Detroit Red Wings: Kirk Maltby Deserves To Go Out As a Red Wing

Sentimentality is a funny thing.

Someone might watch Old Yeller 100 times and never come close to thinking about shedding a tear at any time, not even when the poor old pooch is about to be put out of his misery (sorry, should I have put 'spoiler alert' at the top of that sentence).

Others well up with tears upon mention of the title alone.

Some people get weepy looking through old pictures, or home movies.  Others view them as little more than dust traps taking up space.

Sometimes, a thought or event you never even considered before comes up and, suddenly, alarmingly, you get hit with an emotional knuckle-sandwich to the gut.

The thought of Kirk Maltby playing in a sweater other than that of the Red Wings did that to me.

For those that haven't been following along, here's the story to date:

Maltby wasn't offered a contract until very late in the summer and, when the offer did come, it was a two-way deal that would almost assuredly guarantee him starting the season in the AHL.

He reluctantly accepted, with the knowledge that maybe, just maybe, he'd have a shot at staying with the team through training camp.

He didn't.

The younger talent that began supplanting Maltby last season, namely Drew Miller and Justin Abdelkader, proved worthy replacements for the aging, fourth-line grinder through training camp and the exhibition season.

If Malts didn't see the handwriting on the wall when he signed that contract, he certainly saw it by the end of training camp.

Still, strange things happen in hockey all the time, and even if it took until the eleventh hour, there might be something that could occur that would wipe that painted message right off the wall.

The paint thinner never materialized.

Kirk Maltby's fate was, if not sealed, certainly applied liberally with adhesive on Tuesday when the Red Wings, a team for which he has played for 14 seasons, put the veteran forward on waivers.

Now, the idea was that he'd simply clear waivers and be assigned to Grand Rapids.

However, a thought occurred to me late Tuesday that placed the aforementioned knuckle sandwich firmly in my stomach: what if Maltby get's picked up by another team?

Sure, given his age, injury history and declining performance over the past few seasons, the chance was remote.  But, then again, how many teams have a four-time Stanley Cup winner in their locker-room?

While Maltby is, at best, a fourth-line player on virtually any NHL team, he surely would provide valuable leadership and even some serviceable minutes in such a role.

In fact, that same day, Mattias Ritola, who was waived the day prior, was picked up by Maltby's old buddy, Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman.  Would Stevie Y consider going back to the red and white well and nab Maltby as a veteran role player for the Bolts?

What about young teams looking to develop into champions?  Teams like LA, Edmonton and Atlanta, might be willing to take a flier on a guy as experienced as Malts.

The scenarios ricocheted around my brain a while before I realized that, despite being solidly beat out of a job and declining play the past three seasons, Kirk Maltby can't be anything but a Red Wing.

Kirk Maltby is a Red Wing and he will always be a Red Wing.  He can't go and slip on a Lightning or Kings jersey, that'd be absurd, wouldn't it?

Thankfully, when I scrambled onto the NHL waiver-wire Wednesday morning, I found that none of these fears came true.

But that posed a different question: Can Maltby just go down to Grand Rapids and hope for an injury that would call him back up to Detroit?

Sure, the Griffins sweater isn't a Red Wings sweater, but it's the same system.  It'd be kind of the same, wouldn't it?

The more I thought about this, the more I realized that this too would just be wrong.

Kirk Maltby isn't a Grand Rapids Griffin, he's a Red Wing, damn it!

He's won four Cups. He was a  part of the famous Grind Line. He's done everything he's been asked to do and then some for Detroit. 

He can't go down to an AHL team without something being seriously amiss in the universe.

But, what's done is done.

Malts didn't make the team, he's on a two-way deal, and he accepted the consequences attached to it when signed on the dotted line.

As of now, Kirk Maltby is headed to Grand Rapids to resume his hockey career.

Unless, he decides not to.

Kirk Maltby can decide to reject the hand that fate and his contract have dealt him.

He can, quite literally, storm into his boss' office and say, "You can't fire me, I quit!"

He can, and in my opinion, he should.

I expressed as much a month ago, prior to Maltby signing his two-way deal, and caught a significant amount of flack for making the suggestion.

That's understandable.

It really isn't fair for anyone, let alone some hack writer, to tell an athlete when enough is enough.

But, when you love the team and the players on it, you don't want to see them suffer, you want to forever see them as you always have, in this case, as a Red Wing.

Kirk Maltby is no more a Grand Rapids Griffin than I am.  But, if that's the only option he has to continue his career, well, is it really an option at all?

I, for one, don't cry at Old Yeller, not even at the end.  Not because I'm a heartless jerk, but because I knew that there was really only one right way for the old dog to go out, and it happened just as it should.

There's another old dog considering in which way he should end his life a a Red Wing. 

It's because I love him that I say that it shouldn't involve putting on another team's sweater.

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