Confirmed with Link: Oilers Sign Andrej Sekera (6 Years, $5.5M AVG, NMC)

[Replacement*]

Sekera has been good value for money and a very welcome addition. If he has a RH brother out there somewhere, I'd sign him to the same contract and roll the two of them as our top pairing. It's rare to find a Chris Pronger who can thrive with MAB on the other side. We just need to find Sekera a Spacek to play with.

Good value? My lordy, what value is that? He's been among the worst Oiler defenders.

Lets unmask the lone ranger.

The Oilers to this point in the season have allowed a total of 9 pk goals. Sekera, amazingly, has been on for 8 of those. Sekera has been on ice for a pathetic 17.50 GA/60mins while on pk. I'll let that sink in for a moment. To put it into perspective the king of horrible D here, Ference, is allowing 8.55GA/60mins. Less than half of Sekeras number. Sekera at this point would be one of the worst PK D not only on this team (he's been the worst by a wide margin) but in the league. Basically any 5 on 4 pk with Sekera on it resembles more of a 5 on 3. He's been that bad. like he's not even on the ice, which judging from his mental play is not all that surprising.

Next, EV., Sekera on ice is allowing 3.50 GA/60mins, a horrid number, one that would be expected from bad rookie D's. Ference is slightly worse on the team at 3.60. Fayne is been ruled dead and without a pulse at 3.90. A truly ghastly number that suggests NHL imposter. Nobody else even close to being this dismal in GA.

This is the type of help Sekera has brought this team. He's been better than Fayne, a player who is been benched multiple games due to being missing in action on the ice.
I'd be hard pressed to find top 4 D with worse numbers than Sekera this year in the NHL.

I realize its early, limited sample but people should recall Sekera was also awful in preseason games.

This is a player quite clearly who didn't come here prepared to play. That's a huge problem considering we have this guy longterm at 5.5M.

 

[nabob]

My Lordy! Completely judging a player based solely off of selective stats with from a very small sample size that support your predetermined judgement. Shocking.

He's been much better the last half
Dozen games then he was at the start.

 

[ottawa]

Same as Jeff Petry, same as Tom Gilbert etc..

These guys all were very talented in certain ways, they just got overwhelmed.

Tom Gilbert is still making bonehead moves, even when he's sheltered on the 3rd pairing...he's ****ing awful

 

[Dorian2]

My Lordy! Completely judging a player based solely off of selective stats with from a very small sample size that support your predetermined judgement. Shocking.

He's been much better the last half
Dozen games then he was at the start.

I agree. Part of the PK woes could also lie in the fact that Hendo has been out for a while. Sekera is of course not without his gaffs, but there are quite a few less that I've noticed than the first 10 games.....give or take.

 

[Jumptheshark]

My Lordy! Completely judging a player based solely off of selective stats with from a very small sample size that support your predetermined judgement. Shocking.

He's been much better the last half
Dozen games then he was at the start.

problem is Bob

he was brought in as a 1-2 D-man and not a 3-4 and that is what he is

 

[Aerchon]

problem is Bob

he was brought in as a 1-2 D-man and not a 3-4 and that is what he is

Actually Cherelli right out stated ideally Sekera should be anchoring the second pairing. Which makes him a 2/3 type guy.

Personally I like Sekera more than Petry and Gilbert isn't good enough to hold Sekera's jock strap.

The price we got him was lower than most predicted he would get. The fact we gave him a no move clause, and a chance to play on a top pairing again is why He signed with us.

He has not been as good as I hoped, but as cliche as it is becoming, he is facing western conference top opposition. So you do have to put that into perspective.

Also he seems able to legitimately play either side well, which is often claimed but rarely seen on the Oilers.

 

[Replacement*]

Somehow this was missed from my post and which I had stated;

I realize its early, limited sample but people should recall Sekera was also awful in preseason games.

Should I repeat that I realize its early but Sekera has been awful thus far. My post was a specific reply to a poster that stated sekera has been of good value. That is the context for my reply in citing that to this date that simply isn't accurate.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Actually Cherelli right out stated ideally Sekera should be anchoring the second pairing. Which makes him a 2/3 type guy.

Personally I like Sekera more than Petry and Gilbert isn't good enough to hold Sekera's jock strap.

The price we got him was lower than most predicted he would get. The fact we gave him a no move clause, and a chance to play on a top pairing again is why He signed with us.

He has not been as good as I hoped, but as cliche as it is becoming, he is facing western conference top opposition. So you do have to put that into perspective.

Also he seems able to legitimately play either side well, which is often claimed but rarely seen on the Oilers.

but money given was a 1-2 money thing

 

[iCanada]

but money given was a 1-2 money thing

That was 1/2 money three years ago. At 72 milion in cap space you can afford to pay the average player 72/20 = 3.8 million. He's getting paid #3 money at best, you cold argue worst case heis making #2 money. #1 money is in the 7 million to 9 million range. #2s are in the 5 to 8 million.

We have a cap structure where once some other plugs get out the door we can afford 5.5 for a #3/#4.

 

[Dorian2]

Somehow this was missed from my post and which I had stated;





Should I repeat that I realize its early but Sekera has been awful thus far. My post was a specific reply to a poster that stated sekera has been of good value. That is the context for my reply in citing that to this date that simply isn't accurate.

I'll admit that I missed that. My booboo. Nonetheless, what I said earlier still stands IMO (re: Hendricks missing). I'd like to see what the stats say after the next 10 or so games. We may have a fairly clear picture at that time.

And just to note, I do still get pissed off at some of the types of mistakes Sekera continues to make, even if less frequently. He should be better than that. Some of our young D are making him look all the worse at times. He has to correct that pronto.

 

[IAGTTAYM]

Sekera is T-21 in cap hit among d-men in 15/16. He will obviously drop on the list as the cap rises, but he's definitely on top pairing money.

 

[Spawn]

but money given was a 1-2 money thing

That's the nature of free agency.

 

[nabob]

problem is Bob

he was brought in as a 1-2 D-man and not a 3-4 and that is what he is

So a Dman whether he is 1,2,3 or 4 on the depth chart isn't allowed a few games to adjust? He was also strapped to Fayne all preseason and early in the year. Take Fayne away and sit him in the PB and Sekera has looked quite good.

And like others have stated, he wasn't brought in with the idea that he was going to be 1 or 2. Chia flat out said he would anchor the 2nd pairing. Some posters like yourself seem to only see the dollar signs and then compare them to other deals signed under different circumstances and then totally write off the signing before the 10 game mark.