It's going to be hard to keep Beleskey and Beauchemin
Both Matt Beleskey and Francois Beauchemin played critical roles throughout the playoffs.
Beleskey finished with eight goals and an assist in the playoffs, on top of a career-high in goals during the regular season with 22.
Beauchemin provided nine assists during the playoffs, and also finished the regular season with a career-high 11 goals.
Both Beleskey and Beauchemin become unrestricted free agents this year.
In a particularly weak free agency class, both players could potentially fetch a large contract. The 26-year-old Beleskey will be one of the highest goal scorers available, and he is due for a big pay raise from his $1.4 million salary. Beleskey, however, has expressed interest in staying with Anaheim.
“It’s a different feeling for sure,” Beleskey said. “I’ve always loved being here in Anaheim, and I still do. I’m always optimistic and hoping for the best, but we’ll see what happens.”
“To be honest, I don’t really want to talk about it right now,” Beleskey continued. “It’s kind of tough to think about. I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I’m sure I’ll talk to management here for a bit and we’ll kind of go from there. Right now, I don’t really know what to say about it.”
Beauchemin has also expressed interest in staying with the Ducks. He's coming off a season in which he made $3.5 million, and this may be the last time the soon to be 35-year-old defenseman can cash in on a contract.
“That’s no secret to anybody,” Beauchemin said. “I’ve said it all year. I hope to come back. We haven’t discussed anything yet. Hopefully it will happen in the next few weeks.”
Even Bob Murray didn't offer much insight on the situation. The Ducks have 10 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders signed for next season, with a projected $17,594,170 in cap space, according to generalfanager.
“Boy, it’s going to be hard,” Murray said. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s going to be hard. I do not regret not trading either one of them. I wanted to give this team every chance to run at the Cup, and they did run at it.”
On top of Beleskey and Beauchemin, the Ducks have three restricted free agents that might have priority over the two unrestricted free agent, including scorer Jakob Silfverberg and gritty forwards Emerson Etem and Chris Wagner.
Only time will tell on whether or not the Ducks maintain all the pieces from the team.
(h/t OC Register)
Photo Credit: Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images
