Bobby Holik announced his retirement this weekend.

He had a reputation as a great 3rd center. However, he was never a good penalty killer despite that reputation. He could play with great in intensity but in the city of Atlanta we only saw that in the 2nd half of each season--too bad they paid him for the full season. OK, so I'm not a Holik fan.

The decision to hand Bobby Holik a 3 year deal for $4.25 per year was arguably the 2nd worst decision the Don Waddell has made. No NHL team under a salary cap should ever pay 1st or 2nd line money for a 3rd center. You can find guys like Marty Reasoner or Stephane Yelle for much less.

Paying Holik $4.25 was like flushing money down the toilet. The Holik deal meant that after Marc Savard departed the Thrashers could only afford such non-entitites as Niko Kapanen, Steve Rucchin and Glen Metropolit (who was decent but Hartley hated him for some reason).

Think about this for a second, in 10 NHL seasons between 1998 and 2009 Bobby Holik was paid $50 million dollars. He was paid $50 million dollars over the last 10 seasons. In that span he played 754 games and scored a point every other game (410 pts) and was a +27 for $9 per year.

Did I mention that he only played with intensity in the 2nd of the season? I hope you sleep well at night Mr. Holik--although if you have trouble fall asleep you can always count your millions or have a custom matress made out of $1 dollar bills stitched together. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.