"Our position is delicate, even uncomfortable," HC Sierre's president Alain Bonnet tells Le Nouvelliste. "The club is counting on him for next season. He is a very important part of our project." He adds that it is, however, not in their interest to keep a player that wants to leave, so "if necessary, it will be a matter of replacing him."
Alain Bonnet and team manager Christophe Fellay will talk about the situation as soon as the latter returns from his vacation. They will then discuss the offer with Guillaume Asselin. They already had a discussion about the issue at the end of the season, but at that point, Asselin did not have a concrete offer: "The situation is obviously different now."
According to Sport-Center (published on Le Matin), HC Sierre already has a couple of players in mind if Asselin were indeed to leave the team: William Pelletier (recently signed a contract extension with the Black Wings 1992), Olivier Archambault (last played in the ECHL for the Allen Americans), and Marc-Olivier Roy (last played in the ECHL for the Fort Wayne Komets).
HC Sierre is also in talks with Goran Bezina, as Le Nouvelliste reports. While they have not yet reached an agreement, both parties want to work out a new deal. "All that remains is to agree on the financial issue. I am quite confident about our discussions," Alain Bonnet states.
