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Habs sign Antoine Waked to 3 year ELC


Commandant

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1 hour ago, Commandant said:

http://www.tsn.ca/canadiens-sign-free-agent-f-waked-1.737569

 

The 20-year-old Waked scored 39 goals and added 41 assists over 67 games with the QMJHL's Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in 2016-17, his fourth season with the club. 

he seems to have had a real breakout year, the other 3 he was nothing special. Where was he before the Q? Is this a one off year or is he for real?

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28 minutes ago, habs rule said:

he seems to have had a real breakout year, the other 3 he was nothing special. Where was he before the Q? Is this a one off year or is he for real?

 

This is a legit concern for me.  I'm wary of any kid who does nothing for 3 years and then scores in his 19/20 year old year, especially one who does it through size and strength.  Its man amongst boys syndrome and that applies to the WHL and OHL too. If a guy is productive for 2-3 years i have less skepticism. 

 

That said, he doesn't cost an asset to sign, so meh, low risk move. 

 

31 minutes ago, sbhatt said:

I generally eye numbers put up in the 'Q' with a great deal of skepticism, as it tends to have a lot of floater-friendly hockey that leads to padded stats.

 

That was true in the past, I'm not sure its true now, as the Q has less goals per game than both Ontario and the WHL. 

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I'm all for taking a chance on an unsigned prospect.  The risk is very low and only takes up one of the positions on the team's 50 player protected list.

 

That said, I would hope the Habs would be targeting CENTERS not wingers!  That's the only thing that's a little disappointing to me about this move.  The team's prospect list is not very good and they should be desperate to stock up on centers. 

 

I was reading an article today about a big Swedish prospect that the Red Wings and other NHL team are targeting to sign as a UFA.  The kid is 6'5" and around 220 pounds,turns 22 next month and the Wings assistant GM describes him as a good two way center who also plays wing.  That's exactly what the Habs should be looking for, but I suspect the kid will sign with Detroit because of their strong Swedish influence. Other teams I heard are interested in him are Chicago and Nashville. 

 

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2017/04/red_wings_pursuing_big_swedish.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+detroit-redwings+(Detroit+Red+Wings+-+MLive.com)

 

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I read somewhere that a lot of teams have shown interest in Ejdsell.  The one concern is that at 22 (he'll turn 22 in June), he still has hardly played past the Allsvenskan.  He may be NHL-sized but in terms of competition level, he's a ways behind other potential prospects at that age.

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7 hours ago, habscout said:

I'm all for taking a chance on an unsigned prospect.  The risk is very low and only takes up one of the positions on the team's 50 player protected list.

 

That said, I would hope the Habs would be targeting CENTERS not wingers!  That's the only thing that's a little disappointing to me about this move.  The team's prospect list is not very good and they should be desperate to stock up on centers. 

 

I was reading an article today about a big Swedish prospect that the Red Wings and other NHL team are targeting to sign as a UFA.  The kid is 6'5" and around 220 pounds,turns 22 next month and the Wings assistant GM describes him as a good two way center who also plays wing.  That's exactly what the Habs should be looking for, but I suspect the kid will sign with Detroit because of their strong Swedish influence. Other teams I heard are interested in him are Chicago and Nashville. 

 

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2017/04/red_wings_pursuing_big_swedish.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+detroit-redwings+(Detroit+Red+Wings+-+MLive.com)

 

You think undrafted kids are likely to become a top six centre?

Two way centre sound like what Habs have lots of, need a offensively skilled scorer/playmaker. And big as he is, can he keep pace in NHL?

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10 hours ago, habscout said:

I'm all for taking a chance on an unsigned prospect.  The risk is very low and only takes up one of the positions on the team's 50 player protected list.

 

That said, I would hope the Habs would be targeting CENTERS not wingers!  That's the only thing that's a little disappointing to me about this move.  The team's prospect list is not very good and they should be desperate to stock up on centers. 

 

I was reading an article today about a big Swedish prospect that the Red Wings and other NHL team are targeting to sign as a UFA.  The kid is 6'5" and around 220 pounds,turns 22 next month and the Wings assistant GM describes him as a good two way center who also plays wing.  That's exactly what the Habs should be looking for, but I suspect the kid will sign with Detroit because of their strong Swedish influence. Other teams I heard are interested in him are Chicago and Nashville. 

 

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2017/04/red_wings_pursuing_big_swedish.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+detroit-redwings+(Detroit+Red+Wings+-+MLive.com)

 

 

One guy we should be all over is Tyler Boland. 

 

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3 hours ago, DON said:

You think undrafted kids are likely to become a top six centre?

 

Undrafted kids are unlikely to even make the NHL, thats centre, RW, LW, D, G... those who make it are the exception, not the rule. 

 

That said, signings of undrafteds are no risk. 

 

Draft picks are two years away from the AHL, and our AHL team is weak at C now.  There is no risk to giving a promising undrafted centre a contract, a chance to learn in the AHL, and who knows what you will get after that. 

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10 hours ago, Commandant said:

One guy we should be all over is Tyler Boland.

 

He's at least a centre but the same concerns exist with regards to not being that good of a player for three years and then magically putting it together this season.  It all depends on how many of the RFAs they don't want to qualify (there are a lot of potential NQ's) to see how many spots they have for undrafted free agents.

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9 hours ago, dlbalr said:

 

He's at least a centre but the same concerns exist with regards to not being that good of a player for three years and then magically putting it together this season.  It all depends on how many of the RFAs they don't want to qualify (there are a lot of potential NQ's) to see how many spots they have for undrafted free agents.

 

Similar concerns, although he was 16 points better than Waked in his third year and 23 better this year.  So always a step ahead of him. 

 

Still I'd rather grab the UDFA in the position of biggest need. 

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52 minutes ago, Commandant said:

Similar concerns, although he was 16 points better than Waked in his third year and 23 better this year.  So always a step ahead of him. 

 

Still I'd rather grab the UDFA in the position of biggest need. 

 

Boland was 16 points better than Waked in 2015-16 but he also played in 19 more games.  In terms of points per game, Boland was .81 and Waked .79 that year which is no real difference.

 

I agree that centre is an area of need but for UDFAs - especially those at the junior level - I'm more interested in filling a specific void on the farm than NHL needs (I'm admittedly a little weird with that approach) as the odds of Boland, Waked, or anyone else in this pool making any sort of real NHL impact is slim.  Focus at centre in the draft with prospects that actually should have some form of NHL potential.  I'm not going to complain if they sign Boland but I look at him and Waked as players that are more likely to be regulars in Brampton next year than in Laval with neither of them really having NHL potential.

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