Would you have kept or dumped Wellwood?

Question

http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Hockey/2008/06/24/5972146.html

Really, Wellwood? Under a good system and if he stays healthy, he can do wonders for a team. Might as well get rid of Steen while they're at it.

Answer 1

h***s no, he had 42 points in 45 games the previous year.  He is a great playmaker.  His only problem was being on a team with no wingers.  Who besides Sundin is worth a c**p on the Maple Leafs?  Just more proof of how bad of an organization Toronto has become.  Yo Fletcher, the Wings will take Sundin and Wellwood.  Put Wellwood with good players and he could easily put up 80 points.  Put Sundin on a good team and he could be 80-100 point scorer again.

Wellwood is the type of player the Avs desperately needed in the series against the Wings this year.  If they don't get Forsberg back, I think the Avs should take Wellwood.

Answer 2

Since he was to become a RFA on July 1st anyway, I guess this was Toronto's way of saying "Don't let the door hit you in the @$$ on the way out!"

Answer 3

I would have kept him for sure.  This was a bad move for the leafs, he is way under valued at the moment after one poor season.  He could have been a great player to keep around for the rebuild and I've got a feeling that he can do really well.  Leaving the leafs could be the best thing for his career at this point because I don't think it was the best environment for him.

I'm thinking the leafs will be kicking themselves in a few years when he is striving with another team.

Answer 4

Kept him, he's a great player, WTF are they thinking?

Answer 5

I would keep him. He has not met his potential, but there are other players who have under preformed, are older, and make more. (I'm looking at you, Darcy Tucker.) It was a bad move, unless Fletcher knows something about his injury we don't. If nothing else, at least try and trade the guy for a draft pick or something! I bet he'll be the next Brad Boyes, a young player who the leafs trade away before they have a chance to shine.

Answer 6

Wellwood was famous as a junior as someone who refused to do any off-ice training in order to improve. That habit didn't change when he turned pro, and the Leafs got on him about it last year when he showed up at camp in no different shape or manybe worse than the year before. Some people described him as being fat last year, and most of his workouts consist of lifting beer cases in the summer.

His dad even commented in the newspapers about how his son's continual injuries and his lousy season  were probably due to the fact that he hasn't worked to become strong and conditioned enough to make it full time as an NHL player.

Every year he has played he is usually physically exhausted after 30 games or so. His skating gets slower as the year goes on and he can't get to the puck.

Talent is fine as far as it goes, but without commitment you're only half-way there. What a waste.

Answer 7

clemmenson is a beast

and i would like wellwood

Answer 8

I would keep him, although he was had bad luck with injuries(he even gets hurt in the offseason lol) He could be a good player if he stays healthy.

Answer 9

He ain't nothin' special and he is injury prone....goodbye I say.

Answer 10

Wellwood is not the star player people expect him to be, but he is a great playmaker and is reasonably solid in his own end. His numbers don't reflect his skills. The team just sucked. His biggest knock is being injury-prone. Whether or not I would have kept him is strictly based on how much I had to spend, though. He's probably only worth between $1.5 million and $2 million... if healthy.