[Devils-list] Holik in the news

[Pete Keiper-White]

After reading the articles in today's papers, I stand by what I said
yesterday. Holik will either be re-signed or traded by the start of the
season.

The Post has a Holik to sign with Rangers slanted article contrinbuted by
our favorite Ranger fan/beat writer.

For a more fair and balanced approach, Rich Chere covered it very well in
the Ledger.

Holik asked for $4.75 mil which is more than Stevens & Marty. Reading his
quotes he confirms my opinion of him as greedy. I mean he is getting $3.5
mil to ostensibly be a defensive forward. You cannot make the case that he
earned that money based on his offensive production. 

He said that he was upset that the Devils compared him to Robert Reichel,
Travis Green and Viktor Kozlov. Well, offensively, the comparisons are
justified. If you want to be the highest paid player on the team and be a
forward you have to put up better numbers.

Kozlov 51 GP 14 G 23 A 37 Pts $1.75 Mil
Green 69 GP 13 G 15 A 28 Pts $1.4 Mil
Holik 80 GP 15 G 35 A 50 Pts $3.5 Mil
Reichel did not play in the NHL last year unless it is just so early that
I cannot read.
(stats are espn.com, salaries nhlpa.com)

Holik's numbers are better than those two but not by a huge margin. If
they make an avg of $1.575 I would say Holik is worth $2 million more for
his defensive capabilities which is pretty much in line with what he got. 
IMHO, he has no reason to be upset at all. 

Here are some choice quotes:

"I'll tell you how rough it was," Holik said. "I was honest at that
arbitration hearing and I really learned how the organization feels about
me. It's all business now. That's what I learned. They expressed how they
look at me, so now I will become an unrestricted free agent after this
season. When July 1, 2002, comes around, it's going to be all about Bobby
Holik. I know what I want now." 

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm disappointed if that is his thought process,"
Lamoriello said. "I would hope that that's not the case. That is not how
the team feels. Bobby Holik is a very important part of our team. That is
an understatement." 


http://www.nj.com/devils/ledger/index.ssf?/sports/ledger/1410c73.html

It's going to touch 100 again today and we are talking hockey. That's
cool.

		Pete



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