Re-sign Latendresse

[Lazarrr]

I'd resign him around 3M for 2 years. Maybe a bit more.

But he really makes the young kids go which is fun to watch and can chip in offense. His line has been consistently getting good scoring chances.

 

[Deku]

Lats is awesome. So glad to see him doing well after everyone doubting him at the start of the year. I hope he keeps it up!

 

[lafite]

What has impressed me lately is his smarts. That Zibanejad line has become a real threat, and Latendresse has been a big part of that. Why would you not want this to continue. As has been mentioned, there is a tendency around here to prefer the new and shiny over the familiar and proven.

 

[aragorn]

We do?

Greening, Michalek, Smith, Neil, Hoffman, Condra, Zibanejad & Silfverberg. A few of those guys like Greening, Smith & Neil also stand in front of the net to block the goalies view & all of them have scored in front of the net. So does Stone.

Having said that though, I'm starting to change my mind on Latendresse but I'm just not sure. I think now that he could be re-signed what we don't know will be the term but because of his age, he is only 25 yrs old it could be longer term. What I like about him is his size & he does have some history of scoring in the NHL & has been playing well with the two Swedes lately. Murray has some hard decisions to make.

What I don't like about him is he has an injury history, is slow & to me looks lazy out there at times & doesn't back check enough for my liking but all that can be taught & coached. Because he is still young, because he is a big guy & because he can score at times my guess is that he could be re-signed for 2 to 3 yrs. But in the back of my mind I keep thinking that they need to make room for some young guns like Stone, Noesen & Puempel sooner rather than later. BTW who is more valuable to this team Lats or Condra? And what about JOB, he looks good every time I see him play?

 

[playasRus]

Right now, JOB Condra and Lats are all equally important to this team I'd say.
JOB and Conds are our defensive guys, even with our healthy line up they're our go to defensive guys. Lats though has proven to be able to step up and be an offesnive leader without Michalek, Spezza, and Karlsson in.

 

[ATdaisuki]

Having said that though, I'm starting to change my mind on Latendresse but I'm just not sure. I think now that he could be re-signed what we don't know will be the term but because of his age, he is only 25 yrs old it could be longer term. What I like about him is his size & he does have some history of scoring in the NHL & has been playing well with the two Swedes lately. Murray has some hard decisions to make.

What I don't like about him is he has an injury history, is slow & to me looks lazy out there at times & doesn't back check enough for my liking but all that can be taught & coached. Because he is still young, because he is a big guy & because he can score at times my guess is that he could be re-signed for 2 to 3 yrs. But in the back of my mind I keep thinking that they need to make room for some young guns like Stone, Noesen & Puempel sooner rather than later. BTW who is more valuable to this team Lats or Condra? And what about JOB, he looks good every time I see him play?

glad you're coming around on him.

i wouldn't sign him long term for the reasons you mentioned. i'd give him a one year deal and tell him we want to sign him longer, we just want him to show he can stay healthy. three years is the maximum i'd go, but he's not making much money yearly if he asks for three. i think he'll look less lazy and maybe add a bit of foot speed next year if he stays healthy for the rest of the year, as he'll spend the off-season healthy and training properly. if we sign him to a one year, and he really impresses next year, we sign him long term. if we sign him longer term for lower money and he impresses, then yay, we get a bargain for two or three years. if he doesn't impress though (which only seems possible if he continues to get injured) it's not a big deal either. longer term = less money yearly, we can put him on the ltir and bring in a younger player. it's a no risk, high reward scenario.

 

[aragorn]

glad you're coming around on him.

i wouldn't sign him long term for the reasons you mentioned. i'd give him a one year deal and tell him we want to sign him longer, we just want him to show he can stay healthy. three years is the maximum i'd go, but he's not making much money yearly if he asks for three. i think he'll look less lazy and maybe add a bit of foot speed next year if he stays healthy for the rest of the year, as he'll spend the off-season healthy and training properly. if we sign him to a one year, and he really impresses next year, we sign him long term. if we sign him longer term for lower money and he impresses, then yay, we get a bargain for two or three years. if he doesn't impress though (which only seems possible if he continues to get injured) it's not a big deal either. longer term = less money yearly, we can put him on the ltir and bring in a younger player. it's a no risk, high reward scenario.

And you can buy players out now which will help a lot of teams out including Ottawa from time to time & with a guy like this.

 

[costermonger]

"Hey guys we signed this talented but injured winger for next to nothing, but now he's healthy and producing, what should we do with him?"

"Let him walk."

I don't understand some of you guys.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Latendresse is slow = proven

And Stone is...?

 

[Slack]

Greening, Michalek, Smith, Neil, Hoffman, Condra, Zibanejad & Silfverberg. A few of those guys like Greening, Smith & Neil also stand in front of the net to block the goalies view & all of them have scored in front of the net. So does Stone.

Having said that though, I'm starting to change my mind on Latendresse but I'm just not sure. I think now that he could be re-signed what we don't know will be the term but because of his age, he is only 25 yrs old it could be longer term. What I like about him is his size & he does have some history of scoring in the NHL & has been playing well with the two Swedes lately. Murray has some hard decisions to make.

What I don't like about him is he has an injury history, is slow & to me looks lazy out there at times & doesn't back check enough for my liking but all that can be taught & coached. Because he is still young, because he is a big guy & because he can score at times my guess is that he could be re-signed for 2 to 3 yrs. But in the back of my mind I keep thinking that they need to make room for some young guns like Stone, Noesen & Puempel sooner rather than later. BTW who is more valuable to this team Lats or Condra? And what about JOB, he looks good every time I see him play?

The thing to remember is he was very much a rushed prospect. He was put onto the Habs' first line as a 19-year old rookie. And like you said, a lot of the things he lacks can be learned, especially with the staff we have here in Ottawa.

I've probably been singing praises of him too much, but it's because I expected very little of him and he keeps surprising me. I'm in the "sign him" camp, but with the serious health concerns I wouldn't dare offer more than 2 years maximum. And that would be the perfect situation to let the young guys you mentioned develop and allow Murray to re-assess things down the road.

And if he stayed healthy during that time but was still out of a roster spot due to surging prospect, his value would probably be high and could get some return on him, especially at only a few million a year.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Greening, Michalek, Smith, Neil, Hoffman, Condra, Zibanejad & Silfverberg. A few of those guys like Greening, Smith & Neil also stand in front of the net to block the goalies view & all of them have scored in front of the net. So does Stone.

Having said that though, I'm starting to change my mind on Latendresse but I'm just not sure. I think now that he could be re-signed what we don't know will be the term but because of his age, he is only 25 yrs old it could be longer term. What I like about him is his size & he does have some history of scoring in the NHL & has been playing well with the two Swedes lately. Murray has some hard decisions to make.

What I don't like about him is he has an injury history, is slow & to me looks lazy out there at times & doesn't back check enough for my liking but all that can be taught & coached. Because he is still young, because he is a big guy & because he can score at times my guess is that he could be re-signed for 2 to 3 yrs. But in the back of my mind I keep thinking that they need to make room for some young guns like Stone, Noesen & Puempel sooner rather than later. BTW who is more valuable to this team Lats or Condra? And what about JOB, he looks good every time I see him play?

I would say Condra and Lats are equally important in their own roles. Lats role is to score, Condra's role is to shut guys down and be a beast on the PK, both are needed to succeed. We've got some great chemistry on this roster right now, and I just think when you look at the crop of UFA's, we should probably just keep Lats rather than watch him walk. If he fails miserably, he can be waived or bought out, its not like he is going to be breaking our bank.

 

[StefanW]

Lats has proved himself for sure, but I think it will come down to his UFA status and how much other teams are willing to pay for him. If we have learned nothing else about Murray, we know for a 100% fact that he would rather see a mid-range player walk than overpay for a guy that could be relatively easy to replace. This is not hating on Lats because he has definitely justified his contract this year. It is just a reality.

 

[Slack]

Lats has proved himself for sure, but I think it will come down to his UFA status and how much other teams are willing to pay for him. If we have learned nothing else about Murray, we know for a 100% fact that he would rather see a mid-range player walk than overpay for a guy that could be relatively easy to replace. This is not hating on Lats because he has definitely justified his contract this year. It is just a reality.

Well at least the bright side of that argument (for those who want to re-sign him) is that he's only had a handful of games since returning from injury, and will only get a handful more through the rest of the season. So while his stock may go up, those health concerns will still be a big factor in determining his value. Until he proves that he can stay healthy, he should be affordable.

And by all accounts he likes playing here and likes the location. There's a good chance that Ottawa will be his first choice and may take one of those so-called "hometown" deals.

Basically I don't think it will require an overpayment to keep him here, at least I'm hoping so.

 

[koreaboy]

See, tonight is a really good example of why resigning this guy isn't a good idea. He has looked terminally, brutally, painfully slow on several occasions, and he didn't even try to retrieve the puck in our defensive zone on a couple of occasions there too. The occasional nice play with your hands in tight in my opinion can't make up for all those times where his lack of speed and intensity really hurt you.

 

[God Says No]

meh, he wasn't as bad as you make him out to be. not his strongest game for sure, but not horrible.

 

[mcnorth]

The guy impresses with his offense.

A lot easier to keep your fans happy if you're a defensive guy.

 

[John Holmes*]

The whole team is out of sync right now. With 2/3 of our 1st line out, and of course Karlsson being out as well is huge.

Slide everyone down a line and we have scary scoring depth.

 

[Iamok]

Lats - Zib - Silf as a 3rd line would be awesome.

 

[YNWA14]

Lats - Zib - Silf as a 3rd line would be awesome.

Yep.

If we were to acquire a scorer at the deadline (aka tmrw) and got Michalek and Spezza back Lats makes an amazing 3rd line left-winger.

Cammalleri - Spezza - Condra
Michalek - Turris - Alfredsson
Latendresse - Zibanejad - Silfverberg
Greening - Smith - Neil

That's a pretty nice forward corps that will only be built upon moving forward.

 

[Kilts79]

See, tonight is a really good example of why resigning this guy isn't a good idea. He has looked terminally, brutally, painfully slow on several occasions, and he didn't even try to retrieve the puck in our defensive zone on a couple of occasions there too. The occasional nice play with your hands in tight in my opinion can't make up for all those times where his lack of speed and intensity really hurt you.

Agreed yes awful.

 

[aragorn]

Yep.

If we were to acquire a scorer at the deadline (aka tmrw) and got Michalek and Spezza back Lats makes an amazing 3rd line left-winger.

Cammalleri - Spezza - Condra
Michalek - Turris - Alfredsson
Latendresse - Zibanejad - Silfverberg
Greening - Smith - Neil

That's a pretty nice forward corps that will only be built upon moving forward.

It doesn't look like Spezza is coming back this yr ... wait & see ... but it doesn't look good.