RDS: Ryan O’Byrne sous contrat
From Canadiens.com:
Canadiens GM Bob Gainey announced Wednesday the signing of defenseman Ryan O’Byrne to a three-year contract (2008-09 to 2010-11). As per club policy, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“Ryan acquired a great deal of NHL experience last season. He is part of our young core of defensemen and certainly has the potential of becoming a very good NHL player. He is big, intense and his physical play are important assets for our team,’’ said Bob Gainey.
O’Byrne, who will turn 24 on July 19, will begin his second season in the NHL this fall. In 2007-08, he scored seven points (one goal, six assists) and served 45 penalty minutes in 33 games with the Canadiens, averaging 13:23 minutes of ice time per game. The 6-foot-5, 228-pound defenseman also played 20 games with the Hamilton Bulldogs, posting eight points (2-6-8), a plus-4 differential and 49 penalty minutes. He was named to the Canadian AHL All-Star Team.
AND
Shawn Belle under contractThe Canadiens also announced Wednesday the signing of defenseman Shawn Belle to a one-year contract (2008-09). Belle, 23, was acquired from the Minnesota Wild on July 11 in return for forward Corey Locke.
Habster:
At $2.85 million over 3 years or a cap hit of $ 950,000 per season, Gainey made a solid, smart deal for a very promising young defenseman who could be patrolling the Habs blueline for years to come.
Unless O’Byrne has a total collapse at training camp or is injured, he will make the Canadiens opening day roster. He will either be Hamrlik’s defense partner on the second pairing where he looked really comfortable (he was a plus/even player in 19 of 20 games) toward the end of the season when Komisarek was injured and Josh Gorges was moved up to the top pairing. There is also the possibility that he is placed on the third pairing with Francis Bouillon and Gorges is moved up to play with Roman Hamrlik. Either way, O’Byrne is here to stay and should continue his steady development.
According to RDS, O’Byrne will make $700,000 this season, $725,000 in 2009-’10 and $1.4 million in the final season of the deal. There was no mention if it was a one or two way contract but at the above mentioned salaries, I would assume the deal is one way.
Here’s where I put on my Capologist hat and do some math. With a cap hit of $950,000 (the average amount over the entire contract) per season for the O’Byrne contract, Bob Gainey has approximately $6.5 million left to spend. If Mats Sundin does decide to sign with the Canadiens and wants to make $7-$7.5 million per season, then Gainey has to dump some salary from the roster.
Prime candidates for demotion or to be waiver are Mathieu Dandenault ($1.75 million), Steve Begin ($1.057 million) or God forbid, even Guillaume Latendresse ($850,000).
Placing Dandenault on waivers would be the most logical move to make and would gauge if there was any interest in him from other teams. There are presently 10 teams with $10 million or more to spend with two teams (Atlanta and LA Kings)that have to spend up to the league minimum. One of these teams could have interest in a serviceable player like Dandenault who can play at forward or on defense.
If there isn’t any interest in Dandenault and he passed through waivers, then Gainey would be able to demote Dandenault to Hamilton. I would be more hesitant to part with Steve Begin and his all out effort/great PK work. Demoting Latendresse could be the other option and honestly would be beneficial for his development but he only makes $850,000 so it wouldn’t free up a lot of money.
The Shawn Belle deal is a safe one year deal which allows the Canadiens to see what Belle can do at the AHL and/or NHL level. He hasn’t really had a fair opportunity to display his hockey skills at the NHL so taking it slow and easy is the smart approach for Bob Gainey.