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Chris Wideman (?!?) extended for 2 years


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https://www.tsn.ca/montreal-canadiens-chris-wideman-extension-1.1809188

 

Cheap depth, presumably. SN has him at $750/775: https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/canadiens-sign-chris-wideman-to-two-year-contract-extension/

 

I like offensive defencemen and have no beef in particular against Wideman, but given that he is closely associated with last season’s debacle - the sort of guy you would move along from, if your goal is to turn the page on a horrendous season - this does make me wonder if management is thinking ‘status quo’ for next year. Which would make Tank Nation quite happy, I suspect.

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Agreed ... good NHL 6/7D depth (likely a 5/6 next season, possibly even a 4 depending on how the summer goes) but at a fully buriable cap hit if the defence improves or he regresses.

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I really like this at these numbers.

as the main page article points out, better to have him in and out of lineup than a prospect on a nightly basis.

He showed some willingness to stand up for teammates and obv has the puck moving ability that is needed for PP.

Will be easy to move him via trade or bury him in minors  if youngsters progress quickly enough that he impeded progress.  Now,  if he plays top 4 I may not like this deal as much.

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AAV and term look good. Presumably St Louis has indicated that he can work with Wideman moving forward.

 

If St Louis can help Wideman to improve his defensive play, he could be a very solid bottom-pairing puck-moving D-man.

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first signing for team tank 2022-2023.

 

I am happy Hugh-Gort is methodically building a team to yield a top draft pick next year :)

 

I like Wideman, He had decent numbers and showed he was a team player by sticking up for his teammates instead of turning "a Petry eye" and pretending he didn't see

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  • tomh009 changed the title to Chris Wideman (?!?) extended for 2 years
2 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

AAV and term look good. Presumably St Louis has indicated that he can work with Wideman moving forward.

 

If St Louis can help Wideman to improve his defensive play, he could be a very solid bottom-pairing puck-moving D-man.

 

I doubt a 31-year-old is going to get a whole lot better at the defensive side of the game. Especially when you consider that concerns over that part of the game are what led to his exiting the NHL in the first place. If it were a matter of motivation and coaching, he’d have mastered it by now.

 

He is what he is at this point.

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I truly hope this means that any RHD that needs to play in Laval next season will, instead of playing sheltered bottom pair minutes in the NHL. For example, I hope Barron plays in the NHL next season if he is ready but would rather see him solidify his game in the AHL as needed.

 

If only there was a hockey trade to send Petry away

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I kinda flip-flopped on Wideman.

 

Wanted him simply gone, but supposedly he is good presence (some young player called him funniest teammate he has had) in lockerroom and given where team is, am all for the cheap signing in rebuilding year. 

 

Will be tough to stomach his defensive play (or lack of) but maybe his offense will offset that bit.

 

 

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Given the cap situation, makes sense to cheaply extend a known quantity. It really does seem like Petry may be gone.

 

Edit: My comment about Petry isn't really in combination with Wideman being extended. Just an offhand musing...

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25 minutes ago, DON said:

Will be tough to stomach his defensive play (or lack of) but maybe his offense will offset that bit.

That would be the case for nearly every offensive D-man.

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3 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

https://www.tsn.ca/montreal-canadiens-chris-wideman-extension-1.1809188

 

Cheap depth, presumably. SN has him at $750/775: https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/canadiens-sign-chris-wideman-to-two-year-contract-extension/

 

I like offensive defencemen and have no beef in particular against Wideman, but given that he is closely associated with last season’s debacle - the sort of guy you would move along from, if your goal is to turn the page on a horrendous season - this does make me wonder if management is thinking ‘status quo’ for next year. Which would make Tank Nation quite happy, I suspect.

I really don’t like this signing - probably the first move by the management team I don’t like. At least it’s cheap- not a stupid term or as much money as we handed out to Savard and Hoffman last summer. 
 

He’s not bad as a 7th dman, but he is not someone I’d want paired with any of our young dmen. With young players, you want veterans that will shelter them a bit, and be able to cover up their mistakes. Wideman is a guy that the kids will need to bail out on a regular basis if they are paired with him.

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2 minutes ago, hab29RETIRED said:

I really don’t like this signing - probably the first move by the management team I don’t like. At least it’s cheap- not a stupid term or as much money as we handed out to Savard and Hoffman last summer. 
 

He’s not bad as a 7th dman, but he is not someone I’d want paired with any of our young dmen. With young players, you want veterans that will shelter them a bit, and be able to cover up their mistakes. Wideman is a guy that the kids will need to bail out on a regular basis if they are paired with him.

 

I'm not a big Wideman fan by any stretch but I think he's there to be the 7th guy in a perfect world that rotates in here and there when injuries come up or to try to help the power play.  For two years at the minimum (including 2023-24 when his AAV will be below the minimum salary), there's value in having that on the roster, especially with the Habs being tight to the cap.

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1 hour ago, dlbalr said:

 

I'm not a big Wideman fan by any stretch but I think he's there to be the 7th guy in a perfect world that rotates in here and there when injuries come up or to try to help the power play.  For two years at the minimum (including 2023-24 when his AAV will be below the minimum salary), there's value in having that on the roster, especially with the Habs being tight to the cap.

As long as he is used as a 7th dman. But I really don’t want to see him paired with a Harris, Barron, or Guhle.  
 

I also do agree that he is an affordable option, and would rather have him than us chasing an older free agent and signing them to an over-priced contract with too much term - we have enough of those.
 

I think we eventually need to get better QUALITY experienced puck moving dman, but I think we need to ensure we are getting them at the right time and age (ie players who will be effective 4-5 years from now). I wouldn’t be opposed to bringing in a and spending for a more experienced dman, if we can move some other older guys on longer term deals like Petry, Gallagher, Hoffman, and of course the Weber contract. That would allow more flexibility on a go forward basis. I still think Petry and even Gallagher can bring hood a decent return, but we probably aren’t going to get much, or may have to take something bad in return for Hoffman.
 

the other big contract that will weigh us down is Price, but I don’t think there will be any option other than using having to use LTIR for him. There also isn’t much we are even going to know about his situation until training camp at the earliest.

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3 minutes ago, hab29RETIRED said:

As long as he is used as a 7th dman. But I really don’t want to see him paired with a Harris, Barron, or Guhle.  
 

I also do agree that he is an affordable option, and would rather have him than us chasing an older free agent and signing them to an over-priced contract with too much term - we have enough of those.
 

I think we eventually need to get better QUALITY experienced puck moving dman, but I think we need to ensure we are getting them at the right time and age (ie players who will be effective 4-5 years from now). I wouldn’t be opposed to bringing in a and spending for a more experienced dman, if we can move some other older guys on longer term deals like Petry, Gallagher, Hoffman, and of course the Weber contract. That would allow more flexibility on a go forward basis. I still think Petry and even Gallagher can bring hood a decent return, but we probably aren’t going to get much, or may have to take something bad in return for Hoffman.
 

the other big contract that will weigh us down is Price, but I don’t think there will be any option other than using having to use LTIR for him. There also isn’t much we are even going to know about his situation until training camp at the earliest.

 

I like your point about a reliable stay-at-home guy being a better depth signing, as it would better complement our rookie D-men, both of whom have puck-moving credentials. That being said, a borderline-league-minimum contract for Wideman is a reasonable move in and of itself. We should remember that all three of those kids may still need AHL time, and Wideman gives us a puck-moving option in their stead.

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There was much love for Dougie Hamilton on this forum last summer, but the Devils snapped him up at $9M AAV for seven years.

 

His offensive production has been a pretty close match to that of Wideman. He's got a somewhat better plus-minus but the Devils' goaltending also didn't struggle as badly as the Habs' did. Not claiming that Wideman is as good as Hamilton, but the difference really isn't anywhere near as stark as one would guess based on the contracts.

 

I'm much, much happier with two years of Wideman at $750K and change, than seven years of Hamilton at $9M.

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1 hour ago, tomh009 said:

There was much love for Dougie Hamilton on this forum last summer, but the Devils snapped him up at $9M AAV for seven years.

 

His offensive production has been a pretty close match to that of Wideman. He's got a somewhat better plus-minus but the Devils' goaltending also didn't struggle as badly as the Habs' did. Not claiming that Wideman is as good as Hamilton, but the difference really isn't anywhere near as stark as one would guess based on the contracts.

 

I'm much, much happier with two years of Wideman at $750K and change, than seven years of Hamilton at $9M.

 

hear ye, hear ye!

 

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4 hours ago, tomh009 said:

That would be the case for nearly every offensive D-man.

Makar, Fox, Josi, Hedman cant defend?

 

So i disagree 100%, BUT, it may be the same for all $800,000/yr offensive d-men though.

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We don’t expect to compete for a while so a 2 year contract is perfect and his offensive style should fit our new identity well. 
 

We should finish bottom 10 (hopefully we get first pick again), for 2 seasons then I expect to be a bubble team for a couple of years. 
 

Wideman is a stopgap

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1 hour ago, DON said:

Makar, Fox, Josi, Hedman cant defend?

 

So i disagree 100%, BUT, it may be the same for all $800,000/yr offensive d-men though.

I did say "nearly" so let's leave the elite players like Makar out of this.

 

In general, offensive D-men spend more time attacking and less time defending. The total opposite of stay-at-home D-men.

 

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1 hour ago, tomh009 said:

In general, offensive D-men spend more time attacking and less time defending. The total opposite of stay-at-home D-men.

 

Agree, i just mean a good offensive d-man isnt necessarily a "Wideman, Souray, or MAB" ... and thinking of the Keith-Suter-Lidstrom-Markov-Weber etc we were all good at both ends of rink.

Am sure are lots of d-men in junior putting up good numbers will turn out just like Wideman and just dont have the hockey IQ or smarts to defend well at the pro-level (those guys should be wingers perhaps, easiest job on the ice:popcorn:).

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5 hours ago, tomh009 said:

There was much love for Dougie Hamilton on this forum last summer, but the Devils snapped him up at $9M AAV for seven years.

 

His offensive production has been a pretty close match to that of Wideman. He's got a somewhat better plus-minus but the Devils' goaltending also didn't struggle as badly as the Habs' did. Not claiming that Wideman is as good as Hamilton, but the difference really isn't anywhere near as stark as one would guess based on the contracts.

 

I'm much, much happier with two years of Wideman at $750K and change, than seven years of Hamilton at $9M.

 

Agreed,  a lot of posters here wanted the Habs to sign Doug Hamilton, no way is he worth 9M/year. 

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1 minute ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

Agreed,  a lot of posters here wanted the Habs to sign Doug Hamilton, no way is he worth 9M/year. 

The $9M AAV is bad. The remaining six years of the contract are just plain ugly.

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