Dan Cloutier Trying Out For Detroit?
Jeff Gesner is the owner/operator of a small sports apparel/memorabilia business
called “The Stadium”. He spent some time in the scriptwriting business for film. The transition has been satisfying for Jeff being a sports fanatic.
It’s not a joke; at least I don’t think it is. Apparently Dan Cloutier will be trying out for a position on the Detroit Red Wings roster. It seems every other day I’m writing about a former player attempting a comeback. First it was Theo Fleury, then Jason Allison, now Cloutier?
I find this news to be more amusing than interesting. Cloutier wasn’t exactly noted for his outstanding play during his career, and he’s only played in 46 NHL games since the 2004-05 lockout season. Cloutier has a lifetime record of 139-142-33 with a 2.77 goals against average.
Detroit’s summer moves are confusing me, I’m always praising them on their consistency of solid acquisitions which result in a top team every season, but recently they signed Todd Bertuzzi to a 1 year deal worth $1.5 million, and now they have invited Dan Cloutier to camp? Bertuzzi already had a shot in Detroit where he played 8 games in 2006-07; it was a failed attempt, and Cloutier couldn’t even hold down a job with the Los Angeles Kings as a backup goalie. If only Markus Naslund hadn’t retired this off-season, he could have completed a Vancouver Canucks reunion in Detroit. Although the word “retirement” doesn’t seem to mean much in the world of sports anymore, so maybe Markus is thinking about it, who knows?
So what is Ken Holland doing here?
I’m all for giving second chances in sports, which I stated in my first post “Theo Deserves another Chance”, but Dan Cloutier never proved anything while playing in the NHL, other than allowing Nicklas Lidstrom slap shots from center ice to pass by him. The beach ball jokes are already flooding message boards with the news of Cloutier’s return, I don’t hate Dan Cloutier, but I do feel he cost a very solid Canucks team a chance to win the cup over a two year span. If he does make the Wings roster, he’ll certainly have to work on the mental aspect of being a NHL goalie along with the physical element; he proved in the past that staying sharp emotionally was a struggle.
It looks like hockey fans will be seeing a lot of faces from the past during the upcoming NHL season; it’s definitely going to be fun watching everything unfold.
The Cloutier comeback is somewhat ridiculous, but it could be worse, I could be writing about Roman Cechmanek’s NHL comeback.
Roman, don’t even think about it!
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It is the Detroit Red Wings – their defense would make me look like a solid starter in the NHL. They don’t allow a lot of shots on goal, and know that there is a cap, so they don’t need a big expensive goaltender. Cloutier sucks (Yeah! I said it!), but he’ll play for league minimum, and that’s what the Wings want.
Besides – it is only a try out. Some other team could grab him, or the Wings could cut him.
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Larry, I agree.
You only have to play average to win as a goalie in Detroit, Osgood is proof of that. As bad as I think Cloutier is, he probably could fill in for 20-30 games this season and actually win most of them playing with the Wings.
Playing for league minimum is also a bonus if the Wings decide to keep him around.
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Chris Osgood is by no means a spectacular goalie. Now, neither is Cloutier, but consider that he did put together 3 straight 30 win seasons in Vancouver and that was before the shootout era. Then, went on to Los Angeles to play for one of the weakest teams in the league while being plagued by serious hip and and groin injuries. I’m pretty sure Roberto Luongo blew game 7 against Chicago last year but they werent hesitant to sign him to a lifetime contract. I think Cloutch good still be a good backup in the league and could help the wings very much..
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That was a really joy of a read
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What an all ’round great blog post.
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