This is the read I got in the situation. Two other things: 1) The Callahan camp mention how the Rangers were willing to overpay for outside free agents, but not pony up for the home grown talent. That had to have some effect on the negotiations for Girardi and Staal. 2). Girardi, (as opposed to Stralman), was a valued leader in the locker room.
I think too much emotion on the part of Ranger management may have played a too big a role in the negotiations of both Girardi and Staal.
As soon as I heard that crap leaking from Callahan's camp, I knew he was looking to simply cash in. He didn't want to give the team a single cent of hometown discount. I'm so glad we didn't end up giving him that bloated turd of a contract.
On Girardi and Staal, it was different. Even though I think those contracts are pure cancer, at the time, they undoubtedly took discounts. How do you cut ties with a player who has grown up in your organization, who wants to stay, and is willing to back it up by taking less? It's much easier to cut ties with a guy like Callahan who can't stay healthy, yet wants to wring every last cent out of his final NHL contract.
I thought the Staal contract was much worse when it was signed. Girardi was an ironman, and even though he was a poor example of a modern possession defenseman, his numbers weren't that bad. We had zero depth on the right side of our D. Staal, as it turns out, is actually a better value at the moment. I think the bigger problem is that we should have kept only one of them.
Almost every team has a bad contract on D. You never know when players are going to fall off a cliff. You have guys like Dan Boyle that can play effectively well into their mid-30s, yet Girardi looks done at 31.
Props to the posters that saw this coming, but I honestly didn't think there was any way things would go this poorly with Staal and Girardi.
