12 days ago, word got out that Swedish agitator Per Ledin had signed with the Avalanche. In typical Avalanche fan-hating fashion, there has yet to be any formal announcement of this by the team.
It has been confirmed that Ledin is coming to the NHL. This article on Ledin’s former team, HV71, confirms that he has used an NHL opt-out clause in his contract and would be joining an unnamed NHL team. The guy quoted in the article wishing Ledin luck in the NHL is Fredrick Stillman - the GM for HV71 - so I think it’s a good bet that he’s heading this way.
So, why have we heard nothing on it? I thought maybe we needed to wait until the start of free agency, but Jori has said that this doesn’t apply to European players. Have the Avs and Ledin hit a snag on contract talks?
While researching this, I came across something really interesting - Adrian Dater’s Post article about the Brad Richardson trade. What’s interesting about that? Well, remember on draft day when we knew the Avs had made the trade for the Kings’ pick but we didn’t know who we gave up? Here’s how that sentence about the trade originally read (thanks to a google cache):
The Avs were slated next to choose at the No. 110 spot, but made a trade with the Los Angeles Kings for the 61st pick. The Avs traded the rights to recently signed European free agent Per Ledin for the pick, which they used to select 18-year-old goalie Peter Delmas from the Lewiston MAINEiacs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
So, even if this turned out to be incorrect info on the trade (shocking, given that the Avs are just a free-flowing fountain of knowledge), it seems obvious that the Ledin signing is a known deal, even if the Avs are, for whatever reason, keeping this under wraps.
Wait so, we actually trade Brad Richardson, but we still have Ledin, right? Or did I misunderstand something…?
yes, the trade was really for Richardson, but at some point Dater thought it was for Ledin…
Wow DD, that Google cache is a hell of a find! I wonder what Dater knows and is not telling us… hmmmmmm
I think it was just a mistake and I’m sure AD could clarify. I don’t think the Kings or any other club would give up a 2nd round pick for a guy who’s never proved he can play in North America. In other words, Pers Ledin for a 2nd rounder would have been pretty far fetched.
oh, I agree Dario. it’s not all that interesting to me how the error happened (maybe FG just said “we’re trading the Golden Boy, and AD just picked the wrong one).
what’s interesting to me is that AD seems to be aware that the Avs have signed Ledin, even though no one seems to be willing to confirm it.
Yeah DD, we’ve seen that from the Avalanche for as long as I can remember. Six years or more ago, the only way to know that a prospect signed was when we posted it on a message board. FG is playing a lot of cards right now and it’s probably not in his best interest to free agents to know he’s bringing over a Euro on a one way contract. In fact, we’ve seen a lot of push from fan sites on prospect signings that have later been officially reported by the official website.
I mean, back in the day the Avs were a total black hole. Now they have actual prospect reports. It could also be that we don’t have all the facts on Ledin and he really does have a two way deal that we just aren’t aware of. I think that the Avs are really image concious and don’t want to hype a signing when they have so many pending free agents to sign as it is.
Or the other possibility is that FG signed Ledin in a drunken, gold-paint covered haze and now has morning-after regret?
who hasn’t done that, Mike?