I, too, agree Paul made the right choice.

I think what people are scratching their heads about is the money.  Paul
made (or would have made?) $10 million dollars.  He signed for UNDER the
league average at around 1.2 million.

Now, obviously, we are all fans of Paul Kariya, but this makes me even more
a fan of his because he has proven to not be one of those cry-baby
professional athletes that need a huge pay day to sign with an organization.
He wanted to go with Selanne and they approached Colorado because, again,
that is where they wanted to go.  That is the way it *should* be, not these
Alex Rodriguez type of player who will go to the highest bidder.

The Ducks should indeed look in the mirror because there were comments made
about Paul, the team saying that they wanted to embrace more of a "team"
concept and not committ all their resources to one player.  Now, they won't
have to.  They can spend that $10 million on a bunch of guys who fit their
system.

The Ducks also gambled and lost. I think behind the scenes they may have
been saying, "Hey Paul, you weren't that dominant in the playoffs and we
were winning, so here's a paycut take it or leave it because we went to the
finals last year."

In addition, I think they are stunned because they were kind of thinking
that they didn't really have to work hard to keep Paul, that because of all
he's done for them that he would just make it happen and re-sign.

But I think the bottom line is that the Ducks did something to upset Kariya.
He obviously showed with his contract in Colorado that he's willing to do
what it takes to win and be flexible enough with his own contract to help
the team fill its needs.  He could have done that with Anaheim (so they
could have signed Selanne), but he didn't.  Why?  I have to believe that the
Ducks did something to push him away or turn him off.

-Deron


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff and Tracy" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, July 04, 2003 7:20 AM
Subject: Re: From one Black Bear to another ...


> Cinderella stories only last so long.  Paul made the right choice.  I
don't think the Ducks would have been there again this year without changing
the roster.  The only thing left for the Av'S IS, WHO'S IN NET?  I think
Paul made the right decision....his own.
> >
> > From: Spiros Polemis <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: 2003/07/04 Fri AM 06:51:18 EDT
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: From one Black Bear to another ...
> >
> > William wrote:
> > > Pretty interesting comments from Keith Carney on Paul ...
> >
> > Don't you think the Ducks' management's decision to let Paul go should
> > be the one people are regretting?
> >
> > Spiros Polemis
> > Stockton Springs, Me
> >