Silver Nuggets: What's Gonna Happen With Patrick Wiercioch?

Patrick Wiercioch has been a healthy scratch for five straight games. Some people were expecting him to get traded at the deadline, but he wasn't. Now he's still a member of the Ottawa Senators, and will probably get to play down the stretch with Mark Borowiecki listed as week-to-week. Shortly after the trade deadline, Bryan Murray had some generic comments on Wiercioch:

I can’t tell you anything about the long-term at this point in time. That’s totally up to Patrick. I mean, if he comes in and plays the way we think he’s capable of and the way he played in the latter part of last year, then he has a future with us. And if he doesn’t and he plays somewhat like he’s been playing lately here, then it’s going to be difficult for him. We did talk to a good number of teams about him and we couldn’t make a trade, so now it’s up to Patrick to show that he can play and play well here.

(via 6th Sens)

Murray has a history of talking up underperforming defencemen (see: Cowen, Jared) so I don't read too much into this. Basically, Wiercioch's only chance is to play lights-out like he did down the stretch last year. Barring that, he's as good as gone in the offseason.

NKB did a good job of outlining the Sens' options with PW a couple weeks ago. Pretty much, the team has four options: qualify him at this year's salary ($2.7M), take him to team-elected arbitration with a minimum award of $2.295M, trade him, or fail to qualify him and let him become a UFA. Seeing how little the team values him, and with Chris Wideman on a bargain contract, I have a hard time seeing the team willingly offer up $2.7M for him. Even $2.3M seems too high. The team reportedly tried to trade him leading up to the deadline, but there were no takers. I have a hard time seeing that changing much in the summer, again, unless he has a fantastic end to the year. If I'm a GM, I'd have a hard time giving up an asset to acquire Wiercioch to still have to qualify him at $2.7M. If I really wanted him, I'd wait for him to become a UFA and sign him for less.

I guess the Sens have one more option, which is to offer him a Wideman-level contract before the qualifying deadline (June 27 this year). If Wiercioch accepted it as his last shot at the NHL, he could be a Senator next year. The only question is, why would Wiercioch accept it? After all he's been through in Ottawa, you think he'd decide to take his chances with pretty much any other team.

Sens Links:

• The Sens lost last night, but at least we have a video recap [Silver Seven, Rank the Performances]
• Both Callum and Nichols have pieces outlining the issues brought up by the Shane Prince trade [Silver Seven, 6th Sens]
• Jeff takes you through some of the minor league pieces Ottawa got leading up to the trade deadline [Silver Seven]
• Vote on the best Sens player of February! [Silver Seven]
• Trevor argues that Daniel Alfredsson's legacy is too important to risk tainting it by making him GM [Silver Seven]
• Cody Ceci has shown a lot of offensive ability, but his defensive play seems to be stalling [Silver Seven]
• The Sens are reportedly still trying to acquire Jonathan Drouin [SensChirp]
• Scott Gomez has signed with the Sens [Silver Seven, 6th Sens, SenShot]
• Nichols' thoughts on PR Dorion's post-trade deadline thoughts [6th Sens]
• Joe Boughner with an article mocking the negativity among Sens blogs and Twitter [Bonk's Mullet]
• The Sports Quotient looks at Erik Karlsson's case for being MVP [TSQ]
• Peter Levi wasn't impressed with the Sens' deadline [Eye on the Sens]
• Scanlan looks at Scott Gomez's early quotes as a Senator [Ottawa Citizen]

Other Links:

• Some pretty strong criticism of the World Cup squad unveiling, as well as the event itself [Ottawa Citizen]
• Steven Stamkos' production is down from previous years, but he's still among the NHL's elite [Today's Slapshot]
• Jen LC's first post in a long time on her personal blog, talking about the politics of hate that seem to be sweeping the US right now [Jen LC]
• David Castillo argues why the Kris Russell trade may not be as bad as the stats crowd claims [Defending Big D]
• Scott Cullen picks his NHL award-winners at the 3/4 mark. You'll never guess which Senator he picked for the Norris [TSN]