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

[DisgruntledGoat*]

These guys need to realize if players eg clarkson sekera ference are going to free agency it means they are usually garbage.

This is a classic example of a guy who kicked around for years and really was never much of anything but hit free agency at the right time and all of a sudden had a ton of hype around him.

He's not the train wreck that Clarkson is but yeah, Clarkson is another fantastic example of this phenomenon.

 

[Da McBomb]

Then how are we going to acquire NHL talent?

Sekera is a decent #3 with potential to go up. Our lack of depth makes everyone look worse (including the forwards).

So far I'm not seeing a decent #3 yet.

A 6 year 5.5 million deal is a huge commitment to any player. No doubt this team needs improvement in d.. but giving out these kind of deals to the wrong player can really come back to hurt you more in the end. Just look at how Ference's signing is hurting this club right now. I don't mind the bottom pairing signing of Gryba.. not a big and long term contract. Sekera's deal is not cheap and for 6 damn years with NMC. You better be sure he's a good player if you sign him that long. And so far, he's not been good at all. Hopefully he turns it around and earns the contract.. but I'm having my early doubts.

 

[jebs]

He just seems to make the wrong decision every time, holds onto the puck way too long, weak in his own end. Looks like a dud to me.

 

[dustrock]

Not a dud, but would probably win a poll for biggest disappointment

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Complementary top pairing defenceman looks out of place and overwhelmed, when he has no one to complement... Shocking...






In other news, water is wet...

 

[redgrant]

The issue is with Sekera here for so long is that 66% of our defense appears to be locked up over the next 5 years. Our bed is essentially made:

1 Sekera
2 Klefbom
3 Nurse
4 Reinhart
5 ???
6 ???

 

[Mr Positive]

It's sad that he had this bad game after his recent improvement. I just said some nice things about him in another thread just yesterday before the game...

I still believe he will be a great piece for us going forward. I suppose he's just not the guy to drag our team into prominence like what Pronger did. He's been tasked for that role by default and I think it's getting in his head a bit.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The issue is with Sekera here for so long is that 66% of our defense appears to be locked up over the next 5 years. Our bed is essentially made:

1 Sekera
2 Klefbom
3 Nurse
4 Reinhart
5 ???
6 ???

That's not a bad group to build around, but you need someone (preferably a RH) to bump everyone down a peg.
They don't need to be elite/ an all-star, but even someone in the secondary category.


Sekera-_____
Klefbom-Nurse
Reinhart-Gyrba/Fayne
Davidson

Plug in a Seabrook/Schattenkirk/E.Johnson/Stralman/Myers/Boychuk, hell even Petry or Bogosian there, and that's a capable defence.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

So far I'm not seeing a decent #3 yet.

A 6 year 5.5 million deal is a huge commitment to any player. No doubt this team needs improvement in d.. but giving out these kind of deals to the wrong player can really come back to hurt you more in the end. Just look at how Ference's signing is hurting this club right now. I don't mind the bottom pairing signing of Gryba.. not a big and long term contract. Sekera's deal is not cheap and for 6 damn years with NMC. You better be sure he's a good player if you sign him that long. And so far, he's not been good at all. Hopefully he turns it around and earns the contract.. but I'm having my early doubts.

Yea, it was a risk but we have to with FA signings. We are getting a player for zero trade assets.

I agree that he hasn't looked great, but if he was playing #3 like he should, this would be way different.

 

[McLotto 97]

The issue is with Sekera here for so long is that 66% of our defense appears to be locked up over the next 5 years. Our bed is essentially made:

1 Sekera
2 Klefbom
3 Nurse
4 Reinhart
5 ???
6 ???

Works if we get the following

1. ???
2. ???
3. Sekera
4. Nurse
5. Klefbom
6. Reinhart
7. Davidson

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

Works if we get the following

1. ???
2. ???
3. Sekera
4. Nurse
5. Klefbom
6. Reinhart
7. Davidson

Thai would be amazing. I don't think we need to go that far given how good our top six is, but certainly filling one of those positions is essential.

 

[Replacement*]

Thai would be amazing. I don't think we need to go that far given how good our top six is, but certainly filling one of those positions is essential.

The problem with this line of thinking though is we are already near cap and are already paying this D an inordinate amount of money. We're really already in the range of what teams with good to great D pay for their D.

Lets be clear here too. Chia is paying guys like Sekera, Klefbom big money because its his feeling that they can be slotted high. This is the teams gambit. It would appear to be the wrong call.

In anycase there just isn't money to bring in a bonafide top pairing D. As per usual we are drastically overpaying what we have.

This same org figured Petry wasn't worth the money..

 

[nexttothemoon]

Looking at his advanced stats over the previous 5 years before he's come to the Oilers...

When he's on the ice at 5 on 5:

His team scores 2.51 GF/60 while his teammates score 2.11 GF/60 so he is a good offensive dman who helps his team put the puck in the net.

The other side of the coin though...

At 5 on 5 his team lets in 2.34 GA/60 while his teammates let in 2.33 GA/60.

What that tells me is that he's nothing special defensively. He basically will play at the level of the team surrounding him when it comes to defense. Bad news on an inferior defensive team like this. Sekera certainly isn't the only player with that attribute though. There are a hell of a lot of players in the NHL that basically play at the level of the team they are on.

There aren't many players who are so dramatically good at an aspect of the game that they can move the needle on their own and overcome team-wide defensive deficiencies.. and looking at the past stats Sekera has put up... he certainly shouldn't be expected to either in terms of defense.

Offensively I think he'll still come into his own and I think we can expect him to actually contribute more there, but defensively I expect him to basically perform at the level the Oilers play at... if they can improve defensively at a team level... Sekera will rise with that tide as well... if the team continues to flounder, I fully expect Sekera to continue looking goat-like sometimes... along with most of the other dmen.


A few more (slightly worrying stats on Sekera)...

In the past 5 years...

At 4 on 4:

1.88 GF/60 while he's on the ice while his teammates score 2.36 GF/60
3.76 GA/60 while hes on the ice while his teammates let in 3.25 GA/60

Not very good stats at 4 on 4 either... his team performs worse when he's on the ice both offensively and defensively.

All PP situations:

4.72 GF/60 while he's on the ice while his teammates score 5.81 GF/60
1.13 GA/60 while he's on the ice while his teammates let in 0.85 GA/60

His PP GF/GA ratio while he's on the ice is actually 4th worst out of 138 dmen in the NHL who have played 200+ minutes on the PP over the past 5 seasons. Not particularly encouraging stats when we are hoping he'll help the Oilers PP.

All SH situations:

1.14 GF/60 while his teammates score 0.73 GF/60
6.09 GA/60 while his teammates let in 6.19 GA/60

A bit of a bright spot here... he's a decent PK dman. He increases the chances of scoring a shortie somewhat and again defensively he performs right around the same as his teammates on the PK (just very slightly better).

Summing it all up:

All situations combined:

2.66 GF/60 while he's on the ice while his teammates score 2.56 GF/60
2.70 GA/60 while he's on the ice while his teammates let in 2.64 GA/60

Overall he had a slight d-zone push with 32.4% o-zone faceoffs vs 34% d-zone faceoffs.


To me overall he looks to be a decent offensive dman but average to below average defensively... again he'll likely perform to the level of the team he's on when it comes to defense while slightly moving the needle to the positive side in terms of offense.


Is he worth his contract? Probably not as he's a slightly above average dman that we really shouldn't be relying on to anchor the Oilers top pairing. A solid 2nd pairing dman... yes, but certainly not the saviour a lot of us were expecting/hoping he would be.

 

[Soundwave]

I'd honestly contemplate dealing him for Phaneuf. Saves the Leafs a few bucks, but that final year of Dion's contract worries me. I'm willing to give it a bit longer but I'm just not seeing the puck movement that was promised and he's not good on the PP either.

 

[Lacaar]

He has been absolutely brutal so far this year.

Terrible.

This contract scares the living crap out of me.

 

[KlimasLoveChild]

Complementary top pairing defenceman looks out of place and overwhelmed, when he has no one to complement... Shocking...






In other news, water is wet...

Yep, from what I've read he has played his best hockey with the likes of Myers,Faulk and Spacek. At his worst with the likes of Regier, Weber and Fayne....... Doesn't have the skill set to carry a pairing and is clearly trying to do too much.

 

[CupofOil]

Works if we get the following

1. ???
2. ???
3. Sekera
4. Nurse
5. Klefbom
6. Reinhart
7. Davidson

That just isn't going to happen. To be honest, the Oilers will be lucky to fill one of those slots. Who is giving up these top pairing Dmen? If Chia gets one, I'd be thrilled.
The other slot is going to have to be filled from within Nurse/Klefbom/Reinhart.
Sekera was brought in to anchor a 2nd pairing as Chia noted after the signing.

Teams aren't built through free agency and trade, they are built through drafting and developing. Look at all the good D groups, homegrown talent for the most part and they almost always lock up those guys long term. The bottom 6 and bottom 4 Dman will be filled through free agency and trade for the most part because the high end assets are very difficult to acquire.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

We need a better partner for him and he needs to play better. That play on the PP last night was a piss poor one. Like it or not we are likely just going to have to stick by him and hope that he can get his game turned around. Worst case scenario we buy him out at the end of McDavid's ELC and we are stuck with a $1,833,333 cap hit for double the remainder of the deal.

 

[Raoul Duke]

The problem with this line of thinking though is we are already near cap and are already paying this D an inordinate amount of money. We're really already in the range of what teams with good to great D pay for their D.

Lets be clear here too. Chia is paying guys like Sekera, Klefbom big money because its his feeling that they can be slotted high. This is the teams gambit. It would appear to be the wrong call.

In anycase there just isn't money to bring in a bonafide top pairing D. As per usual we are drastically overpaying what we have.

This same org figured Petry wasn't worth the money..

Agreed but....
The money is skewed by Ference and Nikitin.
Petry looks good playing second pairing, behind a good first pairing, where he should be. Where Sekera should also be, with a similar contract.

 

[oilz89*]

Complementary top pairing defenceman looks out of place and overwhelmed, when he has no one to complement... Shocking...






In other news, water is wet...

Plus he's a #3 not a top pairing

 

[Gord]

Not a dud, but would probably win a poll for biggest disappointment

agreed

 

[Canovin]

5.5M for another 6 years is too expensive for a #3D who hasn't even looked like one. I've been saying for a month now. Package him for an upgrade before teams around the league finds out he's the Horc of defenseman. We cannot have contracts like this if we plan to keep the core intact.

 

[PaPaDee]

I don't think he's been as bad as people are making him out to be. He needs to play better, and I think he will, but he's being asked to be a #1 guy which he's not. If (big if) we could get a competent top pairing Dman to play with him, that would go a long way. I'd also like to try a Sekera-Schultz pairing when Justin is back from IR.

 

[Beerfish]

Really a total surprise just how bad he has looked. Most reports from all fan bases approved of the singing and though some thought it was too much for two long almost everyone thought the guy would be a good addition.

Who in our Dcorp other than a couple games of Nurse have looked any good at all?

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

once again, Oilers have to pay and play a d-man way too high in the line-up

he'd be a perfect #3 but he's asked to play top-pairing minutes and it's gone badly thus far