https://www.capfriendly.com/players/andrej-sekera
Is this an opportunity to unload Karl Alzner on them? Smaller cap hit ($4.6M), but for three more seasons though.
If we cobble together Milan Lucic in there, to really amp up their cap relief, maybe they throw in Jesse Puljujarvi? They add in a pick, of course, something to make it worth our while like a second-rounder, and a fifth, and we give them a contract, an RFA like Charles Hudon or Daniel Audette, and call it even?
Andrej Sekera has the Oilers a little sour, but if he had a healthy season, he'd be really useful. Not a #1 or even a first pairing defenceman, but a good complement to Shea Weber, someone who can play Top 4 in the league, while we wait for Alex Romanov and Phillip Broberg. If he's hurt, LTIR anyway, no worse than having Korl in Laval, really.
2) Instead of getting into a bidding war for Matt Duchene, who I am leery of, and have to think that Marc Bergevin is in the 'No' camp on, with the Uber-fiasco, should we look at Derrick Brassard? Francophone, had a couple of tough seasons, the shine has worn off him with a couple poor seasons and the constant getting traded, so maybe he's now cost-effective?
Evolving Hockey has published a table of 'expected' free-agent contracts, they say it's based on past comparables, arbitration awards, etc., but a few contracts since then have shown them to be wildly off the mark, kind of like more a Craig Button draft ranking rather than a Bob McKenzie draft ranking. Anyway, they have Derrick down for $4M for three seasons.
That's a lot more palatable than Matt Duchene, who they have at $7M for six seasons. We'd have Derrick as a stopgap, he can play Top 6 if Max Domi falters, to give time to Jesperi and Nick Suzuki to get there, to bump Phillip Danault down the roster. He gives the coaches another option, some flexibility, and time to insert the kids until they're truly ready. When they are, we'd have Derrick as a trade piece we can unload on another team starving for a centreman. He'd be a great trade deadline chip.
And again, instead of the steep cost of acquisition of a Ryan O'Reilly, who apparently the Sabres wanted Poehling or Suzuki for plus a first, we'd get Derrick Brassard free and clear, without giving up anything for him except the contract. Nate Thompson starts the season in Laval and comes up when we get injuries.
3) I want Phillip Broberg or Thomas Harley for our #15 pick. One of the two has to remain on the board by the time it's our turn to pick. Size and great skating ability, an offensive penchant, lots of talent there. The descriptions of Broberg remind me of Nathan Beaulieu a little bit, "lots of tools but no toolbox", a kid who has oodles of talent but who some question the hockey sense of, but I'm willing to take a chance, with Joël Bouchard and Luke Richardson there to impart some magic. At #15, we're not getting a flawless prospect, I'm willing to take a chance on him at that point.
Another thing we're not getting at #15 is another frigging centreman Luke. We're taking a d-man, accept it.
4) 'We' complained about coaching under Michel Therrien, about development under Sylvain Lefebvre, about Jean-Jacques Daigneault not being Larry Robinson, and I bristled at a lot of it, since it was wrapped up in a lot of 'french coaches' intolerance. I have to admit that, anecdotally, things have improved a lot, especially in the back end.
Joël Bouchard apparently straightened out Victor Mete in the span of a dozen games, he came back playing better, and raving about how beneficial his time down in Laval was. Noah Juulsen also had a lot of complimentary quotes for the coaching he gets/got in Laval.
Luke Richardson seems to be doing more with less, getting the most out of the talent on hand. The disaster that was the Joe Morrow-Jakub Jerabek clown-car defence two seasons ago settled down quite a bit under Luke Richardson. Jordie Benn had a good/great season for himself in a contract year, after a lost season. Mike Reilly had a decent half season before it fell apart. He got a steady game out of Christian Folin, and Brett Kulak got here after passing through waivers in Calgary, played ten games in Laval before getting Top 4 minutes here. Both of the latter have now re-signed with the Canadiens, at affordable sticker prices.
I'll re-state that the single piece of evidence that makes me think J.J. wasn't cut out for this was the Jack Todd reference about how J.J. wasn't the most illuminating speaker, how when he acted as the player rep for the Canadiens he confused more than he informed the assembled media. Maybe he's adept at running a practice, but not suited for building up a kid's game, for communicating with them.
Normand
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