Maybe down the road he will be partner's with le jeune Veber on the blue line?
If Diaz outplays "Le jeune Vébère", I think the Leafs or the Rangers will be looking to trade for Weber. Unless, once again, the Habs ship him off to a Western team.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The man has never played in the nhl, which is an entirely different game. We'll see what happens.
Like another poster said...no risk is involved in such a move, only reward, which is why it's a good one. No assets were moved.
Nice to see Gauthier exploring other options instead of just waiting for a trade and the UFA pool. We are paper thin in minor league depth since a good chunk of our ahl prospects have graduated or been traded.
I really like Gauthier's work so far. With his pursuit if Diaz and the rumors about Emelin, I hope this indicates that Gauthier recognizes the lack of mobility on the back end and intends to do something about it.
Also I don't understand the jump in logic from signing a player who's never been in the nhl to trading Spacek and Weber. Just because Weber and Diaz are both swiss, doesn't mean that management wants to replace the former with the latter, nor does it mean that they are the same player. I really hate when we get a swiss d-man and people compare them to Streit just because they have the same nationality, it makes no sense.
If Diaz outplays "Le jeune Vébère", I think the Leafs or the Rangers will be looking to trade for Weber. Unless, once again, the Habs ship him off to a Western team.
They have a meeting with Markov next week. Stay patient. They won't settle everything in a week. There is a whole summer ahead of the management and they should use it to explore their options rather than just making quick decisions.
Probably similar outlook to Engqvist, looks to play in Hamilton next season with an eye to compete for an NHL spot the year after and if everything works out for him, a regular spot the season after. These kinds of free agent sigining are a good way to regenerate organizational depth with the posiblity of getting a free asset and the off-chance of hitting a Franzen or Streit type home-run (both were taken as mature draft choices but there is little difference between that and free agency regarding over 20 year old European professionals.
I assume we should not see Wiz back and Gauthier will only work on bringing back Markov, and maybe of of Gill or Hamrlik. So can we guess something like :
markov-subban-gorges-weber-emelin-spacek-gill or hamrlik-diaz
Damn Id like to see Wiz back but... Maybe Im wrong.
Probably similar outlook to Engqvist, looks to play in Hamilton next season with an eye to compete for an NHL spot the year after and if everything works out for him, a regular spot the season after. These kinds of free agent sigining are a good way to regenerate organizational depth with the posiblity of getting a free asset and the off-chance of hitting a Franzen or Streit type home-run (both were taken as mature draft choices but there is little difference between that and free agency regarding over 20 year old European professionals.
That makes the most sense to me, and with the way Montreal plundered Hamilton this year, Hamilton is in need of fresh blood.
Don't get me wrong, this seems like a good signing, I just wonder whom is this really bad news for? Wiz? Weber? Carle? Klubertanz?
I think having him and Weber around probably makes Wisniewski not return if Markov is signed. Carle at this point, I think he may not be re-signed. Kluberantz will probably get a long look in camp after a solid season. I think you'll see Diaz, Kluberants and Nash as top candidates for the 1st call up spot in Hamilton.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeThreeKings
A non-story imo.
non story?
Last edited by PyrettaBlaze: 05-13-2011 at 11:19 AM.
Everyone is freaking out saying it's the end of Weber with the Habs. I mean come on guys, they just signed a guy they liked at the Worlds. It does not mean a massive player movement until they see this guy play in North America.
They scouted the World Championships. Saw a guy they thought had potential and signed him. I am pretty sure they didn't say "Let's sign this Swiss guy and trade Weber!"
Everyone is freaking out saying it's the end of Weber with the Habs. I mean come on guys, they just signed a guy they liked at the Worlds. It does not mean a massive player movement until they see this guy play in North America.
They scouted the World Championships. Saw a guy they thought had potential and signed him. I am pretty sure they didn't say "Let's sign this Swiss guy and trade Weber!"
I agree with that, but it sounds like a solid signing.
Everyone is freaking out saying it's the end of Weber with the Habs. I mean come on guys, they just signed a guy they liked at the Worlds. It does not mean a massive player movement until they see this guy play in North America.
They scouted the World Championships. Saw a guy they thought had potential and signed him. I am pretty sure they didn't say "Let's sign this Swiss guy and trade Weber!"
I don't think it has anything to do with the end of Weber, heck the guy probably signed here because of him. However IMHO if there is a deal to be made by Gauthier this off season and a young player is to be moved you gotta think Weber will be the guy going.
As for Diaz it's most probably Hamilton for a couple of years, we might lose Henry or Carle so Gauthier is making sure there is some depth in Hamilton for the future
I don't think it has anything to do with the end of Weber, heck the guy probably signed here because of him. However IMHO if there is a deal to be made by Gauthier this off season and a young player is to be moved you gotta think Weber will be the guy going.
As for Diaz it's most probably Hamilton for a couple of years, we might lose Henry or Carle so Gauthier is making sure there is some depth in Hamilton for the future
Isn't Carle a RFA? I think they should trade him to a weaker team give the guy a chance at NHL. I don't think he will make it in Montreal.
Everyone is freaking out saying it's the end of Weber with the Habs. I mean come on guys, they just signed a guy they liked at the Worlds. It does not mean a massive player movement until they see this guy play in North America.
They scouted the World Championships. Saw a guy they thought had potential and signed him. I am pretty sure they didn't say "Let's sign this Swiss guy and trade Weber!"
I agree with what you're saying but look at the threads on our board right now, Patrick Roy GM vs Coach, CFL draft, wishing PK Subban happy birthday etc... its a sad time around here at least we have something hockey related to talk about.
Second case is Rafael Diaz. Diaz is a young and still improving defenseman. Right now he might be the best Swiss defenseman in the Swiss league but definitely is one of the best (there are probably three, maximum four other Swiss d-men in our league who are as good as Diaz). In my eyes Diaz plays extremely smart and can play a high-tempo-game. He is also on the radar of NHL-scouts and he deserves it. He is not a spectacular player on first sight – he plays very well in a more quiet way but he does it on a really high level and he does he so smart! I do recommend to follow the development of Diaz to all NHL-organisations. If he can improve in the strength- and conditioning-department he definitely will get a chance for a try-out in the NHL. I like Diaz so much that I present him the “label” as a so called franchise-player for the Swiss-League. Is he overpaid with 600k per season (for my readers from outside Switzerland you must know that with 600k he belongs to the very best paid players in our league)? No, he is not overpaid. Maybe they could have signed him for a little less plus incentives but this maybe is a too big risk. They could have lost their franchise-player for just a handful of bucks because definitely nobody else would have signed him for less than 520 or 530 or so. In my eyes it was a wise decision from Zug to sign him as their future franchise-player. He is expensive, yes - so what? If a team like the ZSC lions complains about the price of Diaz and then the next day hires Gustafsson as their new coach? Common... Diaz is young, has energy, plays already on a top-level and it’s very likely that he will become even better. It’s always the big question whether you should pay extra for older players who did already win a lot in their career or if you should pay for actual performance and potential. I definitely would choose the second and Rafael Diaz belongs to this second category. Well done Zug! Don’t get me wrong, the best player in Zug is Canadien Josh Holden and he is now not the best paid player anymore but this is not unfair and probably doesn’t make Holden too angry because Josh Holden knows: The market tells so. Josh Holden counts as an import-player. Import-players come from all over the world and to replace players like Josh Holden you just need good scouting and good networking. Yes, it’s not so easy to replace the quality of Josh Holden. That’s why he deserves to have an above-average salary compared to other import-players and he has this but I do insist: You can replace Josh Holden, you have a fair chance if you do your homework. Can you replace Rafael Diaz? No, you can’t – he is one of the top-five Swiss defensemen in our league and we have 10 teams…so… you have to have him because you can’t replace him. He is Swiss and doesn’t hurt the import-licence-contingent. So again: My first answer to the question of whether Diaz is overpaid or not: No – he isn’t .
