THE CRUCIFIX: Cato: Wood isn't thrilled w/ his role...Will depart in the summer

[Dundalis]

If Wood was seriously thinking he is an all-star, he wasn't ever interested in an extension of any kind at any point. I guess we should have taken him at face value -- he's just here to collect paychecks and line himself up for a big free agency payday.

Not sure how you work with that. Personally I was hoping for an extension one way or another, with very little interest in trying to woo him as a free agent, so I'd be likely to take the best deal possible for him before the TDL and hope they can land someone good.

So? He's a career journeyman, playing at or close to an all star level for basically 3 seasons now. Why should he sign a team friendly extension as someone who's 26 and not made close to the money you would expect for someone putting up his production? He's well within his rights to be playing for a big payday. That has zero affect on my desire to keep him a Maverick. Just because he's looking for a big payday, doesn't mean once he signs he's going to revert to garbage. The guy is playing not only with effort every game, but also within himself. He's completely bought into making the right pass and not taking multitudes of contested shots (unlike one THJ). It plays absolutely nothing like a player looking to pad his stats for a big payday whatsoever, which I actually expected coming into the season. If it gets to free agency, not only will we have a full seasons worth of data with the team but we will have playoff data on him too. Which will affect contracts offered by other teams. I'd still pay him market value in FA to keep him. I also think Luka is now fully sold on him too, and letting him go for nothing in FA may not only be a blow to the team building, but one extra shove pushing Luka towards the exit door.