Gaborik was offered in trade

Well the Marian Gaborik trade rumors are about to get bigger than they already are.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=253306&lid=sublink01&lpos=headlines_main

With his cap hit at this early in the season, lingering injury (and history), lack of contract and salary demands, I think he's a pretty hard sell at this point.

mattbond wrote:With his cap hit at this early in the season, lingering injury (and history), lack of contract and salary demands, I think he's a pretty hard sell at this point.

I don't. The hard part is getting value back to Minny. Finding someone to take him is easy. Finding someone to give up the farm for him will be very tough, especially with Minny being at a disadvantage.

hemlock34 wrote:
I don't. The hard part is getting value back to Minny. Finding someone to take him is easy. Finding someone to give up the farm for him will be very tough, especially with Minny being at a disadvantage.

So, who's got the cap room to take him now? Or would they look for similar salary coming back? If I was Minnesota's GM (is it still Dougie out there?) I'd want to stay away from another big contract. Cap is likely to go down next year -- it's just a matter of how much.

They'd better be getting some offense back. I don't know how they plan on replacing his offense with anything nearly as good at a fraction of the cost. Doesn't make sense. Everyone and their grandmother in the NHL is overpaid...

If they don't feel they have a realistic shot at the cup this year (I don't believe they do, but they may feel they do) and they are in a rush to dump him, then they may be willing to take picks, prospects, and a cap dump that they can bury. This would be contingent on Gaborik extending, and would likely be to a team that feels they are "one piece away". Then, if they end up doing better than expected, they still will have the space to bring in one, or even two, rentals with the picks and prospects they picked up. If not, they reloaded for the next few years, as the next draft is fairly strong again.

If I'm in the GM's shoes, though, I hold him. Take a chance that he stays healthy, maybe don't play him as much close to trade deadline, because his value will peak then. In the meantime, you know he is motivated to perform, as his next contract depends on what he does now.

Gaborik is essentially like Havlat. Skilled player, but injury plagued. Would be fair to assume that Gaborik would fetch a similar return as Havlat?

Yup. Havlat is making what, $6M? At the time that was what elite players were making. At $6M, many would consider that fair $$ for Gaborik (It's less than what he's making now I think), but he's looking for a raise.

Someone will pay the man. I just hope it's not the Sens.