Confirmed with Link: Claesson signs (1yr 2way $700k/$100k)

[Xspyrit]

Why do people think he's better then Boro? Because he's Swedish? Boro out played him in the ahl and tbh claessan didn't look so hot in the NHL this past season. Boro played ahead of claessan in the ahl because he was better and more reliable. I don't think either of them are that good but I'm not as certain as some of you seem to be that he's better then boro. I'm not saying it's not close between Boro and claessan but I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't a viable alternative

Because Cameron played Boro on the first line to send a message to others. It was the end of Boro's reputation on HF Sens.

I'd rather have Claesson than Boro, but Boro is the newest HF victim. People are not fair with him anymore, putting everything that he does under a microscope. He can only fail. He is now even considered overpaid at 1.1 lol. Poor guy, he is just a 7th D-man that made his way to the NHL with hard work and dedication.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

Claesson, at the NHL level, was better than Boro has ever been at the NHL level.

...

I disagree with this. For most of Boro's 2014/2015 season he played better than Claesson did in his call-ups.

 

[Torso9000]

Because Cameron played Boro on the first line to send a message to others. It was the end of Boro's reputation on HF Sens.

I'd rather have Claesson than Boro, but Boro is the newest HF victim. People are not fair with him anymore, putting everything that he does under a microscope. He can only fail. He is now even considered overpaid at 1.1 lol. Poor guy, he is just a 7th D-man that made his way to the NHL with hard work and dedication.

How many 7th defenceman - and a 25 year old rookie at the time, no less - get a 3 year extension with 20 NHL games on their resume though?

I think most fans can appreciate the work he's put in to reach the NHL, but if you only consider how he's performed on the ice and separate that from his path to reaching the league, he's been comfortably the worst defenceman on the team since his debut. More frustrating is that he's seemingly immune to any criticism from the front office or coaching staff despite that poor performance whereas someone like Wiercioch wasn't always afforded that same leeway.

 

[BonkTastic]

Because Cameron played Boro on the first line to send a message to others. It was the end of Boro's reputation on HF Sens.

I'd rather have Claesson than Boro, but Boro is the newest HF victim. People are not fair with him anymore, putting everything that he does under a microscope. He can only fail. He is now even considered overpaid at 1.1 lol. Poor guy, he is just a 7th D-man that made his way to the NHL with hard work and dedication.

I've disliked Boro since he signed the contract (well, I was skeptical of the player himself, but absolutely hated the contract). It was a bad, unnecessarily long contract to given to a completely unproven player with very low top upside.

This is no "victim of the week" thing for me. This was my reaction when he got that 3 year deal:

So apparently a career line of 21gm-1g-0a-1pt-68pim over three seasons is worth a 3-year, 1-way NHL extension?

What. The. Actual. ****.


I'm not saying Boro can't live up to this contract, but that is a HELL of a commitment to 25-YEAR-OLD who has proven ABSOLUTELY ****ING NOTHING at the NHL level. Jesus, we let Da Costa go because we won't give him a single year's worth of a 1-way deal, but Boro gets 3 YEARS? Never mind that we're basically now blocking any young defenceman from getting any ice-time whatsoever over the next three years, UNLESS we trade a defenceman out to make room for him.


Looking forward to David Dziurzynski's 3-year extension and featured role on our "Points Per Dollar" line. That'll be swell.

And for the record: IMO the "Boro as a forward" thing was completely overblown. Such a mountain out of a molehill. Mark Borowiecki has enough flaws in his game that we don't need to get bent out of shape over like 15 minutes he played in his career as a forward. The outrage over that was ridiculous.

 

[aragorn]

Because Cameron played Boro on the first line to send a message to others. It was the end of Boro's reputation on HF Sens.

I'd rather have Claesson than Boro, but Boro is the newest HF victim. People are not fair with him anymore, putting everything that he does under a microscope. He can only fail. He is now even considered overpaid at 1.1 lol. Poor guy, he is just a 7th D-man that made his way to the NHL with hard work and dedication.

Boro is the new Greening on here.

How many 7th defenceman - and a 25 year old rookie at the time, no less - get a 3 year extension with 20 NHL games on their resume though?

I think most fans can appreciate the work he's put in to reach the NHL, but if you only consider how he's performed on the ice and separate that from his path to reaching the league, he's been comfortably the worst defenceman on the team since his debut. More frustrating is that he's seemingly immune to any criticism from the front office or coaching staff despite that poor performance whereas someone like Wiercioch wasn't always afforded that same leeway.

Wiercioch, Gryba & Cowen were all given every opportunity that Boro was given & management decided for whatever reason that Boro was the guy to keep. I've always thought Boro was the overall better defenceman than all three because he could do much more than the other three except offensively & IMO he is harder to play against than all three. Boro won the hardest working prospect at a development camp, he was the captain of a rookie tournament team, his teammates seem to love him in the room & management is constantly talking about how hard he works & how he is the first to defend teammates. I think that accounts for something since so many on here complained constantly just as much about the other three until they were all gone.

I'm not sure what Boro could do to appease people on here, he is a defensive defenceman not an offensive defenceman, a 5th or 6th D in the lineup not a top 4, cheap & an enforcer something this team will need when Neil retires. Every team needs a balance of skill, speed, size & toughness in their lineup, no team wins the Stanley Cup with just small fast skilled players, ask Montreal who continue to get bigger. A team of Karlssons won't win a cup, if Claesson beats out Boro for that position than he will get to play more & Boro will ride the pine but I'm willing to bet that they keep Boro on the team because of his toughness which this team sorely lacks. Ottawa has plenty of size but they are well known as a soft team that are easy to play against & nobody is afraid to come to Ottawa to play games. So many don't want Boro or Neil on the team & yet are the first to cry vengeance when someone goes after Karlsson. If they had tougher players at forward then maybe they wouldn't need Boro but with so many soft players they have to have some kind of protection.

 

[Torso9000]

Boro is the new Greening on here.



Wiercioch, Gryba & Cowen were all given every opportunity that Boro was given & management decided for whatever reason that Boro was the guy to keep. Boro won the hardest working prospect at a development camp, he was the captain of a rookie team, his teammates seem to love him in the room & management is constantly talking about how hard he works & how he is the first to defend teammates. I think that accounts for something since so many on here complained constantly just as much about the other three until they were gone.

I'm not sure what Boro could do to appease people on here, he is a defensive defenceman, a 5th or 6th D in the lineup, cheap & an enforcer something this team will need when Neil retires. Every team needs a balance of skill, speed, size & toughness in their lineup, no team wins the Stanley Cup with just small fast skilled players. A team of Karlssons won't win a cup, if Claesson beats out Boro for that position than he will get to play more & Boro will ride the pine but I'm willing to bet that they keep Boro on the team because of his toughness which this team sorely lacks. So many don't want Boro or Neil on the team & yet are the first to cry vengeance when someone goes after Karlsson.

Somehow I think that team would do OK...

As far as Borowiecki is concerned, again I think everyone can appreciate how hard he works, the fact that he's a local kid, that he sticks up for his teammates, and that he's well-liked in the room. But none of that matters - to me anyway - if his on-ice performance is terrible. Which it is.

 

[leftwinglocker]

Somehow I think that team would do OK...

As far as Borowiecki is concerned, again I think everyone can appreciate how hard he works, the fact that he's a local kid, that he sticks up for his teammates, and that he's well-liked in the room. But none of that matters - to me anyway - if his on-ice performance is terrible. Which it is.

Yeah, lmao, Boro is terrible...........

 

[aragorn]

Somehow I think that team would do OK...

As far as Borowiecki is concerned, again I think everyone can appreciate how hard he works, the fact that he's a local kid, that he sticks up for his teammates, and that he's well-liked in the room. But none of that matters - to me anyway - if his on-ice performance is terrible. Which it is.

Are you advocating that Claesson take his spot or that they should have signed a better defenceman for that 5th D spot? If they sign someone better they would have to pay that player more money & like it or not there is still an internal budget that this team has to work with. Claesson will have his opportunity to beat out Boro but if the coaching staff believe they need more toughness than Boro will keep the job.

Claesson is a good skater & has a good first pass but he loses puck battles, has difficulty clearing the front of the net & is not very tough & he isn't going to defend anyone including himself. He is another player on this team that is easy to play against whereas Boro is a very hard tough player to play against. Unfortunately very few here put any value on that. I don't think they will be okay, in fact, this team has a history of being run out of playoffs because they were not tough enough.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

Boro was a train wreck last season. There's no way around it. Every pairing he played on struggled. He's fine in a limited role and this is more a criticism of management and the coaches who put him in those situations. He's just not good enough to play against quality NHL competition.

I could see him be a star in a rough 7 games series here amd there just like Carkner was, but like Carkner he's not the kind of guy you want in regular NHL role.

 

[Holdurbreathe]

I don't really see what choice he had other than going back to Sweden or retiring.

An RFA with 16 NHL games under his belt doesn't exactly have a lot of leverage.

Rumour was he was heading back to Sweden, so I would assume Dorion/Lee convinced him he had a legitimate chance to make the team.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

Claesson is a good skater & has a good first pass but he loses puck battles, has difficulty clearing the front of the net & is not very tough & he isn't going to defend anyone including himself. He is another player on this team that is easy to play against whereas Boro is a very hard tough player to play against. Unfortunately very few here put any value on that. I don't think they will be okay, in fact, this team has a history of being run out of playoffs because they were not tough enough.

Are you just making this assumption on Claesson because he's Swedish? Serious question.

Claesson is well noted for his defensive play and being physical and I've never once heard a coach say him losing puck battles is an issue for him.

 

[Torso9000]

Are you advocating that Claesson take his spot or that they should have signed a better defenceman for that 5th D spot? If they sign someone better they would have to pay that player more money & like it or not there is still an internal budget that this team has to work with. Claesson will have his opportunity to beat out Boro but if the coaching staff believe they need more toughness than Boro will keep the job.

Claesson is a good skater & has a good first pass but he loses puck battles, has difficulty clearing the front of the net & is not very tough & he isn't going to defend anyone including himself. He is another player on this team that is easy to play against whereas Boro is a very hard tough player to play against. Unfortunately very few here put any value on that. I don't think they will be okay, in fact, this team has a history of being run out of playoffs because they were not tough enough.

I'm not advocating for Claesson to be penciled in to a regular spot; I honestly don't know how effective a player he is at this point. We have a fairly limited sample of games from him at the NHL level where he was unremarkable.

My issue is more with Borowiecki having been given that 3 year contract in the first place, and that mistake (in my opinion) having been compounded by the organization playing him to the extent that they have. I'd much prefer that they churn through cheap FA defenceman on short term deals each year in hopes of finding some surplus value than trotting out a player that we know is ineffective.

 

[aragorn]

Boro was a train wreck last season. There's no way around it. Every pairing he played on struggled. He's fine in a limited role and this is more a criticism of management and the coaches who put him in those situations. He's just not good enough to play against quality NHL competition.

I could see him be a star in a rough 7 games series here amd there just like Carkner was, but like Carkner he's not the kind of guy you want in regular NHL role.

Is Claesson? The playoffs again this yr seemed like it was very rough & tough hockey for four series, how long would someone like Claesson last?

Isn't this what some Toronto fans were saying about Phaneuf too, that he was done & can't play anymore? People on here also give a lot of praise to management & how we need to trust them that they know best yet on Boro they seemed to have screwed up royally. How can so many experts & professional NHL hockey coaches not see how bad Boro is & keep playing him over others? Shouldn't it be obvious to them as it is for so many on here? Maybe they know something we don't. Does anyone here think that Ottawa is a very tough team to play against or does it even matter?

 

[Holdurbreathe]

Are you advocating that Claesson take his spot or that they should have signed a better defenceman for that 5th D spot? If they sign someone better they would have to pay that player more money & like it or not there is still an internal budget that this team has to work with. Claesson will have his opportunity to beat out Boro but if the coaching staff believe they need more toughness than Boro will keep the job.

Claesson is a good skater & has a good first pass but he loses puck battles, has difficulty clearing the front of the net & is not very tough & he isn't going to defend anyone including himself. He is another player on this team that is easy to play against whereas Boro is a very hard tough player to play against. Unfortunately very few here put any value on that. I don't think they will be okay, in fact, this team has a history of being run out of playoffs because they were not tough enough.

Too much wrong with this, sorry.

Freddie is tough, just not a fighter and he defends well, though as a 23 year old rookie D did make mistakes in D-Zone coverage.

Nothing that shouldn't be expected.

IMO he is a much better player than Boro.

Boro made many more mistakes than Claesson, he is where pucks go to either be shot off the boards/glass or turned over. There is no question Boro is willing to sacrifice his health to play in the NHL and he is cheap, but neither of those facts make him an NHL player.

Time will tell, but I think Boro is very likely to be the 7th guy this coming season.

 

[Torso9000]

Is Claesson? The playoffs again this yr seemed like it was very rough & tough hockey for four series, how long would someone like Claesson last?

Isn't this what some Toronto fans were saying about Phaneuf too, that he was done & can't play anymore? People on here also give a lot of praise to management & how we need to trust them that they know best yet on Boro they seemed to have screwed up royally. How can so many experts & professional NHL hockey coaches not see how bad Boro is & keep playing him over others? Shouldn't it be obvious to them as it is for so many on here? Maybe they know something we don't. Does anyone here think that Ottawa is a very tough team to play against or does it even matter?

Most of this is just an appeal to authority.

I don't know how you could have watched the finals, and the way the Penguins played in particular, and felt as though there was any place for Borowiecki in that sort of series: his best skills are fighting, hitting, and chasing the puck around in his own end (although I guess that could have qualified him to play with Polak ).

 

[Agent Zub]

Because Cameron played Boro on the first line to send a message to others. It was the end of Boro's reputation on HF Sens.

I'd rather have Claesson than Boro, but Boro is the newest HF victim. People are not fair with him anymore, putting everything that he does under a microscope. He can only fail. He is now even considered overpaid at 1.1 lol. Poor guy, he is just a 7th D-man that made his way to the NHL with hard work and dedication.

that and hitting is literally all he has. He's barely an NHL player and he was our ASSISTANT CAPTAIN for stretches last season. I don't have anything agasint Boro just with how the Ottawa Senators deploy Boro.

Claesson is in every way except hitting a better defenceman.

 

[Agent Zub]

My biggest gripe with Boro's game is that he thinks hitting is the best defensive play 9/10 times. He tries to play like Neil, but you can't have that from a defenceman. It ruins the flow and structure of the entire team.

 

[Holdurbreathe]

Is Claesson? The playoffs again this yr seemed like it was very rough & tough hockey for four series, how long would someone like Claesson last?

Isn't this what some Toronto fans were saying about Phaneuf too, that he was done & can't play anymore? People on here also give a lot of praise to management & how we need to trust them that they know best yet on Boro they seemed to have screwed up royally. How can so many experts & professional NHL hockey coaches not see how bad Boro is & keep playing him over others? Shouldn't it be obvious to them as it is for so many on here? Maybe they know something we don't. Does anyone here think that Ottawa is a very tough team to play against or does it even matter?

.. and a speedy, skilled team won the Cup, two things Boro doesn't possess.

How many of the "experts" called Pittsburgh over San Jose??

Two NHL coaches played Boro regularly, both were fired.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

.. and a speedy, skilled team won the Cup, two things Boro doesn't possess.

How many of the "experts" called Pittsburgh over San Jose??

Two NHL coaches played Boro regularly, both were fired.

Two NHL coaches that tried to depend on Cowen and Wiercioch got fired. If a youngster comes up and trumps Boro, awesome! Until then he's the 6/7 guy. And like all 6/7 guys he has massive warts in his game.

 

[SpezzaNoLookDropPass]

I wouldn't mind boro if he played as a 7th D and played a few games a month and kept his mouth shut. The guy is dedicated and a hard worker we can give him that but Cameron put an A and it went to his head. He had a terrible season and received nothing but praise from the brass.

 

[Benjamin]

I still think Claesson can be a quality #5 dman. Average breakout and skating but makes up for it with effort and smarts. Could eat up a lot of PK minutes. Plus he's shown he can play with Karlsson.

Ill take him over Boro and I like Boro.

 

[Agent Zub]

Yeah, lmao, Boro is terrible...........

omg.......

I didn't know Boro had a youtube account lol.

 

[Xspyrit]

I know there is several replies to my post, but hopefully this reply answers it all

How many 7th defenceman - and a 25 year old rookie at the time, no less - get a 3 year extension with 20 NHL games on their resume though?

I think most fans can appreciate the work he's put in to reach the NHL, but if you only consider how he's performed on the ice and separate that from his path to reaching the league, he's been comfortably the worst defenceman on the team since his debut. More frustrating is that he's seemingly immune to any criticism from the front office or coaching staff despite that poor performance whereas someone like Wiercioch wasn't always afforded that same leeway.

Getting that type of contract as fast probably don't happen a lot but at the same time, if the player improves well, you have him on a bargain price. If the player doesn't progress, you still pay him near the league minimum (or ELCs)... This is a NON-ISSUE for 90% of NHL teams. Worse case scenario, you buy him out or burry him in the AHL.

I am not saying that Borowiecki is a world beater or anything (and I wouldn't mind at all if he was out of the team) but what is going on in HF Sens is unfair... You guys will say a ton of things but reality is that he is now victim of hyperbole, put under a microscope and get unfair exaggerated criticism. I have seen that circle soooo many times on here that now it just makes me laugh.

Example : Colin Greening was my most disliked player from the years he played. I was the first here to say "the puck dies on his stick" while a poster like Fuhr was pimping him to be the next Knuble. You know what happened? I ended up defending Greening because what you could read around here was ridiculous. Proof? Many were saying "he shouldn't even play another game in the NHL, he is terrrrrrible", and he goes on and puts 15 pts in 30 games with the Leafs.

Borowiecki is what it is, a depth D-man on a cheap cap hit. The optics from last season gave the impression that he was played above what he should, which was true for some games, but overall he was 9th in TOI/G among Sens D-men last season...

http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?rep...t=timeOnIcePerGame&aggregate=0&teamId=9&pos=D

Only Wideman and Harpur had lower TOI/G

Now, if he was this terrible, he should not be counted on defensively? Yet, since 2012-13, he is 4th for ES GA/60

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...=50&teamid=21&type=goals&sort=A60&sortdir=ASC


Conclusion : I think he is ok as a 7th D-man. I doubt every other NHL team has a better 7th D-man, so let's stop acting like it was a fact. Also, we spend wayyyyy too much time talking about depth players on HF Sens, most of the time to a ridiculous level. REALITY IS : you win or lose with your best players.

 

[Torso9000]

I know there is several replies to my post, but hopefully this reply answers it all



Getting that type of contract as fast probably don't happen a lot but at the same time, if the player improves well, you have him on a bargain price. If the player doesn't progress, you still pay him near the league minimum (or ELCs)... This is a NON-ISSUE for 90% of NHL teams. Worse case scenario, you buy him out or burry him in the AHL.

I am not saying that Borowiecki is a world beater or anything (and I wouldn't mind at all if he was out of the team) but what is going on in HF Sens is unfair... You guys will say a ton of things but reality is that he is now victim of hyperbole, put under a microscope and get unfair exaggerated criticism. I have seen that circle soooo many times on here that now it just makes me laugh.

Example : Colin Greening was my most disliked player from the years he played. I was the first here to say "the puck dies on his stick" while a poster like Fuhr was pimping him to be the next Knuble. You know what happened? I ended up defending Greening because what you could read around here was ridiculous. Proof? Many were saying "he shouldn't even play another game in the NHL, he is terrrrrrible", and he goes on and puts 15 pts in 30 games with the Leafs.

Borowiecki is what it is, a depth D-man on a cheap cap hit. The optics from last season gave the impression that he was played above what he should, which was true for some games, but overall he was 9th in TOI/G among Sens D-men last season...

http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?rep...t=timeOnIcePerGame&aggregate=0&teamId=9&pos=D

Only Wideman and Harpur had lower TOI/G

Now, if he was this terrible, he should not be counted on defensively? Yet, since 2012-13, he is 4th for ES GA/60

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...=50&teamid=21&type=goals&sort=A60&sortdir=ASC


Conclusion : I think he is ok as a 7th D-man. I doubt every other NHL team has a better 7th D-man, so let's stop acting like it was a fact.

It's probably fair to say that there is an outsize amount of criticism directed towards Boro considering his role on the team as a 3rd pairing defenceman.

He is still the worst defenceman on the roster over that same 4 year span by CFRel by a healthy margin though:

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...amid=21&type=corsi&sort=PCTRelTM&sortdir=DESC

 

[Xspyrit]

It's probably fair to say that there is an outsize amount of criticism directed towards Boro considering his role on the team as a 3rd pairing defenceman.

He is still the worst defenceman on the roster over that same 4 year span by CFRel by a healthy margin though:

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...amid=21&type=corsi&sort=PCTRelTM&sortdir=DESC

I am not saying that Boro is a corsi expert like Wiercioch, but you know what? All I want from my depth D-men and forwards is that they don't get scored on often while my key players are catching their breath.

Maybe Boro had too big of a role in certain games but the fault lies on Cowen and Wiercioch who both failed as seizing the opportunity, and Phillips injury. What was planned before last season :

1- Karlsson
2- Methot
3- Ceci
4- Wiercioch
5- Cowen
6- Phillips
7- Borowiecki

Problem is this upcoming season, all of Phillips, Cowen and Wiercioch are gone

1- Karlsson
2- Phaneuf
3- Methot
3- Ceci
4- Wiercioch
5- Cowen
6- Phillips
7- Borowiecki


EDIT : Actually, look what I discovered :

http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?rep...evTimeOnIcePerGame&aggregate=0&teamId=9&pos=D

Borowiecki HAD THE LOWEST TOI/G AT EVEN STRENGHT AMONG ALL SENS D-MEN LAST SEASON. Safe to say, he is low on the priority list to play at ES but he is paid to PK

Conclusion : this is another storm in a Sens glass of water