Confirmed with Link: CBJ signs Gregory Campbell

[DarkandStormy]

He has 2 more GWG than Joey this year...

Cool, know who's contract expires the same year as Campbell's and has less AAV and is actually winning more than 55% of his faceoffs this year? DMac.

 

[We Want Ten]

Cool, know who's contract expires the same year as Campbell's and has less AAV and is actually winning more than 55% of his faceoffs this year? DMac.

Easy there chief lol, don't kill the messenger. I just thought info was interesting . I liked DMac and Letestu much better than Campbell for the record.

 

[DarkandStormy]

Easy there chief lol, don't kill the messenger. I just thought info was interesting . I liked DMac and Letestu much better than Campbell for the record.

Ha, just frustrated with another dead-weight player on the team.

 

[NotWendell]

I still wish we would have kept Letestu and moved him to center. Water under the bridge now.

 

[Johansen2Foligno]

I still wish we would have kept Letestu and moved him to center. Water under the bridge now.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who didn't want to keep him.

Well, everyone except Jarmo for some reason.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Probably the most meh player I've seen on the team in a while

 

[Tulipunaruusu*]

Well, everyone except Jarmo for some reason.

The same Jarmo who didn't trade Letestu at the deadline? The same Letestu who signed for his home region team? Who would have of course preferred to play in the CBJ fourth line over the powerplay minutes he gets at Oilers.

 

[Viqsi]

The same Jarmo who didn't trade Letestu at the deadline? The same Letestu who signed for his home region team? Who would have of course preferred to play in the CBJ fourth line over the powerplay minutes he gets at Oilers.

He got those same powerplay minutes here.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Probably the most meh player I've seen on the team in a while

I wish he was meh.

 

[Tulipunaruusu*]

He got those same powerplay minutes here.

This season? With all the complains about money being put down in forwards I don't think that facilitates easier competition especially when compared to injury-ridden last season.

Letestu, during the latest two months he has played for the Oilers twice dipped below 15 minutes in ice time. During the last two months he played for the Blue Jackets he twice clocked over 15 minutes barrier.

Perhaps this team would be better with Letestu in the fourth place but that is out of the real world scenario where you skip things like salary, location, taxing, role and Letestu putting his name on offer that Blue Jackets had very hard time competing without starting to sacrifice players in front of Letestu in ice ice time. It ain't Campbell who would have been replaced with the Letestu signing.

 

[Mayor Bee]

The same Jarmo who didn't trade Letestu at the deadline? The same Letestu who signed for his home region team? Who would have of course preferred to play in the CBJ fourth line over the powerplay minutes he gets at Oilers.

The same Mark Letestu with two young children, and a wife that was heavily involved in the Columbus community. The same Mark Letestu who, after a few years bouncing up and down between the AHL and NHL while with Pittsburgh, undoubtedly would have preferred to stay in an area with some stability instead of packing up and moving again. The same Mark Letestu who apparently was lowballed to the point where a 30-year-old fourth liner thought that it was more advantageous to test the free agent market than stay where he'd made his home for the previous four seasons. And the same Mark Letestu who preferred to go to an organization that can generously be described as a dumpster fire instead of one that looked to continue to build toward becoming a contender.

 

[Xoggz22]

If they weren't upping MacKenzie for 3 years (a year earlier) they weren't going to up Letestu. The problem I see is they signed Campbell for two years a year after MacKenzie left which is the equivalent to a three year deal for MacKenzie. they could have then traded Letestu at the deadline knowing they had the sparkplug filled on the 4th line.

I would be OK with Campbell at 1 year. Let the younger players grow or if they push him out, it's only 1 year. Having that 2nd year makes for some challenges. I get that they were expecting to be competing for the playoffs and his experience would help but now... ewwww

 

[DarkandStormy]

If they weren't upping MacKenzie for 3 years (a year earlier) they weren't going to up Letestu. The problem I see is they signed Campbell for two years a year after MacKenzie left which is the equivalent to a three year deal for MacKenzie. they could have then traded Letestu at the deadline knowing they had the sparkplug filled on the 4th line.

I would be OK with Campbell at 1 year. Let the younger players grow or if they push him out, it's only 1 year. Having that 2nd year makes for some challenges. I get that they were expecting to be competing for the playoffs and his experience would help but now... ewwww

Exactly this. Mackenzie does everything Campbell does, except better. His FO% is at 55+%, not getting demoted out of the circle. He plays on the PK, actually chips in a few more points than Campbell. Even dropped the gloves a few times in the past. All for less AAV if we had signed him last year, but both go UFA in 2017. Such a downgrade on the 4th line. Good one, Jarmo.

 

[DarkandStormy]

The same Mark Letestu with two young children, and a wife that was heavily involved in the Columbus community. The same Mark Letestu who, after a few years bouncing up and down between the AHL and NHL while with Pittsburgh, undoubtedly would have preferred to stay in an area with some stability instead of packing up and moving again. The same Mark Letestu who apparently was lowballed to the point where a 30-year-old fourth liner thought that it was more advantageous to test the free agent market than stay where he'd made his home for the previous four seasons. And the same Mark Letestu who preferred to go to an organization that can generously be described as a dumpster fire instead of one that looked to continue to build toward becoming a contender.

To be fair, Columbus isn't much better than a dumpster fire either

 

[Tulipunaruusu*]

The same Mark Letestu with two young children, and a wife that was heavily involved in the Columbus community.

In Finland about every bottom-6 six NHLer (or footballer) with a family chooses to return to Finland before their young children reach school starting age of seven. How I approach this is that the same Letestu we are talking about would do the same, in his home region, home country.

Janni Hussi, Jas the Hun, hockey bride of Lauri Korpikoski and Finnish fitness celeb relocated from Arizona to Edmonton. Her judgment: the culture in United States of America is more artificial than in Canada where people when offering help are actually genuine instead just talking. Same goes with clothing in hockey wife circles. In Canada you ain't outcast if not always 'overdressed'. For her Canadian culture is more close to what she had used to in Finland.

Mark Letestu would say its a great community there in Columbus. Yet actions speak louder than words. A choice was made.

 

[Mayor Bee]

In Finland about every bottom-6 six NHLer (or footballer) with a family chooses to return to Finland before their young children reach school starting age of seven. How I approach this is that the same Letestu we are talking about would do the same, in his home region, home country.

Janni Hussi, Jas the Hun, hockey bride of Lauri Korpikoski and Finnish fitness celeb relocated from Arizona to Edmonton. Her judgment: the culture in United States of America is more artificial than in Canada where people when offering help are actually genuine instead just talking. Same goes with clothing in hockey wife circles. In Canada you ain't outcast if not always 'overdressed'. For her Canadian culture is more close to what she had used to in Finland.

None of this makes the slightest bit of sense. And there's a hell of a lot bigger gulf between Phoenix and Edmonton than there is between Columbus and Edmonton.

Mark Letestu would say its a great community there in Columbus. Yet actions speak louder than words. A choice was made.

Yup, and it appears that the biggest part of it wasn't made by him.

 

[Tulipunaruusu*]

None of this makes the slightest bit of sense. And there's a hell of a lot bigger gulf between Phoenix and Edmonton than there is between Columbus and Edmonton.

In hockey wife circles? Which one of the Blue Jackets did you marry?

I think you could find about from every Finnish NHL player a quote about the artificial life in the Americas compared to Finland for example. Comparisons between private schools and egalitarian, free public education in a safe environment. Gated communities versus towns where even small children can roam absolutely free, independently, as they will.

These are the (lifechanging) life quality issues you expect growing in wellfare societies. Some want to have their children have similar or better childhood than they had. Mark Letestu made a choice.

 

[Viqsi]

In hockey wife circles? Which one of the Blue Jackets did you marry?

I think you could find about from every Finnish NHL player a quote about the artificial life in the Americas compared to Finland for example. Comparisons between private schools and egalitarian, free public education in a safe environment. Gated communities versus towns where even small children can roam absolutely free, independently, as they will.

These are the (lifechanging) life quality issues you expect growing in wellfare societies. Some want to have their children have similar or better childhood than they had. Mark Letestu made a choice.

The problem with this line of argument is that Letestu is not Finnish. And Canada is not European.

 

[Mayor Bee]

In hockey wife circles? Which one of the Blue Jackets did you marry?

I think you could find about from every Finnish NHL player a quote about the artificial life in the Americas compared to Finland for example. Comparisons between private schools and egalitarian, free public education in a safe environment. Gated communities versus towns where even small children can roam absolutely free, independently, as they will.

These are the (lifechanging) life quality issues you expect growing in wellfare societies. Some want to have their children have similar or better childhood than they had. Mark Letestu made a choice.

I fail to see what a group of Finnish wives and players has to do with a North American player and his North American wife. The societal and government differences between Finland and Canada/United States are extremely different; the differences between Canada and the United States are relatively small by comparison.

Here's the thing. When Columbus decided that they weren't going to re-sign Letestu, he had no idea what else was on the table. It's entirely possible that he told his agent to try to work something out with Edmonton, and that Edmonton's best offer would have been a one-year two-way contract. Now the offer from Columbus is off the table anyway, and there's no way that someone in his position would take that theoretical Edmonton offer. And who knows what's out there?

Look, we saw exactly the same thing with Manny Malhotra. He didn't re-sign despite the team actually attempting to do so, he went into free agency, he rejected the best offer out there because he didn't want to go to Atlanta...then he sat around and waited. After two months on the open market, he finally took a camp tryout with San Jose, which he parlayed into a one-year contract for the league minimum. He left millions of dollars and a lot of stability on the table to pursue something bigger and got burned.

 

[Doug19]

I consider this guy as much of a jacket as I did pahlsson. Long live Manny, Derrick, and Mark!!

 

[Tulipunaruusu*]

The problem with this line of argument is that Letestu is not Finnish. And Canada is not European.

It is still the same universal place for him: home. The only place that could offer that was the one Letestu chose. Quite the coincidence when you add the other advantages Edmonton held in role, tax and contract years.

Or he just happens to rank the hockey community on Columbus over his extended family in Alberta... We will see whether Letestu spends Christmas at the IceHaus or with his family.

Here's the thing. When Columbus decided that they weren't going to re-sign Letestu, he had no idea what else was on the table. It's entirely possible that he told his agent to try to work something out with Edmonton, and that Edmonton's best offer would have been a one-year two-way contract. Now the offer from Columbus is off the table anyway, and there's no way that someone in his position would take that theoretical Edmonton offer. And who knows what's out there?

Do people really believe UFA players don't have any idea what they are looking for or this just another attempt to forge alternative, out of this world history? Is there anything other than rules restricting people (actual human beings) from throwing 'offers' around? If there isn't: two guys who illegally do that have quite the advantage in approaching free market players. No matter when the contracts are signed.

Or it really is a different kind of fairytale society where the angels or where they called agents do nothing for the players and themselves even knowing that the next summer is the lifetime achievement contract one. It's hell of a long time between now and next summer just to 'gamble' on theoretical contracts if you are an agent for established UFA NHLer.

In the Malhotra case I don't know anything about... he couldn't have been looking for room openings in succesful organizations?

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I consider this guy as much of a jacket as I did pahlsson. Long live Manny, Derrick, and Mark!!

I do miss MacKenzie

 

[Cyclones Rock]

I liked DMAC. I liked Test Tube. I don't like Campbell.

One has 8 points this year, the next has 7 points, the other has 6. They're peas in a pod in the big picture of overall team performance.

In other words, having one over any of the other two wouldn't make any meaningful difference to this year's version (or last year's) of the CBJ. Classic rearrangement of Titanic Deck Chairs thinking that a 4th line scrub moves the meter of a team's performance.

 

[Mayor Bee]

It is still the same universal place for him: home. The only place that could offer that was the one Letestu chose. Quite the coincidence when you add the other advantages Edmonton held in role, tax and contract years.

Or he just happens to rank the hockey community on Columbus over his extended family in Alberta... We will see whether Letestu spends Christmas at the IceHaus or with his family.

Let's see here...he left home for Kalamazoo, MI in 2005. Then he ended up in Wilkes-Barre, PA, then Pittsburgh, PA, and finally Columbus.

And you're suggesting that a full decade later, he was hell-bent on leaving a playoff team to go to a dumpster fire organization because it was near home, despite the fact that he would have no idea whether that team was even interested in him...or what they would offer...all in the name of having Christmas with extended family.

Do people really believe UFA players don't have any idea what they are looking for or this just another attempt to forge alternative, out of this world history? Is there anything other than rules restricting people (actual human beings) from throwing 'offers' around? If there isn't: two guys who illegally do that have quite the advantage in approaching free market players. No matter when the contracts are signed.

Or it really is a different kind of fairytale society where the angels or where they called agents do nothing for the players and themselves even knowing that the next summer is the lifetime achievement contract one. It's hell of a long time between now and next summer just to 'gamble' on theoretical contracts if you are an agent for established UFA NHLer.

In the Malhotra case I don't know anything about... he couldn't have been looking for room openings in succesful organizations?

This has nothing to do with a UFA telling his agent what to look for. And yes, there are extremely stiff rules telling teams exactly what they cannot do, and those rules are actually enforced in a nearly draconian manner. No league is stiffer on tampering than the NHL; if you step out of line, they'll make you wish that you hadn't.

You're suggesting that a career third- and fourth-line player whose entire career has been nothing but short-term contracts told his agent that "I'm going home no matter what", which is absurd. It means that either something was known through back channels, which is tampering and is hardly worth risking on a player like Letestu, or that your entire scenario falls apart under the first glance.

The most likely scenario is what I've said, which is that a player desperately looking for some type of longer-term stability decided to go into the untested and very unstable waters of free agency for one simple reason: "I don't know what's out there, but it can't be worse than the offer I got from the team I spent the last several years with". Look at Christian Ehrhoff, a hot commodity who lasted two months in free agency. Look at Curtis Glencross, a major trade deadline acquisition who was adrift for even longer than that before taking a tryout offer and then retiring. The idea that MacKenzie or Letestu had some actual tangible assurance that they'd be better off going into free agency than taking what was on the table is absurd.

 

[We Want Ten]

I liked DMAC. I liked Test Tube. I don't like Campbell.

One has 8 points this year, the next has 7 points, the other has 6. They're peas in a pod in the big picture of overall team performance.

In other words, having one over any of the other two wouldn't make any meaningful difference to this year's version (or last year's) of the CBJ. Classic rearrangement of Titanic Deck Chairs thinking that a 4th line scrub moves the meter of a team's performance.

DMacK FO 55.1%
Testube FO 53.2%
Soupy FO 44.2%

I'd still take either of the other guys.