With a team 80% formed, Christian Dubé does not plan big changes for the upcoming season. Nonetheless, the team manager has set his eyes on a couple of players: both in the last year of their contracts, Michael Fora and Axel Simic have gathered interest from HC Fribourg-Gottéron in the perspective of rejuvenating the team. For the same reasons, the future of defensemen Philippe Furrer, 35, and Marc Abplanalp, 36, with the Dragons is still open. "At the moment, it's complicated to talk about the future with Philippe," says Christian Dubé.
As for other HCFG's players at the end of their contract, American defenseman Ryan Gunderson, who has an option for an additional season, will probably have his contract extended, while discussions with Andrei Bykov have also begun: "I'm very happy with his start of the season. Now the ball is in his court" tells Dubé to the newspaper.
Despite some activity, this period is as bleak as ever: "It's dead. Zero. There's almost nothing happening," says Dubé, who also admits having met a lot of players: "I've already met a lot of players and I've canvassed their interest, but I haven't made any offers,". The impressions of Dubé are confirmed by Gaëtan Voisard, a players' agent: "Everyone is in survival mode and the clubs don't want to talk now. It is therefore not interesting to start negotiations". Voisard has been able to identify a trend so far in this season: "Clubs first negotiate internally to extend their players at the end of their contracts. Then they turn to youngsters who are less expensive. They know that with them they take fewer risks".
