can you seriously say that Sheppard has looked better than Havlat this season? 8 points to 1 point. Nice.
Everyone knows that Havlat is a pass first type of player, and if he feels like a team mate has a better opportunity to score a goal, he is going to pass it off to them 100 percent of the time. Granted, his 8 points 19 games into the season is not what we all expected out of a player who was supposed to replace Gabby as a big offensive threat, but he is a far better 2 way forward than Gabby, and Sheppard for that matter. At least Havlat has the offensive ability to turn his season around, and once/if the wild become healthy enough to put him on a line with at least a little bit of offensive firepower, we will see the Martin Havlat Wild fans are expecting.
By GEOM on Nov 19, 2009
I think he is not 100%, after the concussion in the playoffs and the emotional rollercoaster ride in the summer, I don’t think he is mentally or physically all there.
Sure hope he can turn this around, for his sake and the Wild’s