The Habs run 2 PP units so Wiz would get his fair share regardless. Fact is you have no idea whether or not Weber will be as good as you state, which is still not as good as Wisniewski who is better offensively and is a physical presence out there.
I obviously realize that Weber will cost much less, but what good is cap space if we don't use it? The money is there and we definitely need to up the ante if we'd like to go far in the Po's.
Weber had a great impact in the playoffs, more so than Wisniewski did. I'm all for keeping Wisniewski at the right price, but it doesn't justify trading a young defenseman away when his performance-to-caphit can be as good or better than the Wiz's.
Your right about cap space being no good if we don't use it. Well, we've always spent to the cap so I don't see why your concerned about it. We need to find bigger forwards as well. We won 5 in a row at one point with Weber in, and Markov/Subban out of the line up. Your being sensationalist right now, he may not put up Wisniewski-like numbers next season but he needs to be given a chance with a permanent position without fear that any mistake committed will result in him being benched. It has a monumental psychological effect on young players, even Subban who has a strong head was hurt by this process this year.
The only way I support using Weber as trade fodder is if he is sent in a package for a young-ish budding powerfoward. This is the only way I would endorse such a deal.
over 2M is a bit too much... not catastrophic, obviously, but it would have been nice to see PG able to get a better deal because for a cap-limit spending team, every 100k counts.
interested to see what this means for Hamrlik, I said it at the end of the season, I'll say it again, I would much prefer Hammer at ~2.5M than Gill at anywhere around 2M.
Subban, Gill, Spacek...
the other half of the top 6 better be damn impressive!
I want Bieksa (especially if he pisses off and get's in the faces of Bruins players during the Stanley Cup Finals) if not, Pitkanen is another option at 6'3" and over 210 pounds.
This means Gill will retire a Canadien, I don't mind. He was extremely serviceable, not as much as Hamrlik but he mentored Subban and that's good enough for me. It came down between the two of them and Gill was cheaper. We lost a lot of minutes on the back-end but gained valuable leadership and PK%. Emelin and Weber will eat Hamrlik's minutes I think.
I suppose this is one of those team-building things. He's a good guy, but he is a limited hockey player. Hal Gill will hopefully end up on the third pairing.
Clearly not dissatisfied with that. I think Gill is not only a good guy and leader to have around but also a future D coach. Clearly. So for that reason I'm happy....
The other side of me says that I wished it would be slightly less than what he had this year. Then, it's just interesting to see that it's often the pattern the Habs take. They sign first the guys that are the fillers. Like it or not, he's a nice part to have.....but up to this day, he was not necessarily a must. So while it's not THAT big of an amount, we often seems to sign those guys and then settle the big guns after.
All and all, it is a good signing. I clearly didn't mind having him back. But I also seriously hope that it's for a long-term commitment with the organization. We need his spirit and his teaching around.
Gill said he would take less to stay with the Habs. That was his own words.
That's why people expect him to sign between 1,5 and 2.
Do you have a source for that? I'm genuinely interested. I could be mistaken, but all I remember is Gill saying something along the lines of "I would like to stay until they kick me out." I know Hamr said he might take less to play for the Habs, but I don't recall Gill saying anything like that.
As for the signing, I'm pretty happy to see Gill back.
