How can I miss an opportunity that was I would guess never offered?
It is like saying, 'damn, that Victoria's Secrets model just got engaged! I should have been in on that!'
The Wild beat writer has been reporting since July 1st that Cullen has been willing to come home to Minnesota if the Wild wanted him, Fletcher just never offered the contract for whatever reason. The Wild did definitely know about Cullen's interest though as it had become a running joke between the beat writer (Michael Russo) and Wild owner Craig Leipold asking when Cullen would sign.
So, in your analogy, that's like a Victoria's Secret model waiting for you to propose to her, but you sat around and let her get engaged to someone else. We have the perfect opening for Cullen in our bottom six and we'll probably just fill it with a rookie or with a guy like Ryan Carter or Chris Porter now.