The big news of the week was obviously the Brett Pesce’s six-year contract extension. In my second article on Pesce and the signing (with link to my initial thoughts too), I called Pesce a “sixth star” in positive sense like Glen Wesley from Hurricanes’ history or Niklas Hjalmarsson from NHL success more recently.
As a 22-year old with only two years of professional experience under his belt, Pesce could well find a higher gear offensively and gain more notoriety, but if he does not, he seems destined just to be a really good hockey player who makes his team win.
The Thursday Coffee Shop makes sure that Brett Pesce gets his share of attention at least this week.
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Discussion questions
(Realizing that this was bandied around to some degree in comments earlier this week) What are your thoughts on Brett Pesce’s contract terms?
Brain teaser: In terms of other NHL defensemen or former Hurricanes who would you compare Pesce’s game to?
Do you think Francis is now done for the summer in terms of extending players early, or do you think it is possible that we see another deal for either Noah Hanifin or Elias Lindholm?
Go Canes!
1. The terms were outstanding from a team standpoint. I really thought he would get about $250,000 more per year.
2. Pesce plays similar to Seabrook of Chicago (in Seabrook’s earlier years).
3. Francis IMO will continue to lock up both Hanifin and Lindholm. Francis has taken a couple of years to accumulate the new core for this team and he is not about to let it start falling apart now.
Great contract for both the Canes and Pesce!
Kind of reminds me of Anton Stralman… Quietly he is really solid.
I doubt they will do much more in locking anyone up long term this summer. It would be wise to get some more deals done but its risky for both sides when projecting the future of a player. I think in both Slavin and Pesce the Canes know exactly what they have now.. and believe they are only going to get better. So much is unknown about Hanifin… he projects as a elite D-Man but has a long way to go. I think Lindholm is a much safer bet. I think he becomes a top forward guy very soon and I think in the next 2 years he will be a dominate player.
I like Anton Stralman as a comparable for Pesce – solid and steady top 4, but not someone that anyone tends to rave about especially sitting behind Victor Hedman on his team.
I am in an apparently small minority. My opinion is that Pesce will be the team’s best two-way blue liner for most of his contract. Don’t want to guess at his offensive ceiling because with Faulk, Hanifin, and soon Bean he won’t get PP time. But his production will improve some. Defensively he will continue to be as good as any.
Glad we locked up Pesce, next up Hanifin but that one may be tricky. Might be a shorter term too. If Hanifin’s peeps balk at that then I would put it off until next summer and make him prove he is worth more. Lindholm I am on the fence about, has done alright but hasn’t quite lived up to the billing.
I would be surprised to see a deal this summer for Hanifin. The range of possibilities is just too wide which increases the risk for both sides.
On the one hand, it would not be crazy to say that Hanifin is a 3rd pairing defenseman with upside (which is pretty much true) and should therefore receive a bridge deal higher than standard 3rd pairing but much lower than proven 2nd pairing (something like Lindholm’s in-between deal) so something like $2.8 million for 2-3 years would be reasonable.
On the other hand, Hanifin’s camp would claim that he was a solid top 4 for the tail end of the 2016-17 season and only has upside from there. If looking only at his 25-game run as a #4 defenseman and giving credit for upside, his salary could be similar to Pesce’s.
Though there is price risk in doing so, I think Hanifin is best just wait out through 2017-18 and pay based on results and role.
25 game run is too small a sampling size to be to overly generous. If his side is pushing that angle then it pays to wait out Hanifin.
97. I agree with you assessment of Lindholm’s play. However I think he is more valuable because he is RW. Even with the depth of prospects, the organization is light at right wing. Thus getting FAs Stempniak and Williams the past two years. As David Miller’s article laid out the cap space will be taken up by homegrown talent soon.
I think at anything under 5M the team should lock Lindholm up for 5-6 years.
I like Michael Smith’s line about Brett in his article today:
“Looking inward, Pesce has turned his offseason attention in the direction of his offensive abilities, specifically his shot and making that more of a weapon from the blue line.
“I’ve been hitting that pretty hard,” Pesce said. “And my overall strength. You can always get stronger. It’s what you use the offseasons for.”
Watch for more offensive production from Brett this season.
I was torn to write something about both Lindy and Hanifin earlier today. RF has approached all the players going RFA after next season – he said so in the press conference with Slavin, after Jaccob’s signing. Several were talks, several wanted to wait.
I really think it is in the best interest of Hanifin and Lindy to hold off on any deals. Both have to want term and money – both need to show they deserve it. And what better year to have a banner year than a contract year.
I would rather confidently sign Hanifin to a long-term deal next spring or summer than a bridge now. And Lindy needs long term rather than another bridge deal. 60 points next season gets more than 45 points this season.
Think about how motivated both will be, and then think about the goodness for the season if they achieve “banner year” status.
1) Pesce has great contract for the team moving forward. If he plays like he did last year, even a slight regression would still warrant 4 million.
2) I wanted to use the one you have used – Hjalmerson, however I thought I would be a bit more creative and think of a novel comparable for Brett Pesce. For a former Hurricane, he reminds me a bit of Aaron Ward. Across the league I want to make a very bold comparable – Mattias Ekholm. Ekholm was seen for Nashville as an excellent 2nd pair guy who was strong defensively and might be able to develop more offense over time. Now, he still is on the 2nd pair but he plays like a 1st pair calibre dman and he has started to find more offense.
I highly suggest taking a look at their two hero charts. They are incredibly similar with the exact same shape, with Ekholms being just slightly better in almost all categories. Keep in mind Ekholm is 27 at this point and has ‘arrived’, Pesce still has more development.
Fifty. The comparison is not that bold. Pesce does look almost exactly like Ekholm in the data. I look Hockeyviz charts. The impact on shot suppression seems to favor Pesce otherwise very similar positive impact on teammates. Except Ekholm benefits from Subban whereas Pesce makes Slavin slightly better on the metric used.