It was amazing to see the level of respect Rangers fans had for this Senators team. There really was an "anyone but Ottawa" consensus among New York fans before the playoff matches were set. A die hard Rangers fan sitting to my right said that no team had played the Rangers as tough as Ottawa did.
Still on the road so I'll have a chance to post a more comprehensive blog when I return home, but I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks to the loyal readers of this site. The Senators took us on an unexpected ride this season and being able to discuss it with all of you on a daily basis made it that much more enjoyable.
What started as a small site with just a handful of readers really has grown into one of the best Senators communities on the internet.
Thanks again and Go Sens Go!
they put us at 15th in the conference, we shut them up by making the playoffs.
they said we would get sweapt, we took the best team in the east down to the final moments of game 7 and lost by one goal.
im so proud of the team this year.
thank you very much chirp, and loyal posters and readers such as hax, miguel, sandy, jason, sensfaninmtl to name a few
i look forward to talk to everyone on this site soon, as always
GO SENSSSSSSSSSSS GOOOOOOOOOOO
CHIRP IS THE MAN
can't wait for next year !
This year gives me nothing but positive thoughts moving forward, Seeing all the talented youth we have at our disposal then the fact Turris will finally get a proper training camp with us, The likes of Silverberg, Zibanejad, Stone will most likely all be joining us next year.
Also for the first time ever we have a solid line of goalies on the team, Anderson & Lehner/Bishop fighting for backup duties, Like suggested after the deadline Bishop is perfect for us to trade off for a 1st rounder to a team who desperately needs a NHL ready goaltender
While we also will have the cap space to make a serious splash in the free agent market if we wish too,
My only thing i'm upset with is after the playoffs the past few seasons i always think "What if this is Alfie's last year"
Overall i'm amazed at our progress and i can't wait for next season
GO SENS GO!!
Alfie ?
To everyone else, it's addictive to read all your posts/insight (other than just insulting each other posts) ont his team and we are really starting to see our fanbase developing into a powerhouse. It's beautiful to see.
Looking forward to the draft and the World Championships. I need a few days off from NHL playoffs but I'll be watching in a week or so. Go Preds and Devils !
Go Sens Go!
Can't wait for the World Championshp to start to follow our boys.
Go SENS GO
I hope Karlsson joins as well, Sweden will be tough to beat.Quoting TyrantWeeeeee:
Silfver already confirmed he was joining he Sweden roster.
I read that Spezza immediately called Kevin Lowe to see if there was a spot on the World's team. The roster seems to be set, but they were waiting for an injury report from Seguin.
Any word on whether Spezza will play?
things we can currently talk about.
senschirp hockey pool,
possible draft ideas
world championships, though canada seems in trouble since the have some leaf defence, hopefully other players join the team.
Chirp thanks again, your site was always on my tablet, all the time wherever i was.
the youth movement will continue for the sens come september.
This young team gave us some great moments this season.. and I'm very excited for next season.
I hope and pray the CBA gets settled fairly quickly.. but that Fehr scares me.. he would have no qualms of taking the players to a strike.
Hoping Alfie comes back next season... love to see him play in the Worlds with Karlsson & Silfverberg...
Thank you Chirp, for your dedication to keeping us Sens fanatics up to date with your posts...
Excited for the draft as well.. to see what the Murray's and Dorion have in mind for us fans...
What will the Sens do on July 1st -- do they keep Gilroy -- or do they go to market...
Will Borowiecki or Gryba make the Sens next season in place of Kuba...
So many unknowns.. which make it exciting.
Keep us posted Chirp...
i will obviously be posting any swedish news i get a hold of next season too.
speaking of swedes and prospects, yesterday evening close friends saw zibanejad at casino laclemy with his lady friend. looks like he is already settled in ready for a big rookie season
through what ive read today seems that we have :
da costa - france
daugavins - latvia
silfverberg - sweden
karlsson - possible sweden if insurance issue solved with his RFA contract
alfredsson - apparently thinking about it
milo - czech
spezza did ask to play but canada said the roster is full, canada's centers are o'reilly getzlaf tavares RNH. i think spezza is the best if not 2nd best on that list.
kuba turned down his invite from czech
i think those will be all our reps.
lets start with:
Noesen spezza silfverberg
michalek turris alfredson
foligno smith stone
condra obrien neil
spare:winchester
kuba karlsson
phillips cowen
gonchar borocop
spare:carkner
anderson
bishop
Ahl (line ups not actual)
Zibanejad Regin peterson
prince Dacosta butler
hoffman locke klinkhammer
culek grant hamilton
gryba Weircioch
blood claesson
sdao wideman
Lehner
Mckenna
I don't think that Gilroy played his way into a new contract and I think that the youth movement will dictate Kuba's fate. Borowiecki will split time with Carkner (who I strongly believe will get an extension) which leaves one more spot that will likely be filled through free agency. Suter will be a hot commodity and it wouldn't make any sense overpaying for him only to be screwed when Karlsson, Cowen, Zibanejad and Silfverberg are UFA's.
If he isn't resigned, the guy that makes the most sense for me is Willie Mitchell. Real heart and soul guy who plays basically like Cowen 15 years down the line. Little on the old side, but I would have more confidence in Mitchell leaving it all on the ice than roll the dice with Kuba for another year or 2. Attitude is just as important as skill (so no Souray either).
Another option is to pull another Rundblad-like trade at the draft to bring in a 20-something year old defenseman like Charlie Coyle for our first pick.
If we had a legit sniper we would have gone pretty far
Hands down our goal is to get a TRUE sniper on the top line and for the PP
none of this little midget Michalek BS
Spezza is an true talent but it goes to waste when he is the only guy on the line trying
That's the type of player you want on this team. How he could play like that in round 1 was really great.
Carkner had a knee injury.. which if he played could have made it much worse.
Winchester develop concussion like symptoms.. and he does not know what happened to cause that... hopefully he gets enough heal time in the offseason.
Will Parise and Suter hold the same type of 'interview' process that Brad Richards did? Will be interesting...
Murray said today he wants to get a defensive defenseman (should have kept Volchy -- hindsight) and a 25 goal scorer...
Any thoughts or ideas as to who Murray would be targetting?
Saw on RSU facebook page that someone heard Murray is going after Nash... what do you think that would take.. I would think a lot more than Murray would want to offer.
Is Tarasenko coming over to the NHL next season? I thought I heard he was still staying in the KHL.
Murray tried to keep Volchenkov but Anton's wife is the one running things and she wanted to bleed every dime out.
Nash would cost too much and is not what we need. Let the Leafs and the Habs go after Nash and think the quick fix will solve everything.
I wouldn't want to overpay for a UFA, but if Murray can sign someone for fair deal then he'll do it. Most of our forward prospects project to second or third line at best and I think we can all agree that Spezza needs better wingers to play with.
Trades are not as likely as then you would be overpaying (nobody's going to take a handful of muckers for Nash or someone similar) but a younger UFA would be an option if it doesn't turn into a bidding war.
i.e. does Parise want to play with Spezza and make $6-$7M or does he want to play on a lesser team and make $8-$9M?
Still, our biggest priority should be a stud defensemen. Suter would be a dream come true.
Yes there are reports that he might be, which is a shame for the Blues because he is a terrific prospect.
I really don't think we're going to land a player like Parise, nor do I think that Ottawa is #1 on his list of places to go. If he doesn't resign with Jersey there will be a plethora of teams calling on him. The price will be too high and the term will be too long. No thanks.
Murray's "25 goal-scorer" quote to me points to Dustin Penner, which isn't exactly music to my ears. That quote also gives the impression that he doesn't expect Alfredsson back, which is even more devastating.
we won't go after suter, he'll be so overpriced from the bidding, he will cost more than karlsson, and that wouldn't be fair to karlsson or the team.
That sucks. I hope we don't pay out the ass for Karlsson. I also still hope we get rid of Gilroy and Auld for sure. Gonchar if we got a replacement lol.
Mclean on the penalty michalek took in game 6 on the PP that essentially ended our season
"the disappointment of our season"
He added
"Our team needs more skill... if we get better players were gonna be better. The players we have have to get better or we have to bring in better players, to make us a better team"
That's the right attitude, shape up or ship out
MIchalek = gone, demoted to line 2 or bust
Cause I remember last year's line up did not look too impressive.
I will be the first to admit, I was angry when Elliott was traded for Anderson. I wasnt convinced, but wow...Anderson gave the young D core the opportunity to learn from "Rookie Mistakes" without fear of being run out of town. *coughTorontoMa pleLeafscough* He stood on his head for us game in and game out, and really become an unholy presence in the playoffs. I apologize Andy, I was wrong.
For some reason, this loss hurts a little more than I thought it would.
Here's to improving our offense and making the league fear the Ottawa Senators for years to come!
Michalek being "demoted" to the second line would be great...it is exactly where he belongs, I have said it numerous times, he is at absolute best a fringe first line player and likely an above average second line player.
Go Sens Go!
Mclean on the penalty michalek took in game 6 on the PP that essentially ended our season
"the disappointment of our season"
********
What PM said was failing to score on the pp was the disappointment. He did not point out MM.
Thanks Chirp, great site. I joined the site looking for scoop when Heatley wanted out of Ottawa....I think this will be a happier summer.
Landing a 25 goal scorer and hopefully getting 1 or 2 more from their prospects would be incredible. It would bump guys like Foligno, Greening, Smith and Butler to the 3rd or 4th line. They would essentially have 3x second lines and a good 4th line that can also score 40-50 goals.
Really? HC does not have him listed as part of the team.
http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75137/la_id/1/season_id/172803/profile_id/172810/team_id/82455/ss_id/173934/
Lowe should be embarrassed. 3/7 defencemen, 3/13 forwards and 1/3 goalies from the Eastern conference.
This team will be lucky to get out of the round-robin. I hope Ward gets hot.
https://www.facebook.com/...lfie?skip_nax_wizard=true
As for the off season game plan, well, I am not sure what Murray does...his first plan is probably to get EK65 locked up to nice deal...then find out what Alfie's plans are for next year...which will tell then if he needs to add another top 6 or not...and if Alfie does step aside, then its to decide who gets the C (Spezz in my opinion, with the darkhorse being Neil)
and Zippy...I dunno if MM9 f**ked your mom, wife, or sister, but man, lay off him a bit, I tell you I rather have him here than Heatley....35 goals from this guy, and he is still not yet in his prime, just hope his knees hold out.
This off season isn't going to seem as long as last years, I just have that feeling.
As a Sens fan living in the heart of blue & white country it pleases me to say the future in Ottawa is indeed bright. Even without one of those 5 year rebuilds that some GM's don't have time for.
Great site, great year, many thanks.
Even though Heatey left the way he did.. he still had back to back 50 goal seasons in a sens uniform and three 100 point seasons. MM has nothing on Heatley dickface.
nice bit of misplaced hostility...yea h ok...he did have those seasons here...but his play has also declined big time from when he started with us until now with the Wild...either he doesn't have the drive anymore or people have figured out his game and he refuses to change it...seriously. ..sitting in the slot waving your stick for the one timer...at some point d-men are going to figure it out and lay him out when the pass comes. judged by this season...heatle y has nothing on MM...
lol You're gonna eat those words
Last season was his "prime"
He was shit when the going got tough, rack up all the points you want in 2011. I called it weeks before the playoffs, when he was playing like shit that we would lose if we relied on him and we did
I'd take heatley any day over Michalek in that playoff run
rather heatley in the locker room than some little shy pip squeak muppet baby with no apparent skill
The dude used to skate fast, that was his only +
I haven't seen him skate fast in months
best time to deal him is now, and that is the best for the team moving forward
The fuck is up with you man? Heatley's production has been drastically decreasing every season and comes for 3 million more than Michalek...MM9 had like 11 more goals than he did this season while playing 5 less games. Not to mention that Michalek actually back-checks...
Now idk what you have against this guy, but it really is fucking ridiculous the way you talk about him.
i herd the leafs are looking for some fans
another voice of reason here, am sure there are many, its just most are tired of responding to zip...I can understand why, I get more intelligent arguments out of my 2 year old, but that is neither here nor there, I have never seen such a personal hate on for a particular player, maybe zip is dany heatley in disguise and is jaded that MM9 is playing well and his career is on a decline. Could MM9 be better, yeah probably, but could say that for pretty much anyone on the roster, there is no perfect player, but no way Mich9 deserves that kind of ridicule. Yeah we as fans get upset with a player doesn't perform as well as we figure they should, but dang, Zip, you take it way too far.
woot some good news...maybe he has it in him for another run...not ready for Alfie to retire yet...or ever.
from iihf.com
“Immediately when we were eliminated from the playoffs, I spoke with Erik Karlsson and asked him how he feels about going to the World Championship,” says Alfredsson to IIHF.com. “I told him that I myself feel good about it. This week when I was off with the concussion made that I feel rested now and ready to go.”
He says that the decision to play the Worlds has nothing to do with the decision to play one more year in the NHL or to retire.
“These are two separate things,” says Alfredsson. “I will make the decision a couple of weeks after the World Championship.”
Silfverberg is also on the roster.
Next up - draft in June, UFA, development camp
Spezza, Turris, Foligno and Smith. That would be an excellent group of four guys to go with down the middle. The top six wingers will probably be Alfie, Michalek, Zibanejad, and Silfverberg. Assuming Alfie returns and the rookies make the jump. Ottawa could be a very fun team to watch next year. The 4th best offense last season and now we're going to add the scoring depth that will make us a much harder team to shut down. That doesn't even include any of the guys from our long list of high scoring prospects at least 1 or 2 of which will probably eventually be a 50 point player at the NHL level. Just imagine the depth we're going to have on the top 3 lines. Hopefully something similar to what Philly is rocking right now.
http://thepensblog.com/tpb/april-2012/respected-journalist-staal-isnt-happy.html
This is honestly how I see the Sens in the next 1-3 years. The most interesting prospects that wer have imo include Zibanejad, Silfverberg and Matt Puempel, because these are blue chip prospects. Ottawa has done a good job cultivating their prospects, but many of them are bottom six/fringe 2nd line players. The three mentioned are top 6 talents that are projected stars.
A guy with all the potential in the world is Colin Greening though. I just feel like there is so much untapped offense in him. He's an underrated prospect who can be a 20 goal scorer.
Still going to hope against hope that he does play one more year just to mentor the new Swedes on our team as he did so well with Karlsson.
In camp last year he didn't look out of place at all in the games - he really impressed - skated hard and had a real knack for the puck.
Wake me up in September.
I still have that empty feeling in my stomach knowing that the sens won't be playing again this season, after such a great one, but like u said I'm looking forward to talking to everyone about different topics this summer, and the great senschirp duck hunt!
I was thinking the same thing. From a selfish perspective I'd rather he rest up, spend time with family and come back hungry in September.
I dont think NJ is a lesser team, if we cant lure him with money then I think he stays in NJ with the likes of Kovalchuk, Zajac, Henrique, Elias.
I think Zib's expectations have to be lowered a bit, he's only turning 20 and has already 2 concussions. He is a powerforward and his style of play is going to get him either another concussion of some sort of injury. Its nice he got drafted 6th and we expected big things from him but now after 2 head injuries, I dont consider him our best prospect anymore, it sucks but thats how the cookie crumbles.
C
2 already? sheesh...not good for a kid that is 20, but does come from his style of play, agreed there, but seriously, something has to be done or most prospects are going to fizzle out before they even play an NHL season...agreed on the prospect ranking, would see Silfverberg as #1 right now, Mika Z top 5 for sure, but Noeson was creeping ahead of him, was a shame he got hurt (I assume?).
...despite the cast on his left hand.
The injury, which occurred during their first-round series against the Guelph Storm, was a bad break for the Whalers in more ways than one.
“It was friendly fire,” said Noesen, with a smile. “I got hit with a shot from (teammate) Austin Levi. It’s all right though, I’ll be back soon.”
Quoting MattZ:
You can't "drop" or "let go" a guy who has a year left on his contract.
Turn the other cheek Chirpheads.
What a dumb fat pile of crap Bryce Gariouch is...cant even spell names properly COWAN=COWEN
I have no idea how this moron still has a job...
#Sens coach Paul MacLean has been named as one of three nominees for the Jack Adams trophy for NHL coach of the year: http://bit.ly/J4QL7I
other than his skills of finding buffets in the great city of ottawa...what a useless waste of skin.
I also don't really agree with most of his grades...althou gh only slightly different
Milan Michalek / Jason Spezza / Zach Parise
Daniel Alfredsson / Kyle Turris / Jakob Silfverberg
Chris Neil / Zack Smith / Nick Foligno
Erik Condra / Jim O'Brien / Colin Greening
Sergei Gonchar / Chris Phillips
Jared Cowen / Ryan Suter
Erik Karlsson / Matt Carkner
Craig Anderson
Ben Bishop
i can only dream but could you imagine Murray finds a way of bringing in these two?
instant contenders imo.
ps. i don't see Regin coming back.
No doubt, 2 players like that make anyone a contender!
I will absolutely flip out if we get 2 of the 3 big UFA's.
Also IMO, Regin aint coming back, Sens wont re-sign him, waste of a roster spot the whole year.
If Alfie plays one more year, I can see Murray making this team a contender to give Alfie that Cup.
I'm sure Murray and Alfie will be talking lots this summer in regards of how to make the team better.
would suggest a couple of changes...eithe r move Obrien up to 3C if he will fit the role, and have Konopka at the 4C or cheap UFA if Konopka doesn't sign again (which I don't see..MacLean loves him...great on draws...good role player)
wanted to fit him in the line-up, but who to take out.
other players left out
Winchester
Butler
Zibenajad
Regin
I say Butler and Regin will be odd men out...Mika Z could be in the A to start the season or back in Sweden..Winches ter...love the guy, but may be an odd man out in the numbers game...tough decisions have to be made at times and he has some injury troubles...same reason Regin will be left out as well. Foligno being RFA is going to be on a short leash this year I have a feeling....Murr ay put the challenge out to him, and as much as I love the guy...don't seen him more than a 3rd liner...not 25 goal potential. Greening is another one that has to be decided on as well, keep or let go? of course this all depends on contracts as well, so may not be that easy just to let this guys go depending on length of contract, plus # of 1 ways we have for next year.
If Alfie comes back something along the lines of what was posted wouldn't surprise me at all...if he retires I really have no clue what our team will look like next season.
IMO if Alfie retires, Murray will keep with the rebuilding, but if he comes back i hope Murray retools the team with big UFA signings.
Ottawa should put all the effort/package to get Parise and work to get a solid hardnose veteran D to replace Kuba.
This would make us a solid contender next season.
Not many teams that don't have that #1D
As I'm sure you'll claim to have known all along, the voting is already done and playoffs do not play into it at all.
Having said that, I do agree that Hitch probably wins it given the Blues finished 2nd out of nowhere which is slightly more attention-getti ng than finishing 8th when predicted to finish last.
Suck it Phaneuf!
No worries, it was kept pretty secretive, ya know, they wanted him back for that series vs Kit but he couldnt come back in time.
Must have been a real hard shot! Damn Levi!
Tookie, have you seen this kid play? I haven't, and I'm real curious about him. Alot of people seem high oh him, and he sure did well in the playoffs, until he got hurt.
Many had them making the playoffs, very few thought they would come any close to deadlast
when a team fires their coach after 7 games, it typically is proof theat they expected way more. If they were projected for last then it would be construed as a rebuild, and why would you fire your coach so early
a team with:
macdonald, arnott, langenbrunner, oshie, perron, backes up front and shattenkirk, pietrelangelo, jackman on d and halak in net.
They should have made the playoffs this year and hitchcock did amazing don't get me wrong, but its not like he was a miracle working, putting a team in 1st place with no talent at all
I've followed Plymouth on the OHL pack only because the Sens did have Noesen on that team, have to say he started really slow, wasnt even in the top 25 in scoring halfway through the season...He sure did pick it up in the 2nd half, I have a feeling this kid is more mature than most and really shows up in pressure games and not so much in reg season. I think with Silfverberg this is our best prospect.
Thank you for all the hard work you put into this website! It is great that us fans have somewhere to go for news and to talk about our favorite team!
I didn't comment right away, because there were so many emotions going on. Now that I have had time to digest everything I will say this...I am disappointed that they did not make it out of the 1st round...but unlike in previous years I am not angry...I am excited about what the future holds for the Sens. I can't wait to see what moves Murray makes to solidify the team.
I think if we could get a solid winger to play with Spezza and a shut down D we will be in great shape (although I know it is easier said than done).
as for a lot of the negative comments regarding some players this year...I see it this way...ya it would have been nice to get more out of Spezza, Karlsson, Michalek but truth is we could have got more out of most of the guys with the exception of maybe Anderson. I look at this season as a learning experience for everyone...Now everyone knows what to expect from the Boss behind the bench and what it takes to get through the 1st round. Next year I will expect more from everyone!
http://senators.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=79874
just got it too...pretty decent read...you can just feel a buzz from top of the organization right through to us the fans...it may sound homerish and cheesy...but there is something special about this brand of Senators, and should be very, very exciting to watch for the next few years.
Maybe not a miracle but damn close to it, MacLean did a great job to, he got a 13th place team into 8th place, I think the Blues were 11th last year and finished 2nd and are a fav for the Cup. Edge goes to Hitch.
Ok, thanks Tookie. Like I said, I have been hearing alot of good things - he sounds like a "character" kid too.
You are comparing how the teams did last year to this year, ignoring all of the personnel changes that happened in the offseason. IMO, a better judge would be the "expert predictions" versus reality.
The Hockey News: STL 7th in West, OTT 15th in East
- STL ended up 5 spots higher, OTT ended up 7 spots higher
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/41527-The-Hockey-News-201112-NHL-predictions.html
TSN: STL 12th overall, OTT 30th overall
- STL ended up 9 spots higher, OTT ended up 14 spots higher
http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/scott_cullen/?id=392234
I'm sure there are more examples, but the point is... STL was predicted to be a playoff team and to be competitive. And they were that and a bit more. OTT was expected to be the laughing stock of the NHL, and we did much, much better than that.
And those predictions were made with David Payne as the coach... so with a better coach, the predictions for STL would have likely been even higher.
So your comment "Maybe not a miracle but damn close to it" is pretty flawed there, mate. It's not even close to a miracle.
Or to put it another way, Hitch took a team that was expected to do well and got them do very well. PM took at team that was supposed to awful and made them quite good. Which is harder? Apples and oranges...
Having said all that, I still think Hitch wins... but I suspect it will be very close, not that we'll ever know.
So while the Sens may have finished more spots ahead of where they were projected, the St Louis season is a bigger accomplishment (not by much mind you).
I only threw the predictions out because Tookie's argument was based on where the teams finished the year before.
Like I said, both are great achievements, but its like comparing apples to oranges, as they say. The SENS definitely had a lot more "room to impress" start with such low expectations. However, seeing the impact of finally have a great coach here in Ottawa, we just want everyone else to see what we see.
I know you're probably still trying to catch your breath from the last couple of weeks, but I wanted to remind you of my suggestion, from a while back, where we would each have an opportunity to submit what we think will be the Sens opening day roster next year?
I think it would be cool if we could do it "blind" where we don't get to see each others submissions. That way, we could include a "dark horse" candidate without giving ideas to the other posters.
At any rate, I just wanted to remind you. If you feel that it's too much work (for you), I understand - I'm sure you could use a break.
Either way, thanks for all of your efforts.
Yes where they finished, not where they were "supposed" to finish. I dont take expert views into account as they are not facts, merely opinions and usualy wrong.
Speaking by Conference. 11th to 2nd is MUCH better accomplishment than 13th to 8th. Not to mention a longer playoff run atm.
True but playoff dont matter as votes have already been casted
Also look at it this way:
Ottawa went from 13th to 8th while adding: maclean, auld and having prospect development from Karlsson, Cowen Greening and SMith
St.Louis went from 11th to 2nd while adding: Hitchcock, Arnott, Langenbrunner, macdonald from concussion, Elliott with prospect development from oshie, perron, shattenkirk, pietrelangelo
hmmmmmmmmmmmm
Just so I can understand your position, you think how a team performs the previous year is a better prediction of how they will do the next year (regardless of player/coach changes) than any form of prediction?
So, Florida for example, who changed more than 1/2 their roster, you would think their finish last year was a better benchmark of how they should do this year, than any expert's opinion?
WOW!!!
And, again, you bring up the playoff run... which, as you've mentioned many time previously, DOES NO MATTER FOR THESE AWARDS as they are voted on before the playoffs start.
Interesting how you respond to various comments, but ignore ones like #107... things that make you go "hmmmmm"...
Having re-read Tookie's comments, I can only conclude he is either (a) completed deluded in a world all his own, or (b) is just trying to provoke an argument because he's bored.
I'll assume its (b).
If Tookie hadn't lived up to his end of the username bet I wouldn't be able to think of a single time he ever admitted to being wrong without heaping a whole bunch of revisionist history on top of a hedging justification about "what he really meant".
LOL
And I love how Tookie has that rare vision problem where his eyes cannot register text that confirms he is wrong on any subject or challenges him to back up his statements - unless he feels he can come up with some form of the aforementioned justifications that is.
True about the playoffs being a non factor now. Hitch did get more out of his "prospect" as you mark them down, its clear to see now.
You make it sound like Arnott, Langenbrunner and McDonald have been clucth or the reason they went #2...Not likely.
Arnott 34pts in 72 games
Langenbrunner 24pts in 70 games
McDonald 22pts in 25 games (very respectful numbers)
But in no way adding Arnott & Langenbrunner brought them to #2, its the equivalent of us adding Gonchar & Turris.
Id go far as to say without Turris and Gonchar we don't make the playoffs ad Maclean gets no consideration.
PLayers like Arnott and Langenbrunner are vets who understand the ups and downs of a season, and you have to believe they were instrumental in helping/convinc ing the young players to buy into Hitchcock system, and really turn that ship around
Hitch did an incredible job, and really both him and Maclean should be a 1a/1b type winner, but to say Hitch impact was that much bigger than maclean is foolish
Just so I get it right, here you are saying that the Blues prospects are clearly better than ours? Havent you been praching our prospects pool to be one of the best around?
only Edmonton and Florida rank ahead of us in terms of prospect pool depth...St Louis may be top 10 to 15...but not at our level...Tarasen ko is probably the one that brings them as high as they are, and he may never make it over here.
Seriously? Man, you must be drinking on the job.
Anyone who talks about the depth/greatness of our prospect pool is OBVIOUSLY referring to more than Karlsson, Cowen Greening and SMith... they are referring to Silferberg, Noesen, Stone, Lehner, etc, etc, etc.
Once again taking something completely out of context to try to make an argument...
Totally agree...
He completely ignored my response in #125 and move forward with taking something else completely out of context as a basis for his next argument... lol!
At least its providing some entertainment on a slow work day.
In a year-end conference call with the Ottawa media on Monday, Melnyk said the Senators can’t go “toe-to-toe” in spending with the big-market teams, suggesting that players, and in particular Karlsson, will have to take a haircut to play in Ottawa.
“From our perspective everyone has to be reasonable,” he said.
“All we can offer is opportunity, and that is to be part of a great organization with a shot.
“If you want to be part of that, our doors are open.
“We can pay you, but it has to be within a reasonable budget.”
While that should be looked at as only the opening salvo in these negotiations, the beginning of the to and fro, it does seem to suggest that the Senators are going to play hardball with their talented player.
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So that tells me several things:
- He must have lost a bundle in his divorce from his wife... He would always spend to the cap in the past.
- If they don't qualify Karlsson before July 1st -- after hearing that.. some team or teams will be throwing an offer sheet at Karlsson for really big bucks that the Sens won't match...
- The thoughts/hopes of Parise, Suter or Nash in Ottawa is dead after reading this today.
I like Melnyk -- his passion for his team.. but at times he has to keep his mouth shut.. especially on the Karlsson contract... Too bad the CBA will be too late for Karlsson's contract.. as the league wants to limit the contract dollars for those players coming of the ELC...
Take it for what it is worth.. but this is a big downer for me.
You need those big named players to get you over the hump in the playoffs. If he wants to win... he will have to pay.
Finally some respect!
Merely tactics by Eugene, Sandy, he aint gonna go out and say he will break the bank for Karlsson, that WOULD invite teams to offer sheet KArlsson just to jack up the price.
Good tactics is always start low. Lowball Karlsson!! LOL
The point is how many times did Edmonton and Florida pick at the top of the draft? Also St. Louis as well.. they have been developing that team for many years...
Looks like Chirp may be away a little while, been reading the posts about available moves and players. Did a new search for 2012-13 UFA'a and it looks like a bigger lot than I remembered. If and I mean, a BIG if, Ottawa decides to use some of it's available money next year to sign a guy or two, you'd have to think top priority is a top 6 winger (i'd hope a legit first liner) and a 1st pairing D, or 3rd to play with EK.
The obvious names are Parise and Suter any day of the week, but here are a few I think could be a solid addition and even an option to keep going into the rebuild.
D:
Dennis Wideman (all around quality D, offensive enough to play 2nd unit PP)
Barret Jackman (Quality, grit)
Matt Carle (Great defensive D, to play with a offensive EK)
Kurtis Foster (Local guy, BIG at 6-5, Bomb of a shot on the PP, would need to stay healthy)
F:
Alexander Semin (his request won't be as high as Parise)
Daymond Langkow (35 but adds so much to a team, Doan could be considered, but you won't leave the Yotes)
Brad Boyes (He's 30, could be had for cheap. Can still put the puck in the net with the right setup man)
Jarret Stoll (29, can play any position, even 3rd line C if needed)
Jiri Hudler (28, Fits into the system and had a rebound year)
David Jones (27, large guy, proven 20+ goal scorer, can play either wing position)
These are just a few options, but not all may fit the mould we are trying to put together. Any other thoughts?
As Tookie points out he's not going to say "Yeah the check-book is open wide" and also he's still following the 2-3 year rebuild plan Murray laid out (as he should).
I guarantee you that when the time comes to "make a run" Melnyk will allow Murray to spend to the cap as he has in the past. He doesn't own the Senators to make money. Of course he wants to limit his losses as well.
In 2-3 years when our young guys are peaking and some of the older guys contracts are gone (Gonchar) I'm sure he'll be fine with signing the right UFAs. He's not going to sign some old geezer to a 5-year deal for one or two cup runs, but he'll allow Murray to make smart signings.
Put another way, if this was 2 years from now and we were in a position to make a run next year - i.e. the team is as good as it's going to get - Melnyk would be fine with Murray signing Parise and Suter for big bucks. Within reason still of course, but he wants a cup as much as we do.
Go Sens Go, and am excited for next year!
KJ
The Positives of taking a chance on Penner
1. He might have great chemistry with Spezza and help us out greatly while not wasting the dollars on lets say Parise.
2. He pushes others down the depth chart so Michalek can be moved to the 2nd line with Turris, Foligno can be moved down to the 3rd line and it allows Silfverberg, Zbad and Stone to have to compete to get on the team instead of having an open spot or two in the top six. Also letting them spend more time in bingo rather then getting beaten around in the NHL all year.
3. Even if the experiment fails he'll come fairly cheap and won't hurt to have him lower in the line up. Plus as Dallas showed with Souray and Ryder these type of deals generally work out well for both team and player.
The negatives would be.
He remains the same player he was in L.A. and doesn't do anything to help the team win.
His one way contract will likely make it hard to move him around out of the line up and let someone from bingo come up to fill his role. He might also take a spot from someone more deserving because of it.
At this point I'd say go for it He'll be cheap and if it keeps some of our prospects down and working hard to get there ice time instead of just handing it to them cause they are the best options we have come the start of the season there's really no reason not to take a chance on him.
Milan Michalek ($4.333m) / Jason Spezza ($7.000m) / Jakob Silfverberg ($0.900m)
P-A Parenteau ($4.000m) / Kyle Turris ($1.400m) / Daniel Alfredsson ($4.875m)
Colin Greening ($0.817m) / Zack Smith ($0.700m) / Chris Neil ($2.000m)
Nick Foligno ($2.100m) / Jim O'Brien ($0.800m) / Erik Condra ($0.625m)
Zenon Konopka ($0.750m)
DEFENSEMEN
Barret Jackman ($4.000m) / Erik Karlsson ($6.000m)
Sergei Gonchar ($5.500m) / Chris Phillips ($3.083m)
Jared Cowen ($1.265m) / Mark Borowiecki ($0.610m)
Matt Carkner ($0.700m) /
GOALTENDERS
Craig Anderson ($3.188m)
Ben Bishop ($0.650m)
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SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $55,295,833; BONUSES: $425,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $9,004,167
Thats a fairly good line up but still not much punch up front apart from Spezza, P.A. Parenteau had a good year but its just that, 1 good year. Silfver is unproven, Spezza needs a legitimate top line winger.
Agreed. I, for one, will be disappointed if Spezza plays with Michalek next year. I know Michalek had a good year, but I'm still not convincecd that he and Spezza have much chemistry.
Signing restricted free agent Erik Karlsson will be one of the Ottawa Senators' top priorities this offseason and, as the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch writes, "The belief he's going to be demanding a contract in the $6.5-$7.5 million per-season range."
GM Bryan Murray tells Garrioch he isn't worried about getting the deal done, but Karlsson's contract could cut deeply into the Sens' cap space. They may want to dabble in free agency and re-sign a few of their restricted and unrestricted free agents, but a lot of their flexibility will depend on how the new CBA changes the salary cap for next season.
Thats exactly where its going to be. its no secret, he's going to get close or more than Drew Doughty money, especially IF he wins the Norris. Could be close to 7Mil...
Parenteau(4.00)-Spezza(7.00)-Silferberg(0.90)
Michalek(4.33)-Turris(1.40)-Alfie(4.875)
Greening(0.82)-Foligno(2.10)-Jones(3.00)
O'Brien(0.8)-Smith(0.70)-Neil(2.00)
Condra(0.625)
Karlsson(6.50)- Wideman (5.00)
Gonchar(5.50)-Cowen(1.26)
Phillips(3.08)-Borowiecki(0.61)
Carkner(0.70)
GOALTENDERS
Craig Anderson ($3.188m)
Ben Bishop ($0.650m)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $58,238,000; BONUSES: $425,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $6,026,167
**I gave more for Karlsson
**I get Murray wants a shutdown dman, but if we lose Kuba we only have Karlsson and Gonchar for pp. Wideman would be an all situation dman IMO, should he come available, and then next year we lose Gonchar cap hit as well
**David Jones is the guy I want to target, 20g this year, would be great 3rd line guy. Love the greening-folign o-jones line(foligno was his best when he played C this year)
**Our 4th line are guys who can play pp/pk and move up and down lines as well
**Michalek belongs with Turris
okay, so with that kind of money pretty much decided for Murray if he wants to hold onto him, what are we talking for term? 5 years? less? more? Does Murray wait to see if the new CBA gets agreed on first?
I think he should sign him before the new CBA as there is probably going to be a rollback of all salaries so the owners end up with approximately a 50% split of revenues. Anyone signed after the fact will probably not be subject to a rollback. That way it will reduce his salary/cap hit to a more manageable $ figure.