I told him we reconsidered our offer, which we thought was a very big offer, and we weren't interested in raising it at that point. It seemed clear his agent's strategy was to get to the summer and test the market, so we got the best value we could.
You don't want to mix the two because people are more focused on coming back. Maybe November will be a nice time to do it.
If Joey is not playing for the Wild, Houston will have one of the top leaders in the American Hockey League and a person who other teams hate to come up against.
He would have had to practice up here for a while, and there is very little to be gained having him play in three games. He can play in Houston as long as they do, adjust to the pro game and come to training camp next year more ready to challenge for a spot on the roster.
It seems like he's fairly comfortable coming back. He knows we respect him.
We're going to wait until Sunday to see when we can start bringing guys in.
It's not like we turned a hunk of coal into a diamond. This is a guy who had ability, but in junior they didn't allow him to play a positive role. We've just told him to work hard, do what we tell you, and the sky's the limit.
His coming up here really isn't a big deal. We want to see him play in the NHL, and now he will get a chance to do that.
There was nothing to it all along. We just didn't want to overdo it.
Do we want more young players to make an impact? Yes. We'll probably have four or five young players fighting for two, maybe three spots.
