Rumor: Eric Gelinas headed back to the NHL?

[Bench]

So I've read through this entire thread now and I'm still confused why Gelinas is better option than the dozens of other NHL journeyman that will hit UFA?

Is it just the Seider connection we're looking to replicate or do people legitimately see him as a late bloomer ala Rafalski who could make a nice little comeback in his 30s?

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

So I've read through this entire thread now and I'm still confused why Gelinas is better option than the dozens of other NHL journeyman that will hit UFA?

Is it just the Seider connection we're looking to replicate or do people legitimately see him as a late bloomer ala Rafalski who could make a nice little comeback in his 30s?

He looked decent in the SHL with and without Seider. That connection is obviously a part of why I'd want him here, but I think he's still got some left in the tank to at least be a bottom pair guy that can play PP2.

Gelinas was not the liability in Rogle that Devils fans made him out to be. He didn't have Madison Bowey brain when chasing people around his zone, and he calculated risk really well when pinching or lining up a hit. I don't remember much about his NHL days but I think the guy is for sure better now than Djoos, Cholowski and Biega as our 6th D.

 

[Oddbob]

Oleksiak and Gelinas would be fine for me.

If he can't even handle the defensive part of the game in the SHL, how on earth is he going to be anything more than a train wreck in the NHL? A rookie defender shouldn't be covering your mistakes it should be the other way around.

 

[Oddbob]

So I've read through this entire thread now and I'm still confused why Gelinas is better option than the dozens of other NHL journeyman that will hit UFA?

Is it just the Seider connection we're looking to replicate or do people legitimately see him as a late bloomer ala Rafalski who could make a nice little comeback in his 30s?

He is not, but for some reason on HF, whenever an exciting prospect does well in Europe and then is coming here, their teammates, especially linemates immediately are going to be great here too. Meanwhile most of them are former NHL/AHL tweener/journeymen who already tried here once and didn't make it.

 

[jaster]

No thanks. Knowing what we know about his aptitude, style, and career arc, I just don't see the appeal at his age. As others have pointed out, there should be higher interest in any number of actual NHLers.

Seider needs to grow. He presumably did that this season with Gelinas. In the SHL. Now it's time for him to move on. To step into the NHL and have an actual NHL vet as a reliable partner and continue his own career arc. Seider doesn't need to be dragging a pro journeyman from the SHL to the NHL just because they had a good season together, and risk damaging his own development because Eric Gelinas finds himself getting swallowed up by NHL competition while playing in the top-4 where he doesn't belong.

Frankly, this idea is silly.

 

[lhsgolf19]

Gelinas has signed an NHL contract, wonder where

 

[lhsgolf19]

Headed to Carolina

 

[Henkka]

Hurricanes have been finding defensive talents from here and there...

 

[Gniwder]

1 year 2 way $750k/$100k with $25k signing bonus. Cheap, but he signed with a team where he has very little chance of making the big club which is a bit odd.

Canes Sign Eric Gelinas to One-Year Contract

 

[Killerjas]

Hurricanes have been finding defensive talents from here and there...

What talent? This is a guy that had 1 good SHL season because of chemistry with Seider. Gelinas could not even stick in the AHL.

This will be a Kaski 2.0

 

[Mister Ed]

1 year 2 way $750k/$100k with $25k signing bonus. Cheap, but he signed with a team where he has very little chance of making the big club which is a bit odd.

Canes Sign Eric Gelinas to One-Year Contract

I was going to say exactly that. On the left side, they have Bean, Skjei, Slavvin, Gardiner, Lajoie, Ryan - is he better than any one of these guys?

 

[Henkka]

What talent? This is a guy that had 1 good SHL season because of chemistry with Seider. Gelinas could not even stick in the AHL.

This will be a Kaski 2.0

He has better seasons from NHL than many NHLrs. Maybe that was news for you.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

I was going to say exactly that. On the left side, they have Bean, Skjei, Slavvin, Gardiner, Lajoie, Ryan - is he better than any one of these guys?

Very doubtful, but the guy has a dream of playing in the NHL so he wants to take another kick at the can.

Though from a financial standpoint it is probably better to play over in Rogle. Top players there make the same or more money than AHLers in the US and it's fewer games on the body.

Salary Expectations

How long would he have to be on the roster in Carolina to top his AHL salary?

 

[FabricDetails]

How silly were those few hours of, "He signed with an NHL team. More later."? Hehe.

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

I can't understand him signing with Carolina, He stands no chance of cracking their D this year. He basically a AHL fodder and would need to clear waivers.

 

[ShippinItDaily]

I can't understand him signing with Carolina, He stands no chance of cracking their D this year. He basically a AHL fodder and would need to clear waivers.

They're probably going to lose one of Skjei or Bean and they're going to try and rid themselves of Gardiner. If they want to bring back Hamilton then they are going to need some cheaper options.

 

[jaster]

He's simply not good enough to just jump into an NHL role, and his contract and opportunity with his new organization reflect that.

But the guy apparently wants to play in the NHL again, and is prepared to do what he has to do to get there. And that path would appear to begin with what amounts to a year in the AHL to show off what he's got. If he proves good enough, he'll get called up, or get a new contract the following season for a bigger role, maybe even with another team.

He's doing the same thing a third of players in the AHL are doing every single year. The idea he'd be signed by Detroit and paired with Seider next season was ludicrous from the get-go.

 

[19 for president]

This was never going to work on the he did well with Seider logic, simply because most of us are slotting Seider into the top 4. Gelinas is not going to be a top 4 dman at the NHL level. He might slot in as a 6/7 guy if lucky. So if he joined Detroit, it wouldn't be to play with Seider.

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

They're probably going to lose one of Skjei or Bean and they're going to try and rid themselves of Gardiner. If they want to bring back Hamilton then they are going to need some cheaper options.

Yeah after i posted this, I thought the exact same thing. One of Bean or Skjei goes to Seattle and they will try and move Gardiner. So yeah in this instance it makes perfectly good sense.

 

[FabricDetails]

More minutes for Wallinder perhaps in Rogle?

 

[Gniwder]

How long would he have to be on the roster in Carolina to top his AHL salary?

It's $750k NHL, $100 AHL so the difference is $650/82 games or roughly $8k extra money for every game he's on the roster.

I don't know what his SHL salary was, but if we assume it was $250k then:
($250 -$100)/8 = 18.75

So he would need to be on the roster for a quarter of the season.

Let's keep in mind he's Canadian, so maybe he just wanted to come back to NA.

 

[ShelbyZ]

How long would he have to be on the roster in Carolina to top his AHL salary?

To start making more than his $125k guarantee, he'd need to spend 8 days on an NHL roster.

He's simply not good enough to just jump into an NHL role, and his contract and opportunity with his new organization reflect that.

But the guy apparently wants to play in the NHL again, and is prepared to do what he has to do to get there. And that path would appear to begin with what amounts to a year in the AHL to show off what he's got. If he proves good enough, he'll get called up, or get a new contract the following season for a bigger role, maybe even with another team.

He's doing the same thing a third of players in the AHL are doing every single year. The idea he'd be signed by Detroit and paired with Seider next season was ludicrous from the get-go.

This pretty much sums it up.

I wouldn't be surprised if NHL interest in Gelinas was centered around him being a veteran guy in the AHL.

The Canes kind of have a need for that, as a good number of the Wolves vets this past season were supplied by the Predators/Admirals after Milwaukee decided to opt out of the season.

Even if he doesn't sniff the NHL, with a good AHL season Gelinas puts himself in the mix to stay in North America and step up to some Bryan Lashoff money when the AHL adds a 32nd team for 2022-23.

Probably just a coincidence, but I find it kind of interesting that Gelinas return to NA comes on the heels of Patrick Roy hiring an agent to look for coaching/management opportunities in the NHL. Roy apparently pushed pretty hard to bring Gelinas to Colorado, so maybe he's hoping Roy will have an NHL job and some influence when he's looking for his next opportunity.

As for the hypothetical Gelinas-Seider combo, I could see it making sense if Yzerman had his sights set on Seider starting in Grand Rapids next season. But on an NHL roster they'd probably be oil and water. I would bet Yzerman loads up his LD with 2 more veterans with lots of NHL experience so that Seider is stapled to one of them or DeKeyser at all times at the NHL level. He did the same thing in Tampa with Hedman (Brought in Brett Clark and Pavel Kubina to join Ohlund) and Sergachev (Signed Dan Girardi to join Stralman and Hedman on the right).

 

[Gniwder]

As for the hypothetical Gelinas-Seider combo, I could see it making sense if Yzerman had his sights set on Seider starting in Grand Rapids next season. But on an NHL roster they'd probably be oil and water. I would bet Yzerman loads up his LD with 2 more veterans with lots of NHL experience so that Seider is stapled to one of them or DeKeyser at all times at the NHL level. He did the same thing in Tampa with Hedman (Brought in Brett Clark and Pavel Kubina to join Ohlund) and Sergachev (Signed Dan Girardi to join Stralman and Hedman on the right).

This is a very good point, and I hope you're right.

 

[ShelbyZ]

This is a very good point, and I hope you're right.

In reality, at some point next year the Wings D will probably be structured very similar to Tampa's during Sergachev's rookie year (of course with a lot less Hedman, McDonagh and Stralman and a lot more Girardi, Coburn and Sustr..... )

Seider could be like Sergachev where he's the young guy that takes a regular spot in the top 6. Then Cholowski and Lindstrom are like Koekkoek and Dotchin where Yzerman thinks they've got enough upside to not risk losing in the expansion draft or on waivers, but not ready to take on regular roles so they're penciled in at #7 and #8 and fill in when guys are hurt or try to unseat a undrafted college UFA that was signed in 2013 that hasn't exactly lived up to expectations (both DeKeyser and Sustr actually).

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

In reality, at some point next year the Wings D will probably be structured very similar to Tampa's during Sergachev's rookie year (of course with a lot less Hedman, McDonagh and Stralman and a lot more Girardi, Coburn and Sustr..... )

Seider could be like Sergachev where he's the young guy that takes a regular spot in the top 6. Then Cholowski and Lindstrom are like Koekkoek and Dotchin where Yzerman thinks they've got enough upside to not risk losing in the expansion draft or on waivers, but not ready to take on regular roles so they're penciled in at #7 and #8 and fill in when guys are hurt or try to unseat a undrafted college UFA that was signed in 2013 that hasn't exactly lived up to expectations (both DeKeyser and Sustr actually).

If Cholowski and Lindstrom are on this team in 2023 then color me shocked. Neither player is anything special. And Seider isn't going to be like young Sergachev who played more limited minutes. Seider will probably start out the first few games limited but then Blashill will probably play him 22+.