Zack Smith on waivers (clears,resumes role as 2C)

[coladin]

Wel, first, I have learned with time that talking about Zack Smith with the poster FolignoQuantumLeap is probably one of the most useless things to do on this planet, but I'll still do the exercise for other posters to see.

PS : I never alluded that he was comparable to Byron, Perron and Eller. There's so many players on that list, it never implied that all them would be comparable.

But the AAV range wasn't ideal anyway (3.0 to 4.5), instead we should look at forwards with an AAV between 2.75 and 3.75 (+/- 0.5 from Smith)

Signings - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

The last 2 calendar years (so since September 27th 2016)

AGE PLAYER LENGTH CAP HIT

28 Zack Smith 4 X $3,250,000 : career 0.30 PPG in 542 games but had a great season in 2015-16 (25 goals, 0.44 PPG) and had 11 goals, 11 assists in 43 games (0.51 PPG) in 2016-17, prior to the day he signed the extension on January 23rd. Like it or not, he proved himself as a 3rd liner most of his career and those recent numbers were closer to 2nd line numbers.

29 Paul Byron 4 X $3,400,000 : a very small forward who was a waiver pick-up 3 years ago. Did well with the Habs (0.43 PPG in 225 games) and deserved to get paid. His extension covers age 30 to 34 though, so an injury or regress and the contract doesn't look good all of sudden.

23 Miles Wood 4 X $2,750,000 : it basically buys all the RFA years he had left but one. 0.36 PPG in 137 games. That's a bit heavy for an unproven cost controlled player

22 Sam Reinhart 2 X $3,650,000 : bridge RFA contract from 22 to 24, not comparable as he is a top-6 forward who is probably going to get paid on his next contract.

25 Adam Lowry 3 X $2,916,666 : it buys all the rest of his RFA status, brings him to UFA. But a career 0.32 PPG in 281 games, actually reminds me of a younger Zack Smith.

24 Chris Tierney 2 X $2,937,500 : bridge RFA contract, 0.37 PPG in 284 games

25 Phillip Danault 3 X $3,083,333 : buys his last 2 RFA years plus one UFA year and then becomes UFA. Career 0.40 PPG in 187 games, plays higher on the depth chart than he should because Montreal lacked top-6 centers but good/decent contract nonetheless.

23 Anthony Mantha 2 X $3,300,000 : bridge RFA contract, probably going to get paid on his next contract. 0.58 PPG in 150 games

24 Ryan Strome 2 X $3,100,000 : it basically buys all the RFA years he had left but one if I'm not mistaken. 0.47 PPG in 340 games. He had top-6 numbers in his 21 y/o season but hasn't been as productive since.

23 Andreas Athanasiou 2 X $3,000,000 : bridge RFA contract, going to get paid on his next contract IF he posts better numbers. 0.44 PPG in 172 games so far.

25 Boone Jenner 4 X $3,750,000 : 2 RFA years, 2 UFA years. 0.47 PPG in 342 games.

32 Jay Beagle 4 X $3,000,000 : veteran, it covers age 33 to 36 y/o. 0.25 PPG in 471 games.

28 Matt Calvert 3 X $2,850,000 : veteran, 0.36 PPG in 416 games.

34 Thomas Vanek 1 X $3,000,000 : veteran. Not as productive as before but still posts top-6 numbers. A real bargain although Vanek is a special case because he hasn't been getting the money he seems to be worth the last 3 years. He is inconsistent and one dimensional but not sure what the other issues are with him. He is getting "old" too

34 Valtteri Filppula 1 X $2,750,000 : veteran. He was a top-6 forward before but he has declined and posted 31, 42 and 33 pts the last 3 seasons. Probably his last contract.

29 Riley Nash 3 X $2,750,000 : veteran, 0.35 PPG in 399 games.

30 Michael Grabner 3 X $3,350,000 : veteran, 0.45 PPG in 553 games. Always been a good bargain, never really understood why teams could always sign him under his market value.

31 Derek Ryan 3 X $3,125,000 : very late bloomer, he was 30 y/o in his first NHL season. 0.45 PPG in 153 games.

23 Valeri Nichushkin 2 X $2,950,000 : bridge RFA contract, going to get paid on his next contract IF he posts better numbers. Always been hyped but 0.39 PPG in 166 games so far.

31 Leo Komarov 4 X $3,000,000 : veteran, it covers age 31 to 34 y/o. 0.37 PPG in 327 games.

25 Sven Baertschi 3 X $3,366,666 : it buys his last RFA year. It took him a while to establish himself as a rgular NHL player. 0.47 PPG in 259 games.

28 Antoine Roussel 4 X $3,000,000 : veteran, 0.34 PPG in 413 games. Very comparable to Zack Smith

31 Ryan Reaves 2 X $2,775,000 : veteran 4th line grinder, 0.12 PPG in 498 games

26 Bryan Rust 4 X $3,500,000 : 2 RFA years, 2 UFA years. 0.44 PPG in 181 games

23 Max Domi 2 X $3,150,000 : bridge RFA contract, going to get paid on his next contract depending on the numbers he produces. 0.61 PPG in 222 games so far

28 Lars Eller 5 X $3,500,000 : veteran, 0.36 PPG in 604 games. He got paid because of his playoff run.

30 Andrew Cogliano 3 X $3,250,000 : veteran, 0.42 PPG in 866 games.

26 Marcus Foligno 4 X $2,875,000 : veteran, 0.33 PPG in 424 games. Very comparable to Zack Smith

25 Conor Sheary 3 X $3,000,000 : it buys all the rest of his RFA status, brings him to UFA. Career 0.51 PPG in 184 games but everybody knows his numbers got inflated playing with Crosby

25 Ryan Spooner 1 X $2,825,000 : bridge RFA contract.

24 Jean-Gabriel Pageau 3 X $3,100,000 : 2 RFA years, 1 UFA year, 0.40 PPG in 329 games.

22 André Burakovsky 2 X $3,000,000 : bridge RFA contract. He's going to get paid on his next contract depending on the numbers he produces. 0.48 PPG in 252 games.

32 Brian Boyle 2 X $2,750,000 : veteran, 0.28 PPG in 693 games.

27 Sam Gagner 3 X $3,150,000 : veteran, 0.56 PPG in 770 games. 5 teams in the last 5 years, there's a reason why he doesn't get market value.

33 Patrick Eaves 3 X $3,150,000 : veteran, it covers 33 to 35 y/o so he's getting "old". 0.39 PPG in 626 games.

26 Erik Haula 3 X $2,750,000 : at least 1 RFA year. Fortunate signing (before the Vegas season), had a 0.33 PPG in 266 games in Minnesota.

22 Teuvo Teräväinen 2 X $2,860,000 : bridge RFA contract, going to get PAID.

26 Richard Pánik 2 X $2,800,000 : "prove me again" contract, 0.38 PPG in 335 games.

24 Tanner Pearson 4 X $3,750,000 : 2 RFA years, 2 UFA years. 0.46 PPG in 308 games

29 Vladimír Sobotka 3 X $3,500,000 : veteran that just came back to the NHL, 0.33 PPG in 463 games.

29 Cal Clutterbuck 5 X $3,500,000 : veteran, 0.29 PPG in 714 games. Very comparable to Zack Smith


Looking at that list, no, Zack Smith contract is really not "outrageous". IIRC the vast majority of HF Sens were "on board" with that signing. Sure, he wasn't not going to score 25 goals every year, but if that was the expectation, it would have been a much higher AAV then...

It's not the best contract out there, but it's also not the worst. 25-40 pts 3rd liners get paid around that kind money.

I think for many goal scoring is the least of his issues. He is bad everywhere

 

[coladin]

"Couple of years"?

You mean one year. He was one of our better forwards in the playoffs against the Pens 15 months ago.

He absolutely was not

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

I don't think he's stupid. He's just hopelessly out of his league.

Honeslty, I wouldn't be surprised if he was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. He has the worst boss in his industry, he has literally no help at his job, he is being told to make moves that defy logic and thoroughly contradict industry standards and then publicly lie about them to national media sources, his clients (fans) hate him, his peers have no hesitations in taking advantage of him, and on top of that he probably realizes how over his head this job is and he's probably dealing with the crippling depression that comes with failing publicly at your career.

I mean... Dorion is a bad GM no doubt, but if I'm being honest, I kind of feel bad for the guy. Not enough to make me like him or want to defend any of this team's awful decisions over the past 2 years, but there's a bit of sympathy there from me for him. It must be thoroughly miserable to be him these days.

I honeslty would not be surprised if he resigned in the next year or two.

Well said. There is a part of me that feels for him too. He's said many times that this is his dream job, but really he's stuck with not having a reasonable amount of resources and not getting the fnal say over an owner that proves he has no hockey knowledge every time he speaks.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Waiving Zack Smith was a message to the team that poor play will not be tolerated?

Ceci's poor play though....please ignore that as he is handed a #1 D spot.

 

[SENSARMY18]

Well it looks like the message was sent, big win today. Agree or not the results speak for themselves, I think the guys are going to be fired up to not let last year happen again.

 

[The Assclown]

delete

 

[Karl Prime]

Well it looks like the message was sent, big win today. Agree or not the results speak for themselves, I think the guys are going to be fired up to not let last year happen again.

There are no big wins in the preseason.

 

[Beville]

This is incompetent player management at its absolute finest.



I just can’t get my head around it

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Well it looks like the message was sent, big win today. Agree or not the results speak for themselves, I think the guys are going to be fired up to not let last year happen again.

They can get fired up all they want but you can't win in the NHL with the minimum amount of experience and talent.

 

[DrEasy]

Well it looks like the message was sent, big win today. Agree or not the results speak for themselves, I think the guys are going to be fired up to not let last year happen again.

Yes, clearly the TSN Turning Point of the season and of the franchise right there.

 

[BonkTastic]

Well it looks like the message was sent, big win today. Agree or not the results speak for themselves, I think the guys are going to be fired up to not let last year happen again.

It's the preseason.

Nobody cares - least of all the players.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Uh...obvious troll account is obvious.

Come on guys. Let's not encourage and more of Them to show up.

 

[The Lewler]

Man if the trolls put half as much effort into being good fans as the rest of us , we might have sold out some playoff games.


Am I doing this right ?

 

[Silencio]

It's the preseason.

Nobody cares - least of all the players.

I agree, but then why were people freaking out over a couple of meaningless pre-season losses?

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

It's the preseason.

Nobody cares - least of all the players.

Can we sticky this post until the pre season ends?

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

I agree, but then why were people freaking out over a couple of meaningless pre-season losses?

No idea because there will be plenty of regular season losses to freak out over.

 

[Masked]

There are no big wins in the preseason.

This season every win will be a big win.

But the biggest win of them all will be when someone topples Eugene out of control.

 

[alfstheman]

Cody Ceci is the Pierre Dorion of defensemen.

I disagree.

Ceci would have had to score 50 goals on his own net to get where Dorion is... last season he only scored 27 on his own net

 

[BonkTastic]

I agree, but then why were people freaking out over a couple of meaningless pre-season losses?

Eh, no idea.

Preseason is meaningless across the board, win or loss, to almost everyone except the fringe players trying to make the team.

Established NHLers don't care, most fans don't really care...

 

[alfstheman]

He has the worst boss in his industry, he has literally no help at his job, he is being told to make moves that defy logic and thoroughly contradict industry standards and then publicly lie about them to national media sources,

Its called grow a backbone and tell Melnyk that some of these moves are not going help in any way save money and convince him this will hurt his wallet in the end. Dorions job is to convince Melnyk of this instead of being a yes man agreeing to shoot your foot over and over.


They already tried to trade smith for anything and no one bit so even a toddler would have known waiving him would be stupid. Dorion is to blame here, grab whatever balls he has left and take some responsibility.

 

[UnHappyDude]

What player wouldn't WANT to be waived by this team and claimed by a non-loser team!? If anything this should motivate players to get waived. This was NOT a move that would motivate players; SAD!

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

 

[harrisb]

Its called grow a backbone and tell Melnyk that some of these moves are not going help in any way save money and convince him this will hurt his wallet in the end. Dorions job is to convince Melnyk of this instead of being a yes man agreeing to shoot your foot over and over.


They already tried to trade smith for anything and no one bit so even a toddler would have known waiving him would be stupid. Dorion is to blame here, grab whatever balls he has left and take some responsibility.

Exactly right. Just show him history of some of his moves. The entire Phaneuf saga from beginning to end is an example of this. How much did it cost to not let our existing players contracts expire vs trading for Phaneuf, then retaining on him and now paying Gaborik to not play. If we'd have kept our middling players we could have traded Michalek in particular for an asset or two, thus making the team cheaper in the long run. Melnyk has zero ability to think long term and Pierre is not convincing enough to help him do that.

 

[NorthCoast]

Waiving Zack Smith was a message to the team that poor play will not be tolerated?

Ceci's poor play though....please ignore that as he is handed a #1 D spot.

Lol, and Smith was back with the team playing that night with an A on his sweater. Way to send the message PD.

It wasn't a message, it was a bluff and a bad one. "Play better or else we will send you to a well run team, or if nobody takes you then you will keep playing with the sens because we don't want to pay another salary"

They tried to dump the contract, even though it had a 0% chance of getting picked up, without any care about the impact in the room. But whatever, because its likely 100% that anyone in the room that cared will probably not be here within next 12 months.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

If I had to make a prediction, Melnyk made the call to put Smith on waivers. He probably wants to slash money at all costs, and doesn't care about the possible implications of unsuccessfully putting a guy who was never gonna be claimed on waivers.

Dorion had to know there was no market for Smith's contract without something coming back because he's been talking trades with teams for months about Smith. The timing of putting Smith on waivers now to send a message makes zero sense, why not do it at the end of last season or the beginning of training camp? Especially considering the coaching staff is apparently happy with Smith's play so far this training camp.

I assumed they had a trade in the works where we'd take back a contract for Smith and just wanted to do our due diligence before taking back money. To me, that's the only thing that made sense, but I was thinking rationally. This team doesn't act rationally from the standpoint of making the team better or building long term, it operates from the stand point of "how can I save money at the expense of everything else".