Tampa tried to sign Lang

[bassassin]

Q: Robert Lang and hockey. Will it ever go together again?
A: I guess not. Unless somebody calls me before the playoffs and gives me an offer that would be worth playing. An offer that would make sense. Then I’d think about it. I’m in a shape; I still exercise, I stay fit. That’s not a problem. But I am 40 years old, I have two smart boys at home, and I simply have no reason to jump after the first bid that comes along.

Q: How many offers for this season have you rejected so far?
A: Well, there were some. Before the season, around Christmas… But when I counted the pros and cons, I figured out it wasn’t worth it. I have kids in schools, I want to take care of them, and now because of a single season, was I supposed to move from the west to the east? At any price? Why? I am not thirty so I really don’t need to yank my kids out of their favorite environment and look for the schools at the completely different side of the continent. I considered all those things and I found out that there was no reason to take it. Yeah, if somebody called from a closer distance and offered me a reasonable role on the ice, I’d go for it.

Q: I know that Toronto was seriously interested in you; who were the other candidates?
A: Toronto was there, that’s right. So was Tampa. That time, I was actually with Petr Svoboda [the agent] in Montreal. Lightning called him and he was like “get your skates ready.” They were calling twice per day. But then everything went back to sleep. I’ll tell you what it is. They all expect that you’d play basically for free. That when you are 40, you’d be thankful for any offer. And so I told Petr: not under those circumstances. Sure, money is not a priority, but at the same time, [the offer] has to make sense financially. After all, I won’t be moving my family, rent a house, just to find at the end of the season that I am $200,000 in a loss. That’s not possible, right? In that case, I’d rather play in the local beer league or be on a golf course and it all will be cheaper. {He laughs}

Translated from an article dated 20th Feb

http://letsgopens.com/tomas_translations.php?id=69

Thought this was interesting, not only because Tampa tried to sign him, but the full translation is a good read for a number of topics.

[CTLightning26]

He would have lost $200.000 if he would have played here?
How the heck much would the house cost that he'd rent for 3-4 months?

Doesn't make sense.

No one's going to give him a pro-rated $2 million contract for him at his age...It's his choice if he doesn't want to move his family...But don't whine about money....

[Top Shelf]

Well, ol' Langster's made himself a healthy fortune in the NHL (over thirty million smackers) so he can turn up his nose and sneeze at a million or two more. Good for him, I guess. Can you even imagine? Of course we have no way to know how much of that he has left, or if he's grown it or lost it in the Wall Street casino, or what...

Sorta makes me wish I'd worked a little harder on my skating...

OK, a lot harder

[Bolts_26]

Don't really like his atitude as far as the money goes. Your not going to get a hefty contract when your 40 years old, and had 9 goals last season and only played 62 games... I can understand the whole family situation but I don't think he really has any right to be complaining about cash...

[Avery86]

Originally Posted by Bolts_26

Don't really like his atitude as far as the money goes. Your not going to get a hefty contract when your 40 years old, and had 9 goals last season and only played 62 games... I can understand the whole family situation but I don't think he really has any right to be complaining about cash...

I don't read that as him "complaining" about cash as much as he's at a point in his life where it would take a respectable amount of cash to get him involved again. What's wrong with that? He's 40.

[Bolts_26]

Originally Posted by Avery86

I don't read that as him "complaining" about cash as much as he's at a point in his life where it would take a respectable amount of cash to get him involved again. What's wrong with that? He's 40.

"They all expect that you’d play basically for free."

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that... all I'm saying is thaat a 40 year old, who has been fairly unproductive and injury prone over the past little while can not be expecting a huge contract coming his way... I have total respect for the fact he put family first, and used that as a basis for his decision, but I just dont think he can really make comments like "They all expect you'll play for free"... There's a reason for that.