| 03 September 2010
From Khan(!)...
Andreas Lilja joined some of his former Detroit Red Wings teammates at their informal practice Friday at Joe Louis Arena.
The 35-year-old defenseman admitted he was frustrated that he hasn’t been able to land a contract and expressed regret about not accepting the Red Wings’ offer earlier in the summer.
It's been a rough stretch for the big D-man. He had his head busted in by Shea Weber at the tail end of the 2008-2009 regular season, had to sit out the entire 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, most of the 2009-2010 season (including the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver) and now finds himself without a team to call his own at the beginning of September. But he really only has himself to blame.
“The market right now is no good. There’s a lot of players in my situation. Just have to try to stay positive and wait for the right thing to come up."--Andreas Lilja
The Red Wings offered Lilja $1 million to remain within the Detroit organ-i-zation. Lilja would have resumed his role as "Johnny Ericsson's babysitter" on the third D paring. But it would appear that Andreas left too much power in the hands of his agent, who didn't play nice with Ken - resulting in Holland to look somewhere else for that physical, stay at home defenseman.
“We talked for a bit (with Detroit), I don’t think anything really came out of it. I was waiting too long myself, or I don’t really know what happened. And then they signed Salei and that window closed. That’s decisions you got to live with."
Yes, it would be easy to blame Lilja's agent for playing hardball - but really, if Lilja wanted to stay with Detroit badly enough, he would have signed as soon as Kenny offered him the deal. He let his agent convince him to test the market and now he's paying the price.
Don't get me wrong, I don't wish the guy any specific harm - but it's kind of like that guy who constantly backs out of plans because the wife keeps putting the kaibash on him going out. You can blame his wife all you want, but he could stop it from happening if he had the guts.
“Of course, I regret it (not signing with Detroit. Now that we got here yesterday, got into my house -- we’ve been here five years, it feels like home. The kids like it here. I think I was looking for something else, I guess."
It's a sad ending in Detroit for Andreas Lilja.
