Jeff Skinner buyout talk, is he a fit in Montreal | How does Hronek impact Matheson’s next contract?
hello everyone and inside today’s episode of Locked on Canadians we’re talking potential buyout signings and how does the fil pronic deal impact Mike Mat you’re locked on Canadians your daily podcast on the Montreal Canadians part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello everyone and welcome to episode 1,093 of Locked on Canadians we are your daily Montreal Canadians podcast part of the locked on podcast Network where you get your team every single day of the week wherever you get your podcast Google Apple Spotify or here on youtube.com and today’s episode is brought to you by the folks at game time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase some terms do apply we’ve got a lot in this show we’ve got another player review at the end of the show that we’re going to talk David card’s season and his overall career in Montreal up to this point and then some news from around the NHL that I think kind of bleeds into some of the things that might impact the Canadians in the relative near future there’s buyout rumors there’s brand new contracts for other defensemen and I want to make sure that we kind of get into all of that and I want to start with uh the buyout news this was the big thing is that barklay good has been placed on wer by the New York Rangers with the intention of hopefully a team might claim him or maybe they work out a trade now that he’s in the miners that he can just be shuffled between those and it’s not Barkley goodro is the player that I am worrying about in this I don’t think he is a fit for what the Canadians want and I don’t think that for that amount of money that he is getting paid right now is what this team needs and also for a guy who’s supposed to be a defensive forward the metrics weren’t there based on what I’ve seen from uh ineffective ma math Michael Blake mcer on Twitter about him uh there’s a reason why he’s potentially being bought out at the end of the day here uh the big one is and this is kind of a surprise to me living in Buffalo and seeing you know kind of how the Sabers fans analyze and look at their team here I look at the potential rumor that Jeff Skinner is potentially going to be bought out when that window opens after the Stanley Cup is awarded there was a small window for uh buyouts to happen the other one is after an arbitration hearing if I have that wrong please correct me my at is in the lower part of this video here one day I will learn which direction to point in on my own screen here there we go if you’re not watching this on YouTube You’re missing me screwing up a lot uh it was Jeff Merrick who said this afternoon that there’s a very likely CH there there is a chance that Skinner is on the buyout list and as I kind of look at this Jeff Skinner signed a $9 million a year extension in 2019 of course that’s coming off a career season where he put up 40 goals in 82 games with the Sabers uh 63 total points that season he Then followed it up with an injured year 14 goals nine assists 23 points covid year uh these are both covid seasons 53 games seven goals seven assists 14 total points the next year back to form 80 points or 80 games played 33 goals 30 assists on the Sabers last year 35 goals 47 assists big season for them and they just missed the playoffs this year dropped down a little bit 24 goals 22 assists in 74 games he is due no signing bonuses anymore all of his signing bonuses have been paid as of the end of last season 23 so he is pure salary at this point or pure capit not there’s nothing else to be paid out on this and he has one two three four years left that’s a big big big big big big buyout and I’m actually going to uh try and use the calculator here on cap friendly before they take it away from me because thanks Washington and let’s take a look at what Jeff Skinner’s buyout looks like it cost the savers about $2.4 million uh he has a 1.4 million doll capit if they buy them out this year for next year 4.4 6.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 without the capit or uh with the cap hit there for Buffalo and my question is I look at this that he is bought out he’s going to be getting paid some way shape or form this is a dude who’s played a thousand NHL games has zero playoff games and just turned 32 years old and I look at this and I wonder is this a guy that the Canadians might be able to SL in that middle six top six role to really give them a little bit more punch in their game and my first thought is uh it might be tough because uh if we’re being very honest he’s older now he’s 32 he’s on the back side of his career uh relative coming out of the Prime I shouldn’t say on the back side of his career that comes off as very dismissive and I don’t mean it that way and I’m just looking among Sabers forwards here uh for their on Ice statistics just trying to see where everybody is and he’s up at the top for goals four percentage the saber um maybe not expected goals this is well where are you where are he’s 15th in expected goals uh middle of the pack on scoring chances he does a lot of things that you would want he gets a lot of ice time on this team here and I’m more and more wondering hey as opposed to slamming Josh Anderson into this spot again can can this be something that uh that the Canadians do and I’m actually going to take a look here at his total stats out of his 24 goals this season 15 were scored at e at five on five which is good 17 total assists at five on five so he’s not collecting just Power Play points a decent amount of individual High Danger chances for individual expected goals he was second on the team behind JJ PKA he had 14 over the course of the year not a lot on the rush it’s looking like here rebound Chan is created he’s second on the team just behind Dylan cousins so he’s getting to the areas and the thing is he brings a little bit of I don’t want to say peskiness but like I can’t say the word I actually want to say he brings a little bit of crap housing to a team every time the Canadians play uh Buffalo Jeff Skinner is everywhere he’s a nuisance he’s a little bit of a hothead look at him kicking players and uh the first game of the year this past year where he took a five minute major penalty and then blew the home opener for the Sabres because of his own uh lack of discipline on there and I think that I’m not opposed to bringing that kind of player and this is a guy who wants to win it means a lot to him and this is not a you know the fan the it’s not a fit with the team it seems like he gets along great with the team this year honestly like I look at the Buffalo Sabers and I see a lot of people who really do like Jeff Skinner it’s just I don’t understand the buyout it’s not my job to do that you can listen to lock on Sabers to have them uh figure that one out across the board it’s I’m just curious if hey one would Skinner want to come to the Canadians at 32 years old he’s only got so many more cracks at the a or uh swings at the ball here before you’re calling it a day over a thousand NHL games and no playoff games it’s very very likely that the Canadians are not what he’s looking for but I look at the style that Skinner plays he’s very direct he gets to the net he’s great at deflecting pucks he’s somebody that I think would be a very good addition to not only their power play units but they five on five if they’re ever able to set up in the zone and to use some of that pugnaciousness if that’s a word if it’s not whatever it’s my show I can do what I want and help the Canadians find that next level here he’s better than putting Josh Anderson in this spot and I think that Joshua W could also fit on that Kirby dock line but it means we don’t have to force him into that if he’s not quite ready for that next step yet and you can have W on your third line with armia and whomever your third third line Center is next season here I am just I’m speaking it out loud I also don’t know how much money he’s going to want in free agency if he gets bought out it’s it’s not cheap for the Sabers to do that and I’m wondering they have a lot of cap space of why they are doing this I I don’t dislike the idea and also the biggest thing out of all of this is that I would like the Canadians to sign him so that every time we play a team that has Jeff Skinner on it he isn’t able to score against us anymore that I’m hoping does that Skinner magic apply to playing the hurricanes and playing the Sabers where he will just score relentlessly against them Jeff Skinner has become the new RJ umberger in terms of guy who might be on the worst scoring draw of his life will score two goals in this game without a doubt it’s written in the stars every time the Habs play the Sabers above all else that’s what I’m loving I would love for that just to have that off the board so they can stop Lo if you take away a bunch of skinners two point or two goal games against the Canadians the Habs record might be a lot better against Buffalo in the last five years than it has been so I like the idea but I understand that there are gaps to cross with that as well we want to hear from you what do you think about Jeff Skinner if he gets bought out can you bring him in cheap to Montreal relatively speaking tweet us at Lor Canadians lockon Canadians gmail.com we’re going to dive into even more because there’s another big contract out there and speaking of buyouts we’re going to talk about that coming up next but first as I said off the top of the show today’s show is brought to you by game time it is baseball season and there’s nothing better than going to the ballpark getting a hot dog getting a cold drink watching dudes sock some dingers over whatever Park wall you are at and now it gets even easier with game time because game time is the authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball which makes ticket getting tickets faster and easier and the price goes down closer it gets to first pitch and the best part is you see the view from your seat you’re sure what it is you’re going to go cash out and guess what price you see is the price you pay no hidden fees nothing at all there’s always last minute deals there’s Flash Deals Zone deals all in pricing so you will see exactly the price that you’re paying so take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account use code locked on HL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code l o c k d o n NHL for $2 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed we are back here at locked on Canadians or I should say I am back I am Scott MLA I am your host for lockon Canadians today Laura of course is still on vacation and before the show I was kind of thinking what am I going to do for Content what can I talk about and well the Vancouver Canucks provided in not direct way but a way that actually kind of clicked in my mind they signed their pending RFA with arbitration rights Philip pronic to an eight-year $7.25 million Pere contract extension now and based on what I’ve seen from the Canucks writers and bloggers and St such that I follow he was going to get paid in arbitration anyways because he had a hell of a year this year and if he’s going into arbitration and based on the price that they paid Detroit for Philip ronic they were not going to let this player go and I go okay well he was pretty good for for them this year and let me just take I’m actually looking up his actual stats for the season at this exact point right now I have not looked this up yet because I want to see how many points he scored this year and let’s take a look here wow he’s played for a lot of teams he had 48 points in 811 games this season I’m going to type in another name here and see how many points he had this season which if you’re reading this on uh YouTube on the side there I’m looking up Mike mat’s numbers and he had 62 points in 82 games this year and played on a very bad Canadians team uh ronic last year with Detroit before he was traded put up 38 points in 60 games put up 38 points in 78 before that 26 and 56 31 and 65 uh 23 and 46 and then sometime in the AHL kind of similar to where mat was in terms of some of his time with both Florida and then Pittsburgh before coming to Montreal and kind of blossoming big time in the last two years in a lot of different ways because mathson played Just 48 games last year and put up 34 points 62 and 82 this year and now you’re going be asking yourself Scott what does that have to do with anything well I’m looking at Philip bronic uh chart from Micah Blake mcer in effective math he tweeted this out so it is out there and I am looking at the blue and the red splotches and the power play and the penalty killing splotches and everything on there I’m not seeing a dude who should be getting paid $7.25 million per year minus four in terms of threat uh at five on five on the offensive side of things plus eight threat in the defensive Zone plus threat in the defensive Zone Bad Plus threat in the off offensive zone good minus two on the power play plus one uh at the other end of the ice on that and my thought is okay Mike mat’s du up for a contract in the relative near future let’s bring up his chart uh from mikah Blake mcer at five on five in uh the offensive zone a minus 7 threat as we know the Canadians were not a very good five on five team this year with their injuries and having really truly one strong line with that in the defensive Zone however minus two threat Around the Net at five on five a a guy who kind of was not known for his defense but seemed to do pretty well in that this year the offense struggles because the forward group is maybe not where it needs to be on the power play minus three threat but he actually had a pretty good power play season based on the stats I’ve seen from evolving wild there and as we know we can see that plus4 threat at the other end on that not the end of the world and so I’m kind of looking at this right now for Mike Mat I I want to go to cap friendly real quick he has signed through the end of the 2526 season at $ 4.875 million per year modified no trade clads so he is here for two more years before he’s up for a contract at which point he will be if I’m doing my math here correctly 32 years old Philip ronic at the time of signing this right now is 26 so he is obviously younger and they are probably better on that upside continuing however when I look at that a lot of what honic had was driven by playing with Quinn Hughes one of the best defenseman in the NHL my fear is that for a guy who is I don’t want to call MAT or uh chronic a third pairing defenseman because I don’t think that’s fair to him but let’s say vaguely a top five defenseman on your team he’s getting paid $7.25 million Mike Mat currently is the best defenseman on the Canadians and is not even close if mat were to come up for that contract and he continues let’s say maybe not 62 points again but let’s say he puts up 50 points or 45 points next season and then does that again in his final season of the contract are you comfortable extending mat even if it is let’s say three or four years at 7 .25 million because this seems like the new Baseline for guys who will play a lot of minutes put up a lot of points but maybe are a little more flawed I look at Quinn Hughes Quinn Hughes should get paid is getting paid is the is the star on that team and now you are losing Nikita Zadora who I think is actually probably the guy Vancouver wanted to sign if you were the Canadians and you’re going to have guys like ghouly who is up for a contract soon already guy like Jacky who is up for a contract just Baron Lane Hudson David reinbacher Adam angstrom Logan Mayu whoever whoever they might draft this season are you willing to take $7.25 million and give it to someone who’s older but has earned has played at that level previously but might not hit that level after that the cap should continue Rising is the Hope if matth were up for a and let me kind of rephrase this if Matson were also up for a contract right now like going into this uh into this free agency period he is due for a contract extension on July 1st or by July 1 or he is a free agent would you give Mike Mat that same deal eight times 7.25 a year it becomes a lot harder to think about because of the age but I look at that and I go the Canadians wouldn’t have a choice because then who is your number one defenseman next year if he were up for a contract this year and we’re going to see in a couple of years this might become more of a norm where second pairing defensemen are making $7 million like when second line centers went from making like two and a half to $5.5 million good second line centers let me put that in perspective with that I think that’s a cost living race and the Canadians at that in two years are going to have to make this decision is this the guy that we’re keeping or are you if you’re pushing for the playoffs going to go we can trade like Detroit did they traded honic and got a first- round pick they got a pretty good amount for him in a deal there do you make that same deal with Mike Matson it it’s a it’s a tough question I think I’m willing to extend Mike Matson to Montreal but I don’t know if I’m going to extend Mike maton that’s $7 million depending on the trajectory of incoming prospects is Ryan Bacher Rising on his way up is he hitting the goals that you were hoping for is laye Hudson that guy at the NHL level coming through his first first couple Seasons here because he’ll be up for a contract when mat is up for a contract and if Lane Hudson is that is him you’re going to want to pay that man long term to keep him here before that contract gets even more expensive down the line so tweet us at Lor Canadians lockon Canadians gmail.com you can tweet me uh at Scott meta if I don’t see it or it’s in my DMs I’ve kind of checked them less because of the amount of spam on Twitter but I want to hear from you in two years are you comfortable with extending Mike Mat at 7.25 million per year let us know we got one segment left folks we’re going to dive into our last player review we’re going to talk David sard coming up next we are back here at locked on Canadians and uh player reviews are hard when your team isn’t great uh it’s it’s probably even harder when everyone on your team is good mind you but I was very curious of what is what is the general consensus on David svard he’s going into the final year of his contract a deal where a lot of us you know when we saw this deal get signed went I don’t know about this I don’t know if this is a guy that I want to sign long term longer term I should say uh in terms of things and they gave him I believe it’s SP was four years at I should look this up I have this on cap friendly because thank you David card was is 33 got $3 and a half million per year he signed a three a four-year contract extension with Mark bman in the 2021 2022 season this was the answer to losing a guy like sha Weber in the lineup you still had Petri you still had kulak you still had sherat for the time being and your response was I’m G to bring in a guy who won a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay on one of the most stacked teams of all time and he ironically did that over the Canadians here and they went I want to sign that guy he’s on the last year of his contract and I think the biggest thing is David card’s been asked to do a lot that probably isn’t fair for him because uh he never should have been in the situation to have to take on minutes meant for somebody playing a much different role in this organization they Mark bman and the team that was there at the time said this is a guy who plays a lot of tough minutes blocks and absorbs shots the guys who you want in the playoffs the biggest thing with getting a guy you want in the playoffs is you have to make the playoffs and replacing everyone on this team and then without Carrie Price signing David card without Shay Weber done for career krie price done for career Paul Byron on his way out missing now Philip do know your best defensive Center and a whole host of other changes going into this you put a guy in a situation where it’s like we need you to block Shots by the way there’s going to be 40 of them a night and you have him playing heavy heavy situations and that yeah it’s great he’s a a in terms of defensive defenseman David card is about as defensively defensive as it gets and funny enough this was one of his best career one of his best years of his career this past year not quite the high of 36 points in 82 games with Columbus in 2014 2015 which again was 10 years ago but he matched you know some of his uh he set some decent marks this season for a guy who doesn’t put up a lot of points 18 assists six goals in 60 games he did Miss time due to injury uh in the past couple years he’s battled a lot of injuries it looks like he’s had one full 82 game two full 82 game Seasons uh W 81 Game season I would be I’d be lying to you if that I didn’t include that but he’s missed time in bits and pieces of these other Seasons uh was traded in one of them but the thing is that I look at this and I go this is a guy when he’s on the ice goals will go in because he’s not the fleetest of foot David sard is not the fastest man on the ice in any given time he may be the slowest at some point point but he’s a guy being asked to do first pairing things with a game that is meant for second and third pairing you want to put him on for some defensive Zone starts and have him block a couple of shots and clear the puck out fine but all too often is because his foot speed isn’t where it needs to be is chasing the play a little bit I don’t blame David sard for you know maybe not adjusting as well as he could have to uh this style here and then martan saying the we came in this is a team that is in flux and you veteran who is in flux on this team signed long term longer term midterm let’s say and he hasn’t complained about it he cares like David sard cares and that I’m never going to doubt that he was very happy to sign with the Canadians this meant a lot to him being a cuqua player to go home and play for the Montreal Canadians coming off a Stanley Cup no less I have no doubt that Tampa might have resigned him but he wanted to come home to rreal and he’s done the last year of his contract people in the locker room love him everything we hear is that the team the management the coaching staff everybody loves David sard and from people I know who worked with him when he was in the minor said he’s an absolute sweetheart a pleasure to deal with a consumate professional all of that is true and I’m hoping that this of the year maybe the Canadians can send him out on a high note with one year left on his deal a Stanley Cup ring those intangible things that are part of it everything is leading up to David svard is the Canadian’s biggest piece at the trade deadline this season whether or not that what that means overall he got traded for a pretty big Hall going back to Columbus when he was traded to Tampa Bay they gave a cart blanch basically to acquire him is there going to be a team out there that wants to add a veteran like saard at this trade deadline just to give them that depth to get through Tampa Bay already brought back Ryan MCD who knows they maybe they bring back David SAR there will be a team out there we know there were teams sniffing around him at this trade deadline but nobody met Kent Hughes is asking price we’re a year on now this is right around the time that we started seeing that Joel Edmonson trade happened I still think that the ideal thing is to make that trade happen around the draft time and get some more picks in this draft and maybe add if you can in that guard but everything is lining up that David card will not end this season with the Montreal Canadians if he does either the he was invaluable like taking him out would catastrophically ruin the house of cards or Kent Hughes overplayed his hand and while we thought that about Jake Allen a little bit too I thought that about Jake Allen I shouldn’t speak for anybody I’m wondering if this is a thing that gets done even going into the regular season before training camp and the team goes hey we’re going to be without so and so offseason injuries happen training camp injuries happen preseason injuries happen if something happens drastically to another team well we can bring in a guy who can play 20 plus a night kill penalties block a lot of shots and try and stick up for some of the younger guys out there because I’m looking and I go this is not a contract that should be extended because I don’t think I think he is holding a spot that could go to a lot of young upcoming defensemen right now and for that I don’t I don’t want to block them from having that opportunity and I don’t think that it’s wrong to say that hey if that offer comes along and then say there’s a first round pick in it for whatever reason I’m not saying there will be but if there is take it or is he a part of a deal with like let’s say the Jets pick and David zard to move up in a little bit in the first round to draft somebody that they like there’s a lot of possibilities for this I my biggest thing for svard is that this year I’m hoping they kind of tone down his minutes a little bit you can have mat in playing 20 plus a night you can have ghouly playing 20 plus a night you can have guys like Hudson uh potentially Ryme Bacher maybe a guy like Arbor Jacky or Justin Baron if they earn that spot play more minutes and you can have David Zar anchor your third pairing some defensive Zone starts chip the puck out block some shots penalty killing shifts and then get rid of that this SE I can’t say that it was a bad season because like decent numbers counting numbers I should say I should definitely paraphrase with that no one on the Canadians defense is going to have great Advance metrics this was not a team that thrived at five on five they got shelled a lot and sometimes they won because Samuel monbo or Kaden Primo was really good or they got on a goalscoring hot streak and out did that for David cavard it’s exactly what you expected it’s a B season he’s playing exactly as we all expected that people who were looking at this deal went maybe that’s not the deal I want to make here what’s your grade for David cavard season as always tweet us at Lor Canadians lockon Canadians gmail.com for longer questions I am having Laura send [Music] us tomorrow evening to record hopefully we get some more Canadians news if not we’re diving further into player reviews I’m reaching out to some scouting folks to talk about the draft with this week as well because we are at I’m recording this eight days away 10 days away uh from the draft which is just so so cool which means nine days away by the time you hearing this uh you can follow me on Twitter at Scot Mata thank you everyone for tuning in and we will see you all next time [Music]
Inside the latest Locked on Canadiens
The off-season hot stove is slowly, but surely starting to heat up as buyout rumours abound with the Stanley Cup Final nearly at its end. With Jeff Skinner being one of the biggest names mentioned by Jeff Marek on Tuesday afternoon. If Skinner does end his perfectly cromulent run with the Sabres, could a short stay in Montreal help them round out the top six?
Speaking of big deals and possible buyouts, Filip Hronek cashed in on a monster eight-year extension with the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. With his deal being worth just over seven million dollars a year it brings the question up for the Habs, what does this mean for Mike Matheson’s next contract?
To round out the show, Scott takes a look at David Savard’s past season, and his time as a whole in Montreal while wondering if they can send the beloved veteran out on a high note.
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