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Owen Nolan happy to have stayed in Minnesota

Before the trade deadline approached, it appeared as though the Minnesota Wild would be willing to trade Owen Nolan to a contending team. The Wild are in 13th in the West and while they are technically not out of the playoff race (just four points out of 8th), they certainly face an uphill battle.

Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, it appears that the Wild indeed were prepared to deal Nolan. From Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune:

Nolan revealed Thursday that he told Fletcher that if two teams, believed to be San Jose and Washington, called, he’d be interested. “We play this game to win the Stanley Cup,” he said. “But at the same time, I told him if he wanted to keep me to help the team, I didn’t have a problem with that

The team never received an offer they were happy with and decided to keep Nolan. That’s just fine with him.

“I’m not giving up on this team. When we’re playing at the top of our game, we can compete with every team in this league. We have a good team, and we plan to battle it out right to the end. Nothing’s ever over.”

Nolan is nearing the end of his career, but is still a valued and respected leader on the Wild. It’s been a tough season for Minnesota, but they’re playing better lately and still have an outside shot at the playoffs. Dealing Nolan would have been a white flag, even if it was for the chance to give him one last chance for a Stanley Cup.

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