Wild place D Cam Barker on waivers; clears

[JKidd]

As reported by the Star Tribune on June 3, the Wild was seriously considering buying out Barker because of a clause in the collective bargaining agreement. Because he is under 26, the Wild can buy him out for one-third (rather than two-thirds) his $3.25 million salary through the first buyout period June 30.

That's a $1.083 million payoff. By doing this, instead of having a $3.083 million cap hit next season, the Wild would be charged a $375,000 cap hit next season and $541,667 cap hit in 2012-13.

Per Russo

[flyersrule]

and the great start to the offseason for the wild continues

[JKidd]

Originally Posted by flyersrule

and the great start to the offseason for the wild continues

This has been the best offseason I can remember.

All that's left is for Yeo to come out and announce Matt Kassian is going to be with the club opening day, and it'd be cemented as such.

[ghjkfdhgfd]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKING YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!! He was horrible here, this dude needs a change of scenery, let it be the bigs or not.

[skacore]

Wow... I'll take Minnesota fan's word on it that he's that bad but I still look at Barker as some sort of young prospect... it still feels like he was just drafted a few years ago, I guess that means I'm starting to get old

I remember Barker was drafted and they compared him to someone who wasn't particularly physical like Ray Bourque or something...and he's like "I like to think I'm more like Scott Stevens"

[JKidd]

Its really hard not to think of Barker as a young guy. I spent a lot of the past couple years defending him, until I realized how awful his skills really are.

And at $3M a season, he's an awful mistake a team can't afford to have.

[FrontLineAdmirals]

Would be nice to have Leddy in the organization.

[canuckfan]

Time for Minney to wash their hands of this bum and move on - no one will claim him at that price, but it wouldn't be that much of a hit to buy him out.

Really confused by Barker - for a couple years there it looked like he had all the tools to be a good d-man in this league but he really seemed to have hit a wall and totally regressed - always wondered if he was just one of those young players who got rich too quick then just stopped working for it.

He needs a fresh start with lower expectations - and salary - and just get his game back to basics.

[JKidd]

Originally Posted by FrontLineAdmirals

Would be nice to have Leddy in the organization.

Time will tell. Either way, it's a win for the Hawks and Wild. The Hawks get a kid like Leddy, who we get to see how he develops this year.

And the Wild got rid of Kim "Horse face" Johnsson.

Win - win.