Kalus made the right move
Russo put together a little article today addressing the Kalus exodus and judging by the quotes from Lynn and Riser, he made the right decision.
"He just wanted to go home," General Manager Doug Risebrough said. "Ultimately, his development is in more of his control now than it was in our control."I'm just gonna take a stab at reading between the lines here: "We did everything we felt we could to develop Petr's talents, but he wasn't getting it, or maybe didn't want it. We brought the horse to water, but couldn't get it to drink."
Asked if he was disappointed, assistant GM Tom Lynn, who doubles as the Aeros' GM, said, "I haven't thought about it. It's probably not a high radar item."Ouch.
But he's right. It might have been disappointing last season, but at this point, it was clear that he wasn't a good fit for this system and didn't ever seem to be fully on board after he was (apparently) healthy scratched a few times last season.
I suspected he'd bail after it became clear he wasn't on the short list for a call up to Minnesota. Can't blame him really. If your NHL chances are clearly shot for at least the next couple of years, you might as well play close to home.
Anyway, good luck to him. He was, if nothing else, pretty amusing. My favorite Kalus story was from when Coach Stalin was talking to him about how she plays hockey on a co-ed team. His eyes lit up when he asked her if she shares a locker room with the guys. He was clearly a fan of this concept. Heh.
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6 comments:
IMO Kalus only made the right move if he's willing to give up on playing in the NHL.
While I understand his desire to not play in the AHL he would have been better served to use it as motivation to get to the NHL if he wanted to keep that dream alive. And if he felt that strongly about not playing in Houston other arrangements could be made to play in Europe instead of the AHL if he had a strong argument. It's been done before.
Unfortunately he gives the appearance of taking his ball and going home because he did not get his way. That will not fly well with MN and other NHL teams could be wary of a player who acts in such a manner.
So I think he pretty much shot himself in the foot as far as the NHL is concerned.
I'm hope he'll be happy playing at home.
Well, I meant it was the right thing in terms of his place in this organization. He wasn't going anywhere and seems to have acquired "warm body" status in Houston. And who knows... maybe he did ask for help getting placed in Europe and they declined.
I think if he goes home, matures and turns into the scoring machine people think he is, he'll get another shot over here. He's still really young.
It may be the right choice for him but I can assure you that when you walk out on a contract in the NHL it'll take more than a promise that you've matured (Didn't he, or someone else, already say that he'd matured at the beginning of the pre-season?) to get the NHL to give you another shot.
It's kind of like quitting your job because you didn't get the promotion then going back a year or two later. It's unlikely you'll be welcomed back with open arms.
It's not that it can't happen but it's pretty unlikely.
You may be right. It will be interesting to see what becomes of him. He could make a nice career for himself over there in a few years.
Is his leaving similar to that of Voloshenko's?
If you mean European player grumpy about not making the big club and not seeing much future with the organization, then yeah, pretty similar, I'd say. I'm not as familiar with Volo's situation, though.
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