The Ottawa Senators have been trying to find a team to take a chance on Ilya Zubov but have yet to find any takers.
Now the word out of Binghamton according to Michael Sharp is that Zubov expects the Senators will release him in the very near future so that he can pursue playing options in the KHL.
The Russian prospect has fallen out of favour with Senators management and scouts and both sides seem to agree its best just to cut ties.
Best of luck to Ilya in Russia
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Zubov is handling it with class and professionally. Much better than Heatley, that's for sure.
" Asked what went wrong here with the Ottawa organization, he said: "Nothing wrong. I just don't want to be in this league anymore. Two years for me, it's enough." He said the salary in the AHL was one factor, and he added: "I just want to say thanks to Ottawa. The organization gave me a good chance to play, and it was a good two years." "
When the writing is on the wall that the NHL isn't happening, and you are one of the majority of prospects that don't pan out, I can't blame him for wanting to make some cash in another league. He's smart enough to not torch his bridges though.
Hope they think to release his rights strictly for other than the NHL. If some other NHL team gets him for free, we loose a possible opportunity. That said, gone is good in his case.
One point I noticed to support Spezzas's improved play. Did anyone notice his three hits. The two I noticed were actually very well done. Go Spezz.
Zubov gave the NHL a fair shot. If he wants to go the KHL, I wish him all the best.
That's a good point. I did actually notice spezza taking some body last night. He's our guy, go Spez!
I agree, Zubov is handling this far better than Heatley or other Senator prospects who couldn't cut it (Kaigogogogorov or whatever his name was).
One has to wonder what kind of impact players like Kaigs had on Zubov.
At any rate, all the best to Ilya.
And yes, Spezza was hitting the Leafs - very cool to see. I couldn't believe my eyes the first time it happened!
I remember Pierre Maguire during one World Juniors talking about Zubov and telling Sens fans to get real excited, this kid is the real deal....
He lied.
Let's trade him for Kostitsyn.
Personally I think its crap. Many players play longer in the nhl and don't give up. All too often we see these russians with this entitlement attitude. I for one think he should honor his contract and go to khl when its completed.maybe if he gave more effort he might have cracked the roster. Matt carkner played in the ahl for 8 seasons and then cracked the roster when there were 8 or 9 defenceman. Imho
I really commend Zubov on how he handles this situation. He was supposed to be the 'next' prospect for two years now and was pushed to the back-burner by Ottawa's depth and the emergence of Regin and Smith. Why not go home, play in a more competitive league, make some coin, and maybe try it again one day. Good luck
I think the Sens should avoid drafting Russians from now on unless there drafted in the top 10 overall, even then.
sooo true, spezzas lookin like a young alfy out there, hes a pretty big dude and his physical element is deffinatley rising like i knew it would by the way he was playing towards the end of last year.....keep up the good work spezza we all fuckin love ya!!!!
Yeah, Spezza is I feel on his way to becoming the player we've been hoping he'd be since he entered the league.
Play a two way game with some physical element and he may make Team Canada.
GO SENS!
i hope zack smith gets the call ups he deserves this year....i see him being a real force out there and cant wait for his nhl debut!!!!
Forgot to add, I do feel that Heatley was a bad influence and the way he didn't play on d-side of things and not body check had rubbed off on Spezz, now we have some new guys that work hard and it's having a positive effect on everyone.
Sensfaction and 8:26
So, what's up with the anti-Russian bias? Ever consider it might have something to do with players traveling half way around the world ALONE as KIDS to take a shot at the NHL? So when it doesn't work out they want to go back to something familiar, like home?
Would you have the same attitude if the NHL were primarily based in Russia or Europe, and a bunch of North Americans started jumping ship to go back home? I doubt it.
Yeah, lets start avoiding drafting Russians, and while we're at it, let's ship out the ones we have. Volchie was a 1st rounder, but drafted 21st, so if we could go back in time we'd take a pass on him right?
The key is getting rid of most of Mucklers draftees because they suck, some happen to be Russian. Get over it.
I agree with 10:57am...Muckler was so terrible at drafting it's ridiculous...the guy wouldn't notice wayne gretzky at a rookie camp. I think a big part of these skillful russians issue with being demoted is that the style of hockey over there doesn't value role players as much like a Chris Neil or a Ruutu, they just see themselves as more skilled than these guys and get disgruntled that they can't crack that roster spot.
I also agree about Spezza, lets hope we're seeing an Yzerman-like maturing into a scoring 2 way player. Thats when Detroit started puting the pieces together for their dynasty....just saying
By no means only Ross@11:19:
isn't it time we stopped the Spezza/Yzerman pipe dream? If we want to pick a comparable from that era, Spezza's much more a Pierre Turgeon type of player. He's a nice piece to have, even a borderline franchise player, but by no means the complete package slam-dunk 1st-ballot Hall of Famer we keep hoping he'll become.
No disrespect; Spezza's a genius with the puck.
the sens never really set zubov up to succeed. I would say his failure was more a failure for the senators then for zubov. If he was developed in a different system, who knows how good he would be today.
anon @ 7:14pm
I agree with you completely.
1:00pm, I think we pretty much have to, don't we? At least hope he can be the bonafide franchise player we need on offence, with the departure of Heater and an aging alfie, he's really all we've got. Our prospect system is thin on top line scoring and heavy on defensive talent, so if he can't be a star, we're a long ways from contending.
Which is why I prefer to hope he can put up a good plus/minus while still putting up 80-90 pts, even without dany boy.
A statistical analysis of yzerman and spezza over the first 5 seasons is close (since spezz has only been here for 5 full seasons, lot of ppl seem to forget that detail)...during seasons 2 through 5 (not counting rookie season since Jacques never put spezz on the ice), the ppg average for both is about 1.17, and spezzas +/- is better. Now, he'll never explode for 155 and 127 point seasons like stevey Y did, but otherwise they have similar skill sets. If spezz can learn to use the body, pack on some more weight, and learn to move quickly with said weight just like steve, he could definitely be a championship calibre top line center.
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