Confirmed Signing with Link: [NSH] Matt Carle (1 year, $700K)

tjs*

Registered User
Mar 18, 2016
2,103
0
Appreciate your sympathy, but if Matt Carle as our sixth defenseman is going to break what is probably the best defensive unit in the NHL, then there's something else going on.

He very well could. The Carle-Sustr pairing made Lightning fans wince whenever they went onto the ice. I'm still not big on Sustr but he wasn't nearly as awful once he was separated from Carle.

Nothing against him personally - I wish him the best and hope he can revitalize his career. But by the end I was so disgusted with him that I wanted Vinik to offer him an extra million or two if after his retirement he would agree never to put on a blue shirt again. I not only wanted him gone, I wanted him to never again wear anything that could even be mistaken for a Lightning jersey.
 

izzy

go
Apr 29, 2012
86,867
18,826
Nova Scotia
He very well could. The Carle-Sustr pairing made Lightning fans wince whenever they went onto the ice. I'm still not big on Sustr but he wasn't nearly as awful once he was separated from Carle.

Nothing against him personally - I wish him the best and hope he can revitalize his career. But by the end I was so disgusted with him that I wanted Vinik to offer him an extra million or two if after his retirement he would agree never to put on a blue shirt again. I not only wanted him gone, I wanted him to never again wear anything that could even be mistaken for a Lightning jersey.

That's a tad extreme
 

Ajaton Azer

A small hamster
Dec 5, 2005
979
157
Spandex
Very cheap deal for dependable defensive man Matt Carle. He was earning 5750000 dollars while ago playing very good defense! Certainly having Tampa Bay Lightning pay some after buying out makes it easier to sign at low cost for contending team.
 

Samuel Culper III

Mr. Woodhull...
Jan 15, 2007
13,144
1,099
Texas
I have a feeling that when his every move isn't being judged in the context of his contract, and he's only being asked to play ~12 minutes a night, (and can simply be sent down and his entire cap hit vanishes) he'll do just fine as a bottom pairing guy in Nashville.
 

DFC

Registered User
Sep 26, 2013
47,924
24,272
NB
I have a feeling that when his every move isn't being judged in the context of his contract, and he's only being asked to play ~12 minutes a night, (and can simply be sent down and his entire cap hit vanishes) he'll do just fine as a bottom pairing guy in Nashville.

Maybe, but he'll have to improve. He spent a chunk of the season playing 8-10 minutes per night and being healthy scratched, and it wasn't pretty. He wasn't an NHL caliber defenseman last year. He has stretches where he's still "not terrible," but those are few and far between, and sadly getting more rare every season.
 

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