With Tanguay and Iginla in their late 30's Hayes has to see that he could easily be in our top 9 in a year or 2.
Yep...but is he a patient man or does he want it now?
I've been thinking about it recently and I'm becoming more and more convinced that Wilson will still be on the team next year. My reasoning:
1) He's a left shot. The 3 guys you would assume he's battling with (Noreau, Elliott, Guenin) are all right handed shots. With Roy liking to keep 8 defensemen around, he may like to have 4 lefties and 4 righties. Guenin played the left side a bit last year, but he sucks with the puck and is even worse on his off-side.
2) 2 of the 3 right handed defensemen he'd be battling with are purely offensive guys in Elliott and Noreau. You'd think they'd maybe want a physical left defenseman with those guys, right?
3) He played surprisingly well when he had to step into a tough situation in the playoffs, and may have redeemed himself in Roy's eyes. This organization keeps giving him chances even when we think he's out of them.
Ultimately, his cap hit doesn't matter at this point. If you bury him in the minors, the cap savings are almost nothing compared to burying Guenin or Elliott in the minors.
Training camp should have some interesting battles. I'm hoping Cliche fades into obscurity.
I was watching the hockeybuzz podcast and they had Page Lewis, who works for the Panthers and she made a point about how the hawks treated his bro, bouncing him around from the pros to the A and back and says K Hayes wants none of that, whatsoever. He wants to play in the NHL. Now.
So whichever team signs hims has to give in to his demands or he ends up playing in the KHL, or the swiss league, or whatever. Which obv. isnt happening, some team will be desperate enough to give him what he wants.
I can see bouncing around has no appeal but that doesn't mean it has to be NHL or bust right now or did he say that? Also, does he care about winning now or at least playing on a decent team? That might eliminate the Florida/Calgary options quickly. My gut says he's an east coast guy and he'll find a decent east coast team to give him a nice offer.
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I've been thinking about it recently and I'm becoming more and more convinced that Wilson will still be on the team next year. My reasoning:
1) He's a left shot. The 3 guys you would assume he's battling with (Noreau, Elliott, Guenin) are all right handed shots. With Roy liking to keep 8 defensemen around, he may like to have 4 lefties and 4 righties. Guenin played the left side a bit last year, but he sucks with the puck and is even worse on his off-side.
2) 2 of the 3 right handed defensemen he'd be battling with are purely offensive guys in Elliott and Noreau. You'd think they'd maybe want a physical left defenseman with those guys, right?
3) He played surprisingly well when he had to step into a tough situation in the playoffs, and may have redeemed himself in Roy's eyes. This organization keeps giving him chances even when we think he's out of them.
Ultimately, his cap hit doesn't matter at this point. If you bury him in the minors, the cap savings are almost nothing compared to burying Guenin or Elliott in the minors.
Training camp should have some interesting battles. I'm hoping Cliche fades into obscurity.
If Wilson is healthy, has been healthy since the end of the season, and stays healthy all training camp, he will probably end up surprising if he ever sees a game. Everything about him is decent, with his hitting being exceptional. If he actually has some legs and lugs under him this year, I could easily see Roy keeping him and getting him in some games.
As for that Hejda discussion, it is going to come down to Stuart or Hejda being re-signed at the end of the season. Whoever plays better will be the one to stay. I think Roy will want to keep Bigras up after this next season, and one of those vets is going to lose their spot. I really like Hejda, but he was only really good for the first 3/4 of the season. If he plays like he did in prior seasons with the Avs/Playoffs (I know he had a broken hand) then I don't see why Roy would want to keep him around. It would be disappointing because Hejda is a warrior, and seems like he's a good guy.
I've been saying the same thing, and it really does not make much sense to bury him.
If they can get a team to bite and give up a pick/prospect for him I could see him moved, but otherwise, unless he is abysmal in camp I think he'll stick around.
I think Cliche is a lock to get sent down to LE where he'll stay unless Winchester, McLeod or Bordeleau are moved or get seriously injured. If anyone in the top 9 get hurt I think Hishon gets the call. I still have a sliver of hope that Sgarbossa could be a 3rd line guy in 15-16, so maybe he gets some time.
I just don't see the optimism/upside in Wilson. I mean, I can but then I have to look at the other candidates through the same lens too. Roy is building his team, they are going to end up cutting the cord with a lot of guys.
I don't think Hejda and Stuart will be back but we'll see there. Maybe the plan is to get that bigger ticket FA defenseman that they were trying to get this season plus Bigras.
Marc Staal, Andrej Sekera, or Ehrhoff please. Imagine getting two of those guys /a big name ufa dman next summer? Pipe dream for sure but:
Johnson - Staal
Barrie - Ehrhoff /Sekera
Redmond - Holden
Solid top 4.
I can see bouncing around has no appeal but that doesn't mean it has to be NHL or bust right now or did he say that?.
I was watching the hockeybuzz podcast and they had Page Lewis, who works for the Panthers and she made a point about how the hawks treated his bro, bouncing him around from the pros to the A and back and says K Hayes wants none of that, whatsoever. He wants to play in the NHL. Now.
So whichever team signs hims has to give in to his demands or he ends up playing in the KHL, or the swiss league, or whatever. Which obv. isnt happening, some team will be desperate enough to give him what he wants.
If Wilson is healthy, has been healthy since the end of the season, and stays healthy all training camp, he will probably end up surprising if he ever sees a game. Everything about him is decent, with his hitting being exceptional.
What team is going to give a college kid a "guartanteed" spot prior to camp? I could see him choosing a team lacking forward depth and wanting to go there to give himself the best shot at making a roster (NJ seems like a reasonable choice there), but 'meet his demands'??
If teams can't bid more money to sign Hayes then what else do they have to bargain with? I agree its lunacy to promise a kid some sort of spot but what else is going to seal the deal? You'd have to think some team out there is going to do it, just like it only takes one to give a player stupid money or draft someone off the board.