It’s one of those long days for me as a caregiver today. My aunt’s been up since 4 AM with acid reflux and bad body aches. I’m not feeling spectacular myself. It’s a gloomy day outside and my progress in terms of getting stuff done, be that in terms of phone calls I have to make or blog content, is slow and unsteady at best.
So I’m cranky, and when Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen offered this perfectly innocuous Tweet from the Hockey News’s Jacob Stoller, I all but audibly growled:
Hearing that the Toronto Marlies have re-signed Robert Mastrosimone to an AHL contract.
— Jacob Stoller (@JLStoller) July 23, 2024
The 23-year-old recorded stellar underlying numbers in a bottom-six role as a rookie.
Mastrosimone was drafted 54th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in 2019. DET opted not to sign him. pic.twitter.com/nydLYa8dSZ
With no disrespect involved toward Mr. Stoller, who I respect greatly…
Mastrosimone was the one who opted to hold out until the Red Wings’ rights to him expired on August 15th after his graduation year, not the other way around.
The Red Wings wanted to sign the 5’10,” 170-pound forward to an NHL contract and place the plucky little forward in Grand Rapids.
It was Mastrosimone and his advisor/agent who sent out smoke signals that they didn’t feel that the Red Wings were a good fit for him, and that they were going to test the open market, even as early as March of 2023. I remember the college hockey insiders writing columns and posting Tweets/X posts saying, “Yeah, he’s not going to sign with Detroit.”
Teams own the rights to drafted players who play in NCAA hockey until August 15th after their graduation year, and some players always hold out to test the marketplace as unrestricted free agents. The 23-year-old Mastrosimone was the one who chose to explore the market, not the other way around.
And it’s obviously annoyed this tired blogger on a Wednesday afternoon in late July.
