Quote: Originally posted by beezhockey on 2/11/2009If I plan on having Rask as my backup next year anyway, I would rather have Rask as backup through playoff run. He has proven himself capable of handling the NHL level. A run through the AHL playoffs is not going to prepare him any better.As for Fernandez not being the calibre of Hossa, granted, I didn't mean to imply he was, was just presenting an example of a rent-a-player to refute your argument that teams wouldn't necessarily trade anything for him. Desperate teams have made desperate moves before to make a playoff run, there is no reason to believe it won't happen again. I think Chiarelli will at least try to showcase Fernandez as much as makes sense to not mess with the rhythm of the team. He WILL shop him around, and if he receives an interesting offer, he WILL move him. The Western conference is pretty well stacked up, i would imagine a move to the west. My guess would be LA, Nashville, and Minnesota in that order.
In his career, he's played 5 games in the NHL. That's hardly "proving himself capable", especially for a deep playoff drive on a team leading the conference. He'd be better served handling the playoff drive in the AHL by playing every day in pressure situations. For a young goalie, PLAYING in the playoffs at any level is going to do more for his development than sitting on the bench through the playoffs.
I never said that rent-a-players don't happen. However, teams don't shell out much for 34-year old backup goalies coming off an injury in the final year of their contract. Honestly, if some team thinks that Manny Fernandez is the one piece that's missing for as playoff drive, then they probably need to re-examine things.