Whilst Hamilton, Gio and Brodie and Kevin go without saying, the rest are a little bit up in the air. I mean, Smid is not going to retire and forgo the last year of his salary. Never going to happen. He'll ride it out on LTIR before he retires. But what happens if he gets cleared to play and comes back to training camp ready to go? Because by that point, we'll have probably signed other defencemen, or have prospects looking to make the team. Going to cause a few problems if he comes back and is able to play.
Wideman, well I just don't see how you can keep him. With Gio's extension kicking in plus Monahan and Gaudreau's new contracts also taking effect(plus a likely raise for Colborne), we still need a top 6 forward and a goalie if we are to really compete next season, which is surely the expectation. We can't hold onto a heavy cap hit like Wideman and have him on the 3rd pairing, not with so many other overpaid guys on the team(Stajan, Smid, Engellend). Assuming 5 spots are pretty much locked down(Gio, Brodie, Hamilton, Kevin, Engellend) for next season on the blueline, we could have 3-4 guys(Wotherspoon, Kulak, Nakladal if he's brought back) that are legitimately knocking on the door for a roster spot. But if we keep Wideman and Smid returns(however unlikely), we'll have no space and the rookie guys will have no openings to play for. That can't happen. Need to keep some space and some incentive for them.
Wideman simply has to go and I think we need to almost hope(however horrible it sounds) that the Doctor tells Smid he won't be able to play, or advises him and the team to put him on LTIR. Otherwise we'll have a real log jam on the bottom end of the defence next season. But Wideman has got to go, simply no way you can keep him.
|