Habs News: Contract Signings, Folin, Thompson, Weal, Marc Bergevin’s Season, Jesperi Kotkaniemi Surgery, Sean Burke Candidate for GM in Edmonton
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — Marc Bergevin got his off-season started quickly as the Canadiens announced that they signed Christian Folin, Nate Thompson, and Jordan Weal to new contracts in the last 11 days.
Folin signed a one-year contract worth $800,000 on April 18th. He was acquired on February 9th along with Dale Weise from the Philadelphia Flyers for David Schlemko and Byron Froese. It took 17 days before Folin made his way into the lineup, but once he made his team debut on February 26th, he played every game until the end of the season. In 19 games with Montreal, Folin recorded no goals, four assists and averaged 15:49 ice time. I see him competing for a third-pairing role next season.
Thompson signed a one-year contract worth $1,000,000 on Thursday. He was acquired on February 11th along with a fifth round pick in 2019 from the Los Angeles Kings for a fourth-round pick in 2019. In his 25 games with Montreal, Thompson was playing on the fourth line, on the penalty kill and was also used for key face-offs. It was apparent that Thompson really enjoyed his time with the Habs and took a pay reduction in order to sign a new contract with the team.
Weal signed a two-year contract worth $2,800,000 on Friday. He was acquired on February 25th from the Arizona Coyotes for Michael Chaput. In his 16 games with the Canadiens, Weal had a bottom six role in even strength, the top power play unit and had a 55.1 percent success rate in faceoffs. Weal also took a pay reduction in his new contract. “It was everything. It was coaching, it was the guys, it was the city, the fans, the whole culture. Put it all together and it’s tough to beat” said Weal on his decision to remain with the team.
Urgency of Signings
I have no issues with the three contracts that were signed. They are low-risk signings with a small cap hit. If Folin or Thompson don’t meet expectations, it will be easy to get them off the books via waivers or assignment to Laval with very little impact to the salary cap. Weal’s 10 points in 16 games with Montreal, prorates to 51 points on a 82 game season, which is good total for a bottom-six forward.
I question the urgency in signing the three players. If I was in the shoes of a general manager, I would start thinking about signing depth players once the Stanley Cup is awarded. At that point, all 31 teams will start thinking about next season’s roster and start making decisions on it’s players and needs. And that can potentially make some more interesting players available.
I would also ask myself “Will there be teams knocking on the door to sign Folin and Thompson on July 1st?” and “How easily would I be able to replace them if I lose them in free agency?” If I was worried of the risk, I would sign them to deals at the end of June.
Bergevin has a tendency to sign depth players early during the off season. Last season, he signed Antti Niemi to a contract on May 5th, and two years ago, he signed Andreas Martinsen to a contact on June 5th. Martinsen was traded to the Blackhawks before the start of the regular season, therefore an early signing doesn’t guarantee a roster spot for the upcoming season.
Bergevin’s Bounce Back
The Canadiens got an additional 25 points in the standings compared to the previous season. I don’t think that Geoff Molson would have accepted another dismal season like in 2017-18. Bergevin had to make changes to turn things around, and I think he did a good job this past season.
Bergevin’s acquisitions via trade of Max Domi and Tomas Tatar played a key role this season in the team’s turnaround.
Joel Armia was another good acquisition made last season. The Canadiens gave up Simon Bourque and took Steve Mason off the books from Winnipeg in exchange for Armia and two draft picks. Bourque didn’t play with Jets organization as he decided to step out of professional hockey and joined the Concordia Stingers.
In a world of ego’s, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Karl Alzner and David Schlemko were sent to the AHL. This has nothing to do with the players themselves, but they didn’t fit in the system that the team wanted to play. It’s not often that a general manager would make such moves to correct their own mistakes.
Shea Weber’s nomination as captain and hiring Luke Richardson as assistant coach in charge of the defencemen were also key to the team’s improvement. Weber had the respect of the entire team from the first time that he stepped in the dressing room. This season, he also introduced the Game of Thrones cape that was given to the hero of the game. Richardson wasn’t given a strong defensive unit to work with, especially on the left side, and thanks to his work with the players, they played better than expected.
It wasn’t a perfect season for Bergevin. At the end of it all, the Canadiens did miss the playoffs for the third time in the last four years. He failed to acquire a top defenceman to play on the left side, which caused Victor Mete to play in the top pairing, a role that he’s not ready for. I think that losing Nikita Scherbak, Jacob De La Rose, and Kenny Agostino on waivers was poor asset management by the General Manager.
Kotkaniemi Sidelined
On Tuesday, the Canadiens announced that forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. It was a chronic, minor injury that did not stop him from playing this past season.
Kotkaniemi made an impressive debut with the organization. The storyline during preseason was whether it would be better for him to return to Finland for his development but I think the team ended up making the right decision. He had a good season of learning with the Canadiens that will help him progress going forward.
There was a lot of questions when Claude Julien didn’t dress Kotkaniemi because he saw that the player was tired. We progressively saw his ice time reduced for the balance of the season, and Kotkaniemi didn’t seem the same after that point.
Kotkaniemi played a lot of hockey last year, which increases the chance of injury. The good news is that the surgery isn’t expected to delay his off-season training.
Burke with Oilers?
On Saturday, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reported on Twitter that Sean Burke is in the short list of candidates still in the running to fill the Oilers General Manager role. Burke is currently a professional scout for the Habs covering the western regions. Prior to joining the Canadiens, Burke was an assistant General Manager with the Coyotes.
Burke has experience in the GM role with Hockey Canada. He had the task of building Canada’s men hockey team without any NHL players for the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang. The team that he assembled won a bronze medal.
Burke was co-GM with Martin Brodeur of Team Canada in last year’s IIHF World Hockey Championship, where they finished fourth place in the tournament.
By Chris G., Senior Writer.
with notes from Elias Laradi
All Habs Hockey Magazine
Copyright © 2019 Rocket Sports
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