Ducks taking one more shot at re-signing Matt Beleskey
Only two days ago talks between pending UFA Matt Beleskey and the Anaheim Ducks were “progressing.” The 27-year old forward is coming off a career season after posting 22 goals and 32 points.
But like all negotiations, things change, and that’s certainly what's apparently happened between Beleskey’s camp and Ducks GM Bob Murray.
Appearing on Hockey Central at Noon, Murray didn’t make it sound like things were “progressing.” He said the Ducks have one more offer in them before they say goodbye.
“It’s a bumpy road right now. I’m not going to lie,” he said. “We’re going to try one more shot at it, and then we’ll have to move on.
Beleskey made $1.4 million in 2014-15 and picked the right season to post career numbers. But with the salary cap ceiling not expected to rise greatly, will we see GMs shy away from handing him a blank check? He has a career .099 shooting percentage and hit .152 this past season after spending time alongside with the likes of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler.
If Beleskey is to cash in, it’ll come with great risk from whatever GM signs him, Anaheim or elsewhere.
Murray, meanwhile, has to also contemplate the futures of RFAs Jakob Silfverberg and Emerson Etem, along with UFA Francois Beauchemin. He’s got plenty of room under the cap to work with, but who knows what his plans are for other free agents that hit the market on July 1.
“You got to protect yourself. It’s not just the contract this year, it’s what it does to your team in future years,” Murray said. “You’ve got to be looking one, three, five, seven years out. You got to see what that contract does to you, the term of it. There’s lots of things that go into this that people don’t see right off the bat.”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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