Sens of Anarchy
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Confirmed with Link: Sens sign Harpur to 2 year extension
- Thread starter SixthSens
- Start date
I can’t help but think Harpur will be fine. I like his game.
Sens of Anarchy
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Sens are trying to change his game to be more physical and play with a bit of a mean streak,... If he can do that and remain effective at retrieving and moving the puck he'll be good
JungleBeat
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coladin
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- Sep 18, 2009
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I think the contract reflects that sentiment. They either sign him or lose him I guess, and waiving him if need be won't be the end of the world at his salary should he not pan out.
I still hope to see the guy who played in the playoffs last year. That Harpur can really help this team.
Zorf
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- Jan 4, 2008
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Harpur's got good mobility and passing skill, especially for a big man. If he can bring in some physicality to his play, I think he can develop into a pretty steady #4 D-man.
Nac Mac Feegle
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Zorf
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BatherSeason
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Harpur has been horrible, he looks lost on the ice. On a team where everyone looks lost, Harpur looks even more lost than Alex Burrows out there. Signing a one way and guaranteeing him a roster spot next year was a HUGE mistake. Another notch in the belt for PR Dorion!
And it seems like Wolanin will be passing him on the depth chart very soon if not already
BatherSeason
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I have really never liked what I saw with Harpur. Big guy who plays really small, but you know that this org loves size more than skill
Sensinitis
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- Aug 5, 2012
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Are we really complaining about a 2 year contract at 725K? lol.
At worst he'll be a bottom pair or 7th D... and you move on if he sucks. Also he's probably very easily traded when there's a year left on his K.
Claesson is who we should be worried about. What a tire fire... *insert Bonk's marvelous metaphor of his play this season* I can see him gone this summer.
At worst he'll be a bottom pair or 7th D... and you move on if he sucks. Also he's probably very easily traded when there's a year left on his K.
Claesson is who we should be worried about. What a tire fire... *insert Bonk's marvelous metaphor of his play this season* I can see him gone this summer.
BatherSeason
Registered User
Yep I am. Claesson has no contract going into next year, Harpur does, no need to worry about Claesson. We already have enough dead money tied up in a bunch of useless players going into next year, all of whom are guaranteed roster spots because of their contracts.
Sensinitis
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Care to elaborate?
To my knowledge, none of the guys you insinuate are making under 1M team friendly and easily moveable deals, seems like apples and oranges.
FolignoQuantumLeap
Don't Hold The Door
His biggest problem is he's slow to react. That's something that can improve significantly with experience and getting used to NHL speed. Of course, there's no guarantee for that. He's got all kinds of NHL quality skills just needs process information quicker to use them effectively.
I think once he gets 100 games or so under his belt, I'd reevaluate where he's at. He's shown some good things and hasn't really played enough to call him a bust. Think he'll probably put it together and be a 4/5 guy. Before we go saying Wolanin is gonna be ahead of him, remember those guys are the same age. 23 is still really young for a D man.
I think once he gets 100 games or so under his belt, I'd reevaluate where he's at. He's shown some good things and hasn't really played enough to call him a bust. Think he'll probably put it together and be a 4/5 guy. Before we go saying Wolanin is gonna be ahead of him, remember those guys are the same age. 23 is still really young for a D man.
BonkTastic
ಠ_ಠ
Harpur's been real bad this year, but it's due to his wild inconsistency more than anything else.
I mean, let's not fool ourselves here - even when he's on his game, he's a bottom pairing defenceman. The thing with him is though that when he's on, he's a safe #5/6 guy who can defend reasonably well and bring a physical element as well (which we all know was a trait Murray liked in his defencemen, which is why he is here). The problem is that this year, Harpur has had one "good" game for every 3 "bad ones". When he's off his game, he's awful. Like... really, really bad. If he can find his game (which we have seen before, it's not like he's never shown the ability to play at this level) and be a back-end guy who you can trust to play mostly mistake-free hockey, it's totally fine.
We're committed on the 1-way next year, but that doesn't mean we can't send him to Belleville. It just means he gets paid $650k to play AHL hockey instead of $250k. If he sticks in Ottawa as the 7th guy and tries to figure out some consistency from the pressbox for a month or two, that's not the worst scenario, (though clearly not ideal either). At the end of the day, it's $650k, which isn't really worth getting all that worked up about.
I'll agree that this org has a tendency to gamble with their contracts and sign guys far earlier than warranted, though. This contract, the McCormick deal, the Anderson extension, the Boro extension (which seems to worked out, but was still a gamble nonetheless), all deals which were arguably signed far before they were either earned or warranted.
He is having a rough stretch for sure, but let's be real - he's making close to league minimum.
Worst case scenario if he proves that he's not an NHL D, he can be our 8th defenseman. Best case scenario he continues to develop and ends up a decent 3rd pairing guy.
The Harpur signing isn't a problem at all. Save your criticism for Dorion's truly awful moves. It's not like there is a lack of them.
Micklebot
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- Apr 27, 2010
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I noticed him winning a bunch of board battles the other game and getting himself into a position to make that first pass to lead the breakout with relatively little pressure, but more often than not, that pass was terrible and resulted in a turnover in our end. Not sure if it's a focus thing, or what, but he just doesn't seem to have a feel for the puck these days.
BonkTastic
ಠ_ಠ
If there is one thing Harpur should work on this summer, it's developing a crisp, hard, accurate pass. Needs to work on developing a quick release that doesn't sacrifice velocity and accuracy on his passes, without which make his passes look like a casual ping-pong rally.
jbeck5
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Cowen and Wiercioch didn't turn me off tall defenseman, but it did turn me off giving multi million multi year deals to players who have half a decent season.
We should have waited until they both put up consecutive good seasons before we started expecting them to plug in the top 4 at top 4 money. We jumped the gun. My issue isnt tall defenseman. My issue is jumping the gun.
jbeck5
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He said "exactly" ... Hard to say "exactly" in all aspects... IMO he is a bottom 6 with top 4 upside .. That might take a while , and it may not come... I like Harpur and think he has top 4 potential... He isn't fast but he is not as slow as Phaneuf if we can use that as another Bar
I never liked the term bottom 6 for defenseman as there are only 6 defenseman in your lineup on a usual night so karlsson would be a bottom 6 defenseman.
Unless you mean on the active roster in which teams often carry 7 or 8 defenceman in which bottom 6 means either D2-7 or D3-8. Either way, its very vague and carries a huge range.
Unless you mean 5-6th defenseman, in which case, the proper term is "bottom pairing defenseman"
Sorry, just nitpicking.
EDITED PORTION:
I erroneously said that Harpur wasn't waiver exempt next year but looking at his signing year and waiver rules that was wrong. While he played his 1st pro games at 20 he signed his ELC at 19 years old so Harpur's waiver exempt period is 4 years not 3. The other milestone for players signed before 20 years old is playing 160 NHL games whichever comes 1st. It looks like he's only played 57 so far. Dorion could have delayed and offered him a 2 way followed by a one way in year 2. I'm usually pretty tough on Dorion but not this time. Not being privy to insider player assessment I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one it's cheap.
At the very worst Harpur is a cheap depth D that if they ever waived (once not exempted) he'd be grabbed right away. The guy is a natural left D and he's been bounced from left to right and back again since he's played here. I didn't like how Cowen with a small sample size managed to work his way into a deal that at the top end was going to pay him $4.5M and then he was injured again and they realized too late they had overpaid.
Harpur probably won't ever physically be what Cowen was at times. Maybe he's more of a Kuba type who left us wanting in that dept but hopefully he develops a bit more physicality in his game. We don't know that yet and the beauty is that in this case he's very inexpensive while the Sens find out where he tops off. Some guys make too much up front and don't pan out those are the guys that hurt your budget when your stuck with them for long years having overpaid too early and then they can't be traded.
I erroneously said that Harpur wasn't waiver exempt next year but looking at his signing year and waiver rules that was wrong. While he played his 1st pro games at 20 he signed his ELC at 19 years old so Harpur's waiver exempt period is 4 years not 3. The other milestone for players signed before 20 years old is playing 160 NHL games whichever comes 1st. It looks like he's only played 57 so far. Dorion could have delayed and offered him a 2 way followed by a one way in year 2. I'm usually pretty tough on Dorion but not this time. Not being privy to insider player assessment I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one it's cheap.
At the very worst Harpur is a cheap depth D that if they ever waived (once not exempted) he'd be grabbed right away. The guy is a natural left D and he's been bounced from left to right and back again since he's played here. I didn't like how Cowen with a small sample size managed to work his way into a deal that at the top end was going to pay him $4.5M and then he was injured again and they realized too late they had overpaid.
Harpur probably won't ever physically be what Cowen was at times. Maybe he's more of a Kuba type who left us wanting in that dept but hopefully he develops a bit more physicality in his game. We don't know that yet and the beauty is that in this case he's very inexpensive while the Sens find out where he tops off. Some guys make too much up front and don't pan out those are the guys that hurt your budget when your stuck with them for long years having overpaid too early and then they can't be traded.
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BatherSeason
Registered User
So, just like Ceci. Still waiting for Ceci's reaction time to get better, its been a few years.
Cap Friendly says that Harpur is projected to be "waiver eligible" next year:
Ben Harpur Waivers Calculator - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps
Melnyk doesn't bury contracts, this scenario is not happening.
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jbeck5
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I honestly think ceci's reaction time has gotten worse. He looks worse with the puck now than he did in his first training camp.
Every time the puck is on his stick for a quick shot with an open net he triple clutches and puts it into someones shin pads. This guy does not know how to one time, give and go, or even do anything smoothly.
You see him retrieve the puck with time...instead of skating and making a smooth pass or something, he'll bobble the puck like a hot potato and put it off the boards.
When was the last time Ceci made a nice smooth play with the puck and didnt look like a nervous wreck anytime the puck was on his stick?
His skating is good.
His strength is good.
His defense is usually pretty good.
His shot, once he gets it off, is powerful.
His puck skills to put it all together are putrid. He really needs to work on softening up those hands. He needs to spend hour after hour all summer just doing puck handling drills if he wants to improve his game.
