Admist the slew of major signings yesterday — namely, Crosby's mega 12-year, 104.4 million dollar deal — it was perhaps lost in the shuffle that the Montreal Canadiens re-signed Petteri Nokelainen to a one-year, one-way deal as well.
Only one question: why?
A former first-round pick who never seemed to live up to his billing, Nokelainen did not exactly bring a physical or support scoring element to the bottom lines.
Personally, I would have rather seen another player given the chance to fulfill that role.
Not you?
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(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)
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4 comments:
This might be the first bad move from Beregevin. Nokelainen doesn't deserve a one way deal. I would have been fine with a two way so that he can get buried in Hamilton. All I can think is that Nokelainen had some undisclosed issue and that was the reason he didn't perform. All I hope is that Bergevin doesn't adopt Gauthier and Gainey's penchant for reclamation projects.
@sanman
My thoughts on this. Nokelainen was due for an increase in salary but instead signed for the league minimum (or just about).
As a depth player like a 13th forward Nokelainen is perfect. He won 53.4% in FO's last year and was tied for 3rd in fighting majors on the team with Subban and Moen.
Depth, depth, depth. No longer do we ahve to see Weber or Diaz as a forward but rather an NHL player who at least provides something to the team.
It is a smart signing, especially given weakness at centre.
It is a harmless contract and Dudley/Bergevin are supposed to be "Pro talent evaluater experts", so should have some faith in their unknown masterplan. haha
I think signing Nokelainen is a cap friendly move.
I agree with Bryan that he is NHL calibre depth, can win some face-offs, has some heart and grit and can kill penalties. The key though is he's cheap talent.
We need to have depth, using d-men as forwards on the 4th line was useless.
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