A SERIOUS DISCUSSION - Brett Bellemore

[Anton Dubinchuk]

score score bellemorr!

 

[HisIceness]

How about 3 goals and 6 assists.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

For all saying it doesn't matter when/how he was signed, it's not so much that it changes the fact that he's a Hurricane as much as it gives us an idea of how the organization views him. More directly, how Ron Francis views him. He saw fit to promise Tim Gleason double the NHL salary and 7 times what Bellemore would make in the AHL. The fact that Carolina was confident in letting him leave if he could find a one way contract anywhere else in the league is a pretty telling piece of information even if we disagree with it. I like Bellemore. I think he has more to give than Gleason at this stage obviously. I still don't think he's a better all around player than Harrison but admittedly Harry has had some rough stretches.

When presented with the option of keeping Bellemore for basically house money, Carolina decided not only to keep Harrison but to add Gleason.

I get what you are saying Vagrant, and there is a lot of validity to it, but two things that should be considered as well. Re: the timeline, you are making assumptions, which may or may not be true (I have no idea).

Bellemore (and his agent) decided to test the market first. For all we know, the Canes first option could have been to try and sign Bellemore for some amount, but he wanted to see if he could get more elsewhere and the Canes weren't about to overpay a guy with 1 semi-decent season. Then, two days into free agency, rather than wait and be left with nothing, they decided to sign Gleason. And in terms of keeping Harrison, there really wasn't a choice. He was under contract and not very marketable.

But even if we do accept that the front office thinks more of Gleason and Harrison that Bellemore, which is likely the case, it's not very relevant IMO. Peters is going to have the final say based on who he thinks gives a better chance to win, period.

Right now, I'd have to agree that the difference in quality between the 3 likely negligible enough to not make a difference, so he could easily be sent down due to his contract. But, if Gleason continues to degrade and Bellemore even improves a little, I could see a situation where he gets the playing time, especially because he is a righty. Not saying that will happen, as it will depend on training camp.

As I said earlier though, a LOT of it will depend on Murphy and if he is ready for a bigger role.