Ray Whitney insurance policy

[Natey]

Some people are on the fence about signing Vrbata (I'd like him here), but if we strike out - what would people of thinking of signing Ray Whitney to a 1-year deal. Money wouldn't really matter. 1YR/$2M or something seems like a legitimate offer.

Anyway, my thought process is depth. Whitney would provide depth if signed to a 1-year contract.

Without Whitney, we're looking at;

Pacioretty - Desharnais - Parenteau
Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Gallagher
Bourque - Eller - Andrighetto
Prust - Malhotra - Weise
Sekac, Bournival

With Whitney, we'd look more like;

Pacioretty - Desharnais - Parenteau
Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Gallagher
Bourque - Eller - Whitney
Prust - Malhotra - Weise
Sekac, Bournival

If Whitney doesn't work out, there's no risk because it's a 1-year deal. You could slide Andrighetto in there during the season if it's not working and Whitney would still provide scoring depth should a Top-6 winger go down.

People may look at last year stats and think Whitney is slowing down.. but 32-points is actually fantastic for a guy who got the 9th most minutes as a forward on your team. So even though he was 9th among forwards in ice-time, he still put up the 4th best production rate (points-per-minutes played).

For comparison;
Our 9th forward in ice-time last year was Brandon Prust (without Vanek included) and Rene Bourque (with Vanek included).

Brandon Prust PROD-rate: Approximately 55:30 minutes per point scored.
Rene Bourque PROD-rate: Approximately 55:45 minutes per point scored.
Ray Whitney PROD-rate: Approximately 30:00 minutes per point scored.

Anyone aside from me think he'd be good risk one a 1-year deal? If he played with Eller & Bourque for the majority of the year - I could see Whitney producing between 30 points without a doubt. He'd be in the 40's or 50's with some Powerplay time.

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[puckeater]

I think that's a great idea. 1 year would be ideal. Problem is, if history repeats itself, we could have another Drewiske on our hands. Don't we still have him for another year? Is he playing at all or sitting at home? How many contracts are left available to sign players?

 

[Le Tricolore]

I think that's a great idea. 1 year would be ideal. Problem is, if history repeats itself, we could have another Drewiske on our hands. Don't we still have him for another year? Is he playing at all or sitting at home? How many contracts are left available to sign players?

He played for Hamilton last season.

 

[Natey]

I think that's a great idea. 1 year would be ideal. Problem is, if history repeats itself, we could have another Drewiske on our hands. Don't we still have him for another year? Is he playing at all or sitting at home? How many contracts are left available to sign players?

Drewiske was hurt, but he finished the year in Hamilton.

He could technically fight for the #7 or #8 spot this year, depending on how many defenseman we carry.

 

[le_sean]

I didn't even know Wizard was a UFA. I'd definitely take him on the team as a stop-gap. I don't want to rely on Sekac.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Absolutely not. He was mediocre last season with favourable zone starts and weak competition. At this point he's like Briere, only useful as an exploitation forward. Would rather stick a young player in those exploitation minutes (a la Cakes or Sven) than Whitney. At least both those guys can still skate and take a body. Whitney's a ghost out there.

 

[Slashers98]

Whitney is done, pass!