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Jake Evans signs or not: Kirby Dach’s end of season will be a determining factor.

 Félix Forget
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Jake Evans signs or not: Kirby Dach’s end of season will be a determining factor.
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Should they sign Jake Evans long-term (and at a high price) or not?

That’s the million-dollar question that Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton will need to answer in the coming months. This season, Evans has reached another level, scoring 10 goals and 23 points in 37 games while becoming an essential piece in the team’s success, particularly on the penalty kill.

The question is whether Evans has really become that player or if he’s playing above his capabilities at the moment. On this, your opinion is as good as mine.

In short, while everyone has their opinion on the million-dollar question, Brian Wilde took the opportunity during his appearance on Tony Marinaro’s Sick Podcast to discuss the topic a bit… and he made a very interesting point: we greatly underestimate the impact of Kirby Dach’s late-season performance on the decision.

Because in fact, Dach’s performance going forward this season changes a lot.

Essentially, Wilde explains that if Dach demonstrates by the end of the year that he can become the second center that the team hoped for, it would then make more sense to sign Evans. Indeed, the question of the second center would then be resolved, allowing the team to invest resources in the third center position.

And, to complete their center line, promote Owen Beck to the fourth line.

That said, if Dach continues to struggle until the end of the year, the team will need to invest resources to fill the second center role. In that scenario, Dach would move to the third center position… and with Beck pushing, signing Evans at a high price wouldn’t make sense.

I’m among those who don’t really see the point of trading Evans at the deadline, even at a high price. Unless the team completely falls apart before the deadline and Evans’ salary demands are outrageous (like $5 million per year, for instance), the team is no longer at the stage where it needs to sell all its players for draft picks.

There are already so many prospects within the organization and the team still has a ton of picks in the coming years. Drafting another Filip Mesar or another Alex Newhook (via trade) isn’t as important as keeping the guys who provide good hockey.

In a world where Dach plays great hockey until the end of the year and shows that he is still the potential future second center of the team, I would have no problem seeing the team give Evans a big contract. He is a true asset on the penalty kill, he’s well-liked in the locker room, and he is currently showing offensive potential.

I’m not saying he’s the new Artturi Lehkonen… but does the team really want to take that risk for another Justin Barron?


In brief

– Speaking of the wolf.

– Ivan Demidov has a good preparation, says his coach.

– Interesting.

– Nice pickup for the Dodgers.

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