Jump to content

Habs sign David Savard


Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:

I can’t really find myself using Dougie Hamilton and David Savard in the same sentence when I see 0 G 0 A and -8 with Tampa last season. I know, he’ll bring more than points, but still. This is a meh for me.

Dougie Hamilton and David Savard are both right-handed defencemen ... seeks OJ to me ... ;)

 

I suspect when anyone thinks of it as Savard replacing Weber it is a "meh" ... the reality is that Weber was unlikely to be directly replaced ... so Savard is just a signing for the D-corps ... and as such pretty decent IMO ... it seems the team is being re-oriented somewhat, with more e phases up front than on D ... but I expect a trade/trades is/are in the works before training camp to add a puck-moving defenceman and a 2/3C ... so the picture is still somewhat incomplete ... my guess is that some combination of Armia, Lehkonen (they hold his rights), Gallagher and Chiarot (with necessary picks and/or prospects) will be moved ... Byron is someone I would try to move (don't see him slotting above the 4th line on this roster and he is pricey for that role ... for two more years) I don't see that being in return for anything useful ... expect it will mean adding an asset to the deal and getting minimal return, or retaining $1-1.7M and getting a 4th line return.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, GHT120 said:

I suspect when anyone thinks of it as Savard replacing Weber it is a "meh" ... the reality is that Weber was unlikely to be directly replaced ... so Savard is just a signing for the D-corps ... and as such pretty decent IMO ...

 

Absolutely, I think at 3.5M/year it was a pretty good signing for the defence corps. I don't think anyone really expected we could replace Weber with 1 signing. Maybe we take a step back this year, maybe not if the kids continue to develop, Hoffman fits in, Romanov steps up, Drouin is comeback player of the year etc. Ok maybe the last part is a bit of a fantasy. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

Absolutely, I think at 3.5M/year it was a pretty good signing for the defence corps. I don't think anyone really expected we could replace Weber with 1 signing. Maybe we take a step back this year, maybe not if the kids continue to develop, Hoffman fits in, Romanov steps up, Drouin is comeback player of the year etc. Ok maybe the last part is a bit of a fantasy. 

 

LOL. To be fair, adding a **functional** Drouin will help here and there. Internal improvement from Suzuki, KK, Evans, and Romanov will also help. Still, right now the team has subtracted both Weber and Danault - two of the single most important cogs in the Run of ‘21 - without replacing them. The need to add a top-4 (or at worst, reliable #5) puck-mover is even more pressing now than it was when we had Weber, because Savard (who I like) is a step back even from the broken-down Weber we saw last season. 

 

The last couple of years, MB made impact trades as well as free agency moves. We need him to pull that off again if we are to avoid at least modest regression.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, GHT120 said:

Dougie Hamilton and David Savard are both right-handed defencemen ... seeks OJ to me ... ;)

 

I suspect when anyone thinks of it as Savard replacing Weber it is a "meh" ... the reality is that Weber was unlikely to be directly replaced ... so Savard is just a signing for the D-corps ... and as such pretty decent IMO ... 

 

I did not even think of Weber when I thought of this signing as being a “meh” signing. Again, it was his 0 goals, 0 assists and -8 statistics from his most recent time in Tampa. 
 

Personally I tend to encourage Habs players and get annoyed when fans put our own players down. This is simply not a signing that excites me. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, xXx..CK..xXx said:

 

I did not even think of Weber when I thought of this signing as being a “meh” signing. Again, it was his 0 goals, 0 assists and -8 statistics from his most recent time in Tampa. 
 

Personally I tend to encourage Habs players and get annoyed when fans put our own players down. This is simply not a signing that excites me. 

Was it Savard that crushed Suzuki a couple times with big hits? Or was that a Vegas d-man?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:

... Personally I tend to encourage Habs players and get annoyed when fans put our own players down. This is simply not a signing that excites me. 

Completely understand ... but in the context of the 2nd/3rd pairing holes behind Petry on the right-side it is IMO a solid signing .. and not all signings can be exciting ... but sans Savard the defence corps would look REALLY problematic ... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

Completely understand ... but in the context of the 2nd/3rd pairing holes behind Petry on the right-side it is IMO a solid signing .. and not all signings can be exciting ... but sans Savard the defence corps would look REALLY problematic ... 

 

Totally agree, the signing filled a hole at a reasonable cost. There is nothing exciting about signing David Savard but he was likely the best available option. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

Totally agree, the signing filled a hole at a reasonable cost. There is nothing exciting about signing David Savard but he was likely the best available option. 

You have to sign for according to your needs. Not because there was a Costco special. This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense unless they are moving Chiarot or Edmondson.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, hab29RETIRED said:

You have to sign for according to your needs. Not because there was a Costco special. This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense unless they are moving Chiarot or Edmondson.

Ideally you sign for needs ... but availability and willingness to sign is also a major factor ... if you can't fill your need perfectly (or even well) then you have to look at how to do so ... I agree, Savard is a first step ... he fills a relatively similar role to Weber defensively, likely as well they were able to fill it at the moment ... but a couple of more moves are necessary ... IMO a puck-moving defenceman and a 2/3C to support KK. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, hab29RETIRED said:

You have to sign for according to your needs. Not because there was a Costco special. This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense unless they are moving Chiarot or Edmondson.

 

I think MB did the best he could with what was available to him. I would love to get Cale Makar, now he would fulfil all their needs on the back end but that is unlikely to happen.  Perhaps a trade will happen at some point,  MB is one GM who is not afraid to pull the trigger. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

Ideally you sign for needs ... but availability and willingness to sign is also a major factor ... if you can't fill your need perfectly (or even well) then you have to look at how to do so ... I agree, Savard is a first step ... he fills a relatively similar role to Weber defensively, likely as well they were able to fill it at the moment ... but a couple of more moves are necessary ... IMO a puck-moving defenceman and a 2/3C to support KK. 

We had almost zero scoring from the D, Weber was one of the few that could score when healthy. It was much more important to get an offensive dman, than another big defensive dman.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, hab29RETIRED said:

We had almost zero scoring from the D, Weber was one of the few that could score when healthy. It was much more important to get an offensive dman, than another big defensive dman.

Don't disagree that on offensive defenceman is needed ... but not certain who was available that would sign with Habs ... I am not MB's biggest fan but I have no doubt he approached Hamilton and Barrie (IMO the two best options for that role) ... letting Savard sign elsewhere wouldn't have fixed the offensive D shortage but would have left the defence overall weaker ... challenge now, and MB admitted as much, is to look for a puck-moving defenceman.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

Don't disagree that on offensive defenceman is needed ... but not certain who was available that would sign with Habs ... I am not MB's biggest fan but I have no doubt he approached Hamilton and Barrie (IMO the two best options for that role) ... letting Savard sign elsewhere wouldn't have fixed the offensive D shortage but would have left the defence overall weaker ... challenge now, and MB admitted as much, is to look for a puck-moving defenceman.

There were dmen like Dunn and Ellis available before the expansion draft.  Waiting for free agency when you will overpay in cap space was a folly, the time to strike was before the expansion draft, not free agency.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, hab29RETIRED said:

There were dmen like Dunn and Ellis available before the expansion draft.  Waiting for free agency when you will overpay in cap space was a folly, the time to strike was before the expansion draft, not free agency.

 

I don't think Dunn (another left defenceman) would have solved the Habs problem.  Ellis has 6 more years at 6.25M, not sure have many expensive contracts for aging defenceman you want to carry. I don't think anybody thinks Savard is the perfect solution.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

I don't think Dunn (another left defenceman) would have solved the Habs problem.  Ellis has 6 more years at 6.25M, not sure have many expensive contracts for aging defenceman you want to carry. I don't think anybody thinks Savard is the perfect solution.

Ellis has term, but a decent cap hit for what he brings, and his contract is better than Weber’s and he’s 36 when the deal is up - not 40. I’d take that contract over Gallagher- even more so, when you consider our need.
Dunn may be a LD, but would be our highest scoring dman and best puck mover after Petry.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, hab29RETIRED said:

Ellis has term, but a decent cap hit for what he brings, and his contract is better than Weber’s and he’s 36 when the deal is up - not 40. I’d take that contract over Gallagher- even more so, when you consider our need.
Dunn may be a LD, but would be our highest scoring dman and best puck mover after Petry.

 

 

I am not crazy about Gallagher's contract either, I suspect the last 2 or 3 years might not be good value as there will be a lot of wear and tear on his body by then. Hope I am wrong.  No question Ryan Ellis is a good player but perhaps it's a difficult contract to add when there is still some uncertainty about Weber. If you knew for sure he would never be back then it might have been something worth exploring. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dom L the athletic, not big on Savard deal;

 ..."I don’t think he’s a top-four defender anymore and at his age, a four-year deal carries a lot of unnecessary risk. He’s already not worth $3.5 million, what’s he going to be worth at 34? Savard’s best comps are Roman Polak, Braydon Coburn and Alexei Emelin."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, DON said:

Dom L the athletic, not big on Savard deal;

 ..."I don’t think he’s a top-four defender anymore and at his age, a four-year deal carries a lot of unnecessary risk. He’s already not worth $3.5 million, what’s he going to be worth at 34? Savard’s best comps are Roman Polak, Braydon Coburn and Alexei Emelin."

 

This Dom L seems to hate the Habs’ offseason moves, eh?

 

I hope Savard is not a desperation signing. The Habs’ moves over the last couple of seasons to acquire defencemen (e.g., Chiarot and Edmundson) have proven to be very canny, so we’ll see. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, tomh009 said:

Jeff Petry begs to disagree.

 

The point is that it’s a 34-year-old Petry and no one else. I like the “Clydesdales” but our lack of offensive push from the back end was almost comical, especially in the later rounds when we faced teams that actually did get a proper level of offence from their D. Weber’s shot was useless most of last season but with him out of the picture, this weakness has only gotten worse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

Jeff Petry begs to disagree.

Referring to playoffs. Petry was hurt as well, but his play dropped off in the second half even before he got hurt. I think we need more than the 12 goals from the D that Petry provides.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

@The Chicoutimi Cucumber what is a “Clydesdales” ?

image.png

 

In sports metaphors/analogies, they are big, powerful, and not terribly agile

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

This Dom L seems to hate the Habs’ offseason moves, eh?

 

Cut off the sentence after 'Habs' and you'll also have an accurate statement.  He views things through a very analytical lens and a stay-at-home defender rarely grades well on that scale.  Having said that, a four-year deal certainly does carry some risk; while Chiarot and Edmundson are making the same amount, their deals were signed when they were younger.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...