Canes GM Ron Francis finished his "must do" list of work for the trade deadline early when on Wednesday he traded Jiri Tlusty and Andrej Sekera within a few hours of each other. You can read my detailed assessment of these details in my blog from yesterday which you can find HERE. It is possible to nitpick exact return, but at a basic level it was positive. Ron Francis unloaded 2 assets that expire mid-afternoon on Monday and got something in the range of fair for each and arguably better for the more valuable of the 2.
So with the biggest fireworks (at least of the expected deals) out of the way, what is next for Ron Francis?
I think there are 2 things. 1 is ho-hum trade deadline stuff, but I think the bigger thing could be teeing up a couple things for the summer.
1) In the ho-hum trade deadline category is Jay McClement, Patrick Dwyer, Tim Gleason and Brett Bellemore. All have contracts that expire at the end of the season to make them unrestricted free agents on July 1. And at least the 1st 3 of these should have decent utility for playoff or wannabe playoff teams. All have small cap hits that fit into almost any budget, and all are playing well in targeted depth roles on the bottom half of the roster. McClement, Dwyer and Gleason have all been playing a significant role on a league-best Canes penalty killing unit. That seems to fit with a number of could-be buyers. Teams with PK ranks: NYI (30th on PK), Fla (25th), StL (20th), Wpg (19th), LA (22nd) and Cal (18th). If McClement and Dwyer show up in Long Island and shut down a pretty good John Tavares-led Isles power play on Saturday night, is there a chance that they don't catch the team plane? You never know this time of year.
Especially with McClement, I think it is possible that Ron Francis instead re-signs him. With the Canes current preference to go Staal-heavy on the top line, the Canes are suddenly short at center. McClement would at least provide a solid foundation and 8-10 minutes from the 4th line. This helps as Francis tries to fill the middle 2 slots with some combination of Rask, Nash and slim pickings at the center position in this summer's free agent market. But he is a UFA this summer, and also a 32-year-old who has never won a playoff series (has only played in 2). Best might be to ask McClement if he wants a chance to play in the playoffs and give it to him. He is likely to see free agency this summer anyway and might actually be more inclined to come back following this gesture and knowing that a 1-year contract with the Canes could actually be a decent path to the Cup even if it does not work out with the Canes again in 2015-16.
My other thought would be to try to find a team who can use 2 of McClement, Dwyer or Gleason and see if that can be parlayed into a higher pick than the 4th/5th-rounder that these players will probably garner.
So that is what's left of the trade deadline work.
2A) I think the bigger thing for Francis over the next few days and maybe rest of the year could be teeing up his work for the summer. I actually think the time is now to re-sign Eric Staal. The team is down but offering signs for optimism since the calendar flipped. And his stats are nothing special this season. But if Ron Francis tries to quickly retool and build around a core, I don't see how Eric Staal isn't part of it. Realistically, the Canes are not going to lure a comparable player right now coming up on 6 consecutive playoff misses, and I think Jordan Staal's injury showed very clearly that the current version of the Canes are not a team that are going to win with their organizational depth. (I think Francis is working on that, but it is going to take 2-4 years.) And Eric Staal has only 1 year left on his contract and a no-trade clause.
So if I'm Ron Francis, I think the time is now for a heart to heart talk followed either immediately or in the summer with a push to finalize a next contract.
I think the script goes something like this:
Eric, with 1 year remaining on your contract we need to figure out what you want to do with your future and act accordingly. My hope is that I can keep you as a core part of this franchise, get you under contract for 4-5 more years and carve the path to putting your #12 up in the rafters next to my #10 someday. But as you know, this is a small market team and times are challenging right now because of the run on non-playoff seasons and impact on attendance and financials. You have made approximately $60 million playing for the Carolina Hurricanes. To maintain some financial flexibility, I am looking for you to take a next contract that is less than you could receive on the open market. In return, I can give you a partial no-trade clause, a path to the rafters and a chance to lead this franchise back to greatness. If your preference is to pursue maximum $ and maximum term for your next contract, I respect your right to do so and would like to begin to explore options to possibly do this before your current contract is up and get something in return for this franchise.
My goal is to test the waters to see if Eric Staal will sign for 4-5 years at a discounted (but not overly so) $5-5.5M/year with some variety of a no-trade clause maybe that comes off only in the last year of the deal or uses the typical 10-12-team trade list. If that $ amount is not enough to at least start negotiations, then I think it is time to turn up the pressure for some help finding a next destination for Eric Staal (this summer) before it becomes a game of NTC/challenging salary cap chicken at the next trade deadline.
2B) As long as he is working the phones leading up to March 2 anyway, I think Francis should start exploring who might be available and for what to add a younger top 4 defenseman. With Sekera gone, I count Justin Faulk as the only true top 4 defenseman in the Canes lineup. I think Ron Hainsey could work too with a complementary partner (ideally a right shot puck-moving type who can kick in more offense). And I do think it is possible to have someone play up a notch with veterans like Liles and Gleason who were in this role previously being decent options. But at the end of the day, I think the Canes need to find another top 4 defenseman at a minimum to build a bridge to Fleury and the growing options in the system but more ideally in the form of a young top 4-capable player. --I threw out a trade that had Skinner and Gudbranson as the key components (and Florida adding more). --I am also on record (via Twitter) as thinking that Wisniewski is an interesting option if his asking price is not outlandish. He has 2 years remaining on his current deal which is probably nearly the bridge that the Canes need.
What say you Canes fans? Does anyone else think that if the offers for McClement are only something like a 5th round pick that Francis might shift gears and instead re-sign him? Could a combination of 2 Canes rentals (maybe with a later round, i.e. 6th replacement pick) be enough to steal a 3rd-rounder? Who agrees that the time to figure out the Eric Staal situation is sometime between now and August?
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
Go Canes!