Martin Havlat Twitter: 'There's Something to Be Said For Loyalty and Honor'

The Minnesota Wild had quite the busy day in free agency on Wednesday, signing shot-blocker Greg Zanon from the Nashville Predators, and swapping one oft-injured, yet supremely talented forward (Marian Gaborik) for another oft-injured, yet supremely talented forward (Martin Havlat). There was also a report from Michael Russo of the Star Tribune that the team was working on a deal with Saku Koivu.

Havlat, 28, signed a six-year, $30 million deal in Minnesota late Wednesday night, and followed it up by voicing his displeasure with the negotiating process in Chicago ... via Twitter.

After thanking fans and teammates for their support and well-wishes on his Twitter feed, Havlat claimed that he was excited to be in Minnesota.

Excited to be in Minny where I was welcomed and appreciated by management. The real story about what happened in Chicago to come out.

Just a few minutes later, he dropped in this line:

There's something to be said for loyalty and honor.

Havlat's agent, Allan Walsh, also commented on the dealings with Chicago, via Twitter, saying that his client "received multi-year offers from several teams ... except Chicago." He continued: "After 3 months of negotiating a long term contract, Chicago would not offer anything more than a 1 year deal. So much for taking care of the team MVP"

At the end of the day, it's pretty obvious that Chicago was targeting Marian Hossa, and once he signed his 12-year deal there was pretty much no chance of Havlat returning to the Blackhawks. That is, unless Dale Tallon found a way to completely abolish the salary cap.

Havlat seems like a solid fit for Minnesota's new up-tempo approach, assuming he can stay on the ice.There's no denying his talent when he's actually in the lineup, but, like Gaborik, that's been a problem over the years. Since the lockout, Havlat has actually played fewer games than Gaborik, while 2008-09 was the first time he played at least 80 games in a single season. It's only the third time he hit the 70-game mark.