I would sign him, we've got nothing to lose. He's more worthy of a contract than a Didier (I know he got an AHL deal, just saying that he'sa he's better prospect imo). We are thin on the left side anyway. Prefer to sign him than roll the die on guys like Johnston, Hanley or Parisi. Best case scenario he becomes a Matt Hunwick type of player.
As others have said I think it will come down to the 50 and how much room we are expected to have. In addition we need to see how he finishes the season + playoffs (haven't checked the whl standings).
I think he will be signed. But I would be surprised if he ever cracks the NHL. But it would surely be good to have him in Laval. He and Tyszka both need to be signed by this summer.
It will be interesting to see if they do sign one or both what they do with each as I'm usually against having 20 year olds in the CHL but with Tyszka he's only had 1 full season and currently has 192 games in the WHL under his belt so he really could benefit from another season in the dub but would count against the 50.
Walford has a few more games in at 210 so perhaps they would keep him instead of returning him to the dub as an overager, not sure he would have a spot in Laval but a stay in the ECHL could be good for him.
Both should be signed imo. It'd be more controversial than when the Habs brass decided not to sign Bradley.
I would say Bradley at least to me was a bigger surprise since he was coming off a 30+ goal season and over a ppg while being a center. But so far it looks like they made the right call.
I wouldn't sign Walford on talent. But he could be signed on opportunity. Koberstein will not be signed. Tyszka will be. Walford it's on the fence though right now...we only have 29 contracts commited for next year. You can safely add Armia, Lehkonen, Suzuki and Teasdale. And maybe Poehling too. That's 34. McCarron could be let go. Same with Olofsson, Audette, Froese, Shinkaruk, Lernout, Ouellet. But you still will need players to fill those spots. You could see Juulsen cracking the lineup. Fleury and maybe even Evans. And you need to think of 2020 with Hillis, Fondstad, McShane and maybe Poehling if he wasn't signed. But there are still spots to fill and maybe they think Walford is worth it.
My guess....they won't. They'll sign Tyszka and that's it. If they do is because how weak that left position still is when they take that decision.
it's hard to project what they will do this off-season, if they can't move Schlemko perhaps he gets bought out as I don't think they would want Alzner, Schlemko, and Ouellet all in Laval. Now of course they could just let Ouellet walk but to me he's been the best of the 3 in Laval so far, really like the offense he's brought.
G- Price, Lindgren, McNiven (plus I'd think we'll sign a FA, perhaps Harvey since he impressed at camp, or someone from the NCAA) So we should be looking at 4 contracts, maybe 5 if they want a vet to work with McNiven while Lindgren backs up Price and then a FA like Harvey or whoever in the ECHL as I don't think Marcoux is back. Perhaps if LaCouvee impresses enough he can get that 5th spot, or they could go the AHL contract route again. So 4 or 5 contracts
D- Weber, Petry, Mete, Alzner, Schlemko, Reilly, Kulak, Juulsen, Brook, Fleury, Sklenicka, Moravcik. Now it gets tough, I would be surprised if Benn is back, I would bring back Ouellet, we don't know what they will do with Olofsson or if he will be healthy. There's the rumors about Juulsen so we have to see there. I could see Schlemko get bought out maybe. I also wonder what they do with Reilly, if he's earn a contract and a spot for next year, I assume so but I know at one point they weren't happy with him.
Then you have Tyszka who I think easily gets signed, Walford who I'm 50/50 gets signed and Koberstein who I don't see getting signed but then again they signed guys like Pezzetta, Waked, so you never know.
We know we'll have at around 12, maybe 14 contracts.
F- Drouin, Domi, Tatar, Gallagher, Shaw, Armia, Kotka, Lek, Byron, Danault, Peca, DLO, Chaput, Evans, Vejdemo, Alain, Verbeek, Pezzetta, Waked, Suzuki, Teasdale.
So that's 21 plus McCarron, Hudon, Agostino, Audette. Say all but Audette are back, that would be 24. Poehling would put us at 25.
So we could be say around 44 plus a couple vet forwards for Laval. Then there's the chance they bring over Romanov as well.
Shinkaruk is as good as gone and I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Czech's defenseman gets his contract mutually terminated. Olafsson will be interesting to see.
for sure Shinkaruk is gone, he's been terrible. Olofsson is a tough one since he's had so many shoulder problems so we just don't know where he's at in his recovery and if they would want to use a contract spot on someone that's got a chronic shoulder. I fully expect Sklenicka back, I bet they like him as he's been pretty solid for Laval. Moravcik hasn't been as noticeable so perhaps he will want to return to the Czech league since he's not playing much this year.