With the uncertainty surrounding the future of Sens Captain Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa’s top six for next year is still very much up in the air. The team hopes that guys like Foligno and Silfverberg can contribute on a regular basis but obviously they’d like to give them some support.
Not surprisingly, a quick Twitter poll I did the other day indicated that Sens fans would love to see Zach Parise brought in to solidify the team’s top six forwards. Considering the run the Devils have gone on this off season, it’s hard to believe Lamoriello lets the team captain get away but it’s obviously a possibility.
Other names mentioned on Twitter include Jiri Hudler, Jarret Stoll and Alex Semin.
Semin is an interesting option on a short term deal but he'll likely be looking for something longer than one year this time around. Dustin Penner, who is having a great playoff with the Kings, is another option but according to Darren Dreger, the Kings have shown interest in retaining his services.
On the back end, the team has quality puck movers but would like to add another all around type defender that can play tough in his own end.
Again, it should come as no surprise but the name mentioned most often by Sens fans continues to be Ryan Suter.
Suter is far and away the best defenceman on the market and will cash in big time this off season. Other names mentioned include NCAA free agent Justin Schultz, who is drawing a ton of interest around the league and Dennis Wideman, who had a decent playoff with the Capitals.
One name to keep an eye on is former St. Louis Blues defenceman Kent Huskins. The Almonte native is coming off an injury riddled season where he played just 25 games but is still a reliable guy in his own end. Could be an affordable option for the Sens this off season.
Which UFAs would you like to see Bryan Murray target this off season?
- The Binghamton Senators are looking for a new head coach now that former bench boss Kurt Kleinendorst has announced he will not be returning to the club next season. Conventional wisdom suggests Luke Richardson is the leading candidate for the job but the Senators will still be thorough in their search. Steve Stirling, who served as an assistant under Kleinendorst, is another viable option. For what it’s worth, I think Richardson would be the perfect guy to lead Bingo next season.
- On Tuesday night, Bruce Garrioch tweeted that the Sens have not yet held discussions with UFA to be Matt Carkner. It’s important to note that while the two sides have not yet talked, there is still plenty of time to get something done.
- Team Canada has been eliminated from the World Championships after a shocking defeat at the hands of the team from Slovakia. Ranted about this a little bit on Twitter this morning but I have a hard time believing GM Kevin Lowe put together the best team possible. When a guy like Jason Spezza asks to play, you make room especially when the roster already includes guys like Teddy Purcell, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and 18 year old defenceman Ryan Murray. Any Sens fans that were on the fence can now throw their full support behind Team Sweden, led by Daniel Alfredsson, Erik Karlsson and Jakob Silfverberg. They take on the Czechs at 2:15 PM.
In order of who I think we should target;
Suter
Parise
Hudler
Allen
Garrison
O'Brien
And of course Schultz, he is best buddies with Jake Gardiner so Burke might have the inside track. That said, if he wants serious playing time he may consider us or Edmonton.
Read on Twitter yesterday that Jason Garrison was on Vancouver radio and said that the Canucks would be his second choice if he's not returning to Florida.
I think Pareanteau (sp) would be a decent option. He has scored 40 goals over the past two season with the Islanders and I think could do 25-30 a season with a better team. He's a little older than I would like but as already said, it's a thin year.
I have a couple of friends who are Detroit fans and neither of them like Hudler. I have no idea if that's relevant or not - there are plenty of Ottawa fans who don't like Spezza.
On the blueline Bryan Allen and Jason Garrison are attractive options and I think we could do worse than get Willie Mitchell to bring some more experience to the group.
I always forget about Parenteau. I'd definitely be interested in him on a short term deal to see if he is the real deal. His past two seasons are impressive for a late bloomer.
Stoll would be an upgrade over smith/kelly/fis her as a legitimate 3rd line centre. Smith would be one of the best 4th line centres in the league with big time PK duties.
Stoll would become our best face off man and probably PK guy.
Greening-Stoll-Foligno would be the 3rd line I would like to see
Which obviously opens up room in the top 6 for guys like silf, stone and potentially another signing like parenteau
^^This.
I think for Murray he should have a very short list of guys he looks at for long-term contracts up front. If he can't get Parise or one of the other top young guys then pass and either don't sign anyone or sign someone to a one-year deal. Then look to trade for or sign a better long-term fix between now and the start of the 13/14 season.
Up front I find I don't care much - beyond Parise (who I don't expect to be available) there's nothing that excites me very much, I'd be happy to promote from within or do some more searching for prospects (another Turris type: tons of potential, but still cheap because unproven). I know that doesn't work out sometimes (Filatov), but sometimes it does (Turris)
It just looks deeper now because none of those other guys have been resigned yet. "Next years UFA pool" always looks better than this years. :cP
That being said I'm a big fan of Parenteau and he would my top, underrated, realistic choice to bring to the squad last year.
On paper our biggest need by a long shot is a stay at home defenseman. Our D was brutal most of last year and heart-attack inducing in the playoffs especially. Turns out the stellar play of Anderson kept that liability in check a lot though, and what really killed us at the end of the day was our scoring dried up, something that was seen as our weakness at the beginning of the season, but we managed to overcome that much of the time.
Unfortunately I don't think in the long term interest of the team we will be winning a cup with Alfie as a player....so don't sacrifice the future, I think he will be just as ecstatic to win it as a coach/asst GM etc.
Oh and I agree rush, realistically I want the list to be forwards and defenders with an emphasis on D...our snipers can come internally and historically having younger forward is less of a risk than young defence.
Other than that I'd stay the course
NO SEMIN PLEASE (that's what she said)
Very well said Rush, I do not think people realize that without Andy back there to bail us, we would not have made the playoffs.
Having said that, there is not doubt that we need to get Spezza someone to play with.
Parise will not be coming here, if NJ does not sign him, it will be top $$$ that pays for him, and that would not be us.
Throw me into the Parenteau pool, I think this is both realistic, and can help out on the top line.
I would rather not make a single move and throw rookies to the wolves ALL of next year than bring in Semin or Pancakes Penner. Stay away = win.
Looking at all UFAs, here would be my list in order:
Parise
Suter
---
Garrison
Doan
Salvador
Hejduk
Carle
Smyth
Penner
Semin
---
O'Brien
Souray
Gaustad
---
Parenteau
Kelly
Jackman
Wideman
Boyes
Obviously the older guys would be on 1-2yr contracts if they'd accept it.
Semin = Kovalev II
how well did that work for us?
I'll always respect and adore A-Train for his time with the Sens, but when he left us to sign that longer contact? I'd swear his hits + blocks reduced by more than 50%.
He strikes me as a guy I'd rather have in a contract year than sign him to a new, longer, juicer one.
Man I miss those hits though. Other than Neil and for a short while Sutton, we haven't had a guy who could railroad someone like that for a long time...
Stoll won't come to Ottawa he's married to a model so Southern California will be his 1st choice.
Parenteau would be a good move.
I think the SENS will have to make a trade to get the desired results - they have too many bodies anyways. Expect something at the draft. I think the draft will be busier than last year trade wise- and last year there were a couple of interesting ones.
Kenopka for 82 games of the year really wasn't a physical presence for us. Sure he fought, and did the stage fighting thing we need, but beyond that he is not a punishing hitter, he is ok on the forecheck but I really can't think of a time he took over a game physically the way Neil does
Kenopka value is being overstated because of his round 1 performance once Winnie got injured.
Maclean almost refused to play him in regular season when we were trying to roll 4 lines
In playoffs it was more line matching/zone starts than rolling 4 lines which is why Konopka became valuable, and he was only valuable because he can play Defense and win face offs
it really had limited to do with his "physical" presence
What an enormous asshole man, I have zero respect for the guy.
Nevermind the fact that the team had way more Oilers or Leafs or rookies than it should have, not inviting Spezza was a massive slap in the face. Karma is a bitch and for the first time in my life I had a feeling and was almost hoping that Canada would fail.
Spezza has always been there for Team Canada at the Worlds. Slightly lackluster teams? Not a year leading up to Olympics? He was there for them.
Wait til Sochi or however the f**k you spell it draws near. The human cabbages on TSN and Sportsnet will talk about the players that should represent us at the Olympics, and they'll talk about favor being given to the guys "that were there for Canada" at the Worlds. Like it or not, even with another strong year next season, this diminishes Spezza's chances to make the Olympic squad, even if only diminished a "little bit".
Team Canada better get their heads out of their asses fast.
Agree with this and even think your list is way too long. Too many guys on your list are really bottom 6 guys (though excellent ones) and/or too old to be part of a "rebuild". I'd consider some on your list for 1-year deals maybe but that's it.
To me Murray should look for a bonafide first-line winger that will be solid for us for the next 5 years (VERY few options here of course). If he can't do that, then consider someone older for a 1-2 year deal but again only if he's legit top 3. Otherwise pass on all forwards. Much better to resign Konopka for cheap than to replace him with some marginal (and debatable) upgrade.
On D he should probably be a little more liberal. Still primarily looking for a top 2 guy who can be signed for 5 years (Suter and, um, well, Suter). But if we can't get Suter then look for good contracts on anyone that can be a solid part of our top 4 and/or has potential to over-produce. Failing that, a short 1-2 year deal on a legit top 4 guy to allow more time for our D prospects to develop and/or buy time until a trade/UFA option comes available.
It's fun as fans to dream up scenarios and natural as fans to be somewhat impatient, but Murray could simply resign a few of our own UFAs and leave it at that and that might be the right move (i.e. assuming we can't get Parise, Suter etc).
Konopka's "physical game" is greatly over-rated. He's a superpest who can kill penalties and win draws. More like a center version of Ruutu than some sort of enforcer. But he's cheap and a great guy "in the room" so I see very little value in trying to replace him with another guy who could never crack the top 6. Kono was happy here and would be fine as a scratch if that's what we needed - so I vote keep him over signing some other bottom 6 guy.
But it's not going to make or break this team one way or the other.
like your list but must question why Parenteau and Wideman so low on your list?
With Sens homerism off and discarding my preference of what precise players we should take a look at, here is how I see this.
IF Alfie is back next year, then that is a big boost to our squad and top 6 in general. IF he is back then I wouldn't blame Murray for trying to bring in these two key pieces we need to fill the puzzle that we've been talking about. Impactful top 6 and impactful top pairing D.
So if Alfie is back and we decide to go for it we certainly have the forward depth to get one significant piece back but I still think that for the other piece we'd really need to gun and gun hard at one of the bigger UFAs.
I really think our squad is that close, despite this being a supposed "rebuild". So long as we don't face the stinging loss of an Alfie retirement I would not at all be upset if the Sens went after two big names for these two key pieces we are missing and gave Alfie the chance to finally hoist the MF'er!
If Alfie is not back, we should bring in less glamorous bodies to fill those holes and keep icing an assload of rookies and keep to the more traditional rebuild roadmap.
Brilliantly stated... Dumb Dumb Lowe would be a perfect GM for the Maple Leafs
Thanks, I just can't help but wonder if subliminally he was thinking if the team tanked he'd get a chance at another lottery pick... haha!
how many top 5 picks does one need to make it back to the playoffs?
they must have at least 5 top 5 picks, and they still are rebuilding after 5 years... why in hell would they ask this sshmoo to be the GM for Canada?
Hate to say this but the worst showing at the worlds in many years looks perfect on Lowe.
Not kidding, I can pick a team of the picks he left off the team, that would kick the ass out of the team he picked!
He is a fool for trying to put his own criteria ahead of the nation, and for a proud Country that has hockey as their religion he should be called out for the stupidity, in trying to look after his own interests above what he was asked to do by his Country.
Shame on you Lowe!
After you wipe the egg off your face, do you still think you will pick Ryan with your first pick?
That is funny, he may try to pick 2nd overall as well after this ebarrassing exit :)
Disagree, Stoll DOESN'T fight, which is the physical presence I'm referring to. Checking people only intimidates so much, we need players that can stand up for our young and small teammates. This team needs someone to take that burden off of just Neil, or else the whole team gets pushed around. Having Neil as a mainstay and then subbing in Carkner and Konopka as needed was a great strategy to take care of that side of the game.
Also, Konopka's value TO ME has nothing to do with his playoff performance, though that was a nice bonus. He's what he is, a great faceoff man, willing to fight just about anyone and he's a GREAT leader in the locker room.
Parenteau is too small and 1 dimensional for me. I'm not a big fan of either of them as more than a placeholder. Wideman is just someone I've always found to be overrated, much like Kuba. I'd take him if we don't re-sign Kuba (I hope we don't re-sign him), but he just doesn't interest me in the same way as most fans and media.
Wash Backstrom Green RFA
Ottawa Spezza Michalek
Why? Don't trade just for the sake of it.
Did having neil carkner konopka smith all willing to fight really deter anyone from hitting karlsson? no
Hey if i'm on the ice and Konopka is not out for his 5 min/game then I'll hit anyone, chances are I wont see Konopka much anyways
I see Konopka as valuable sure, but what he brings should be what our 3rd line centre can do. (aside form fighting)
Id rather have smith play 4th line Centre duties, and what ever money we spend on Konopka, spend it on a true 3rd line centre
Listen, I get that he is great in the room, cheap, serviceable etc, But I don't see why we need to bring him back. Id rather spend that 700-1mill elsewhere
David Jones is another ideal 3rd line centre for us. We lacked scoring from our bottom two lines in the second half of the year
1) We are not trading Spezza.
2) Green is damaged goods and one dimensional
3) Michalek has a reasonable contract for his production. I never understand why people want him gone, he was not brought here to replace Heatley's 50 goal production.
4) We are not trading Spezza.
5) See #1 and #4.
LOL, WHUT?
To OTT: malkin
To PIT: future considerations
thanks Sensation, I appreciate the list and your feedback,
I don't see this trade happening but I like that this comment will start a discussion on what trade possibilities we can make.
But everyone should note that trading Spezza is not an option. This guy will be wearing the C in no time for the Sens. I can't wait for him to properly be acknowledged.
The roster guys I am willing to trade from the offense to get a better D situation is Michalek, Greening and some of our prospects. I like MM9 but I think he will not be part of the long term rebuild and think his value is highest at the moment.
I didn't include Foligno because I don't think we will be able to replace his level of production on a cheap contract and he also has so much potential but still needs to put it all together. I think he will continue to improve and will develop into a 2nd line player.
Greening will also have a tough time fighting off some of the youngsters after next year. He is ideally suited for the 3rd line and those type of players can also easily be signed or traded for.
What we really need is quality D players and prospects. I'd like to see MM9 traded for a 1st and a prospect. Maybe Pheonix will consider their 1st along with Brandon Gormley.
This. People should have to acknowledge that they've read this 5 times before posting here.
No, no, no and well.... NO!
Parise or bring up prospects. That's it. To a lesser extent, even Nash, but not at the price to give up many prospects.
easy... what are the future considerations?
ah WTF I think I would risk it :)
ok so I keep hearing a big NO to Hudler.
I must be missing something as a good majority of the posters all say no to him... is there a major reason that I am missing?
It seems to be that he has always been second fiddle in Detroit, and never given top 6 minutes, but seems to produce regardless... thoughts?
As for the WHC, I've been rootin for Sweden the whole time anyways. Amazes me how the fourth best scorer in the NHL was left off Team Canada.
I've read nothing but positive info on Hudler when I googled Detroit articles. The fans call him mini Holmstrom because he is willing to go to the dirty areas to score. 25 goals with the 7th highest forward ice time sounds good to me.
Ya Hudler's actually a good player but I really don't want to see the Sens add any forward in FA. The forward crop is already overcrowded. The point of a rebuild is to have the young guys fill in and prove themselves, like they did this past season. With Silfverberg, Zibanejad, Regin, and Foligno vying for top 6 spots, it doesn't make sense. Add in Alfie if he stays, too.
Murray? The same Murray is set to be drafted in the top 10 from the Silvertips? Damn. Hey since everyone are coming up with their trade requests/ UFA signings, I thought I'd come up with my own which would be possible if tried upon by Bryan Murray and company.
To Calgary:
OTT 1st round (15th)
To Ottawa:
CGY 1st round (14th)
Murray: "Oh no reason, just would like to move up a spot."
To Dallas:
CGY 1st round (14th)
To Ottawa:
DAL 1st round (13th)
Murray: ""Oh no reason, just would like to move up a spot."
7 trades later....
"With the 6th overall pick, Ottawa is proud to select from the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League, Matt Dumba."
Pierre McGuire: "Wow, way to go Ottawa! This is a great pick! You're now gonna get 2nd line defense insulation to Erik Karlsson. This is a dynamic kid, Bob. The fans in Ottawa will be very excited to see him. I say he makes it at 19 just like Karlsson did. I couldn't be any happier for the Senators right now Gord & Bob.
Agreed, but I hope that this does not get swept under the rug, Lowe made a mockery of the WJC, and fell flat on his face for it. We have always argued, with good reason, that we can field at least 4 top Canadian teams that could all challenge for supremacy, and Dumb Dumb Lowe, could not even field one that could compete past the round robin, complete joke, and the rest of the world will say the other countries are catching up to and surpassing us, only b/c Lowe put a Oiler first team ahead of a Country team.
He should never be a part of a Team Canada tournmment again!
Thanks, and go SWEDEN!
Its beyond this year
We have lost in the quarter finals for 3 straight years!!!
3 years without playing the semi-final/meda l rounds
Clearly our way of thinking is wrong, and Kevin Lowe needs to go.
Watch game 2 again.
its been 3 years in a row that we are out after the round robin? And Lowe has been a part of each of them?
Wow he would be a perfect fit for the Laffa... sorry couldn't resist
The only exception I would make is to sign Justin Schultz. He is a quality prospect with great upside. If he wants a good shot for NHL playing time then I suggest he strongly look at Ottawa and Edmonton. I might be a little bias but I think our player development team might be better than Edmonton's.
Plan B would be to look at the trade route. Nash is an option, but only as long as we're not hurting the team while trying to improve it. Chris Stewart is a possibility as well. As for defenseman I'm not sure if this is a true rumour but I have heard that Zach Bogosian might be available, since it's been mentioned that he might not be too happy in Winnipeg.
Plan C would just be to let the kids fight it out and decide who plays.
Just cuz Konopka "fights" doesnt mean its good for the team ,hell, 90% of his fights he loses. I never liked the "superpest" role, I think its brings nothing to the sport, only diminishes the sport as players like him and others have a chance of makig the NHL under those terms.
As I've said in the past there shouldnt be 4 lines in hockey, get the goons and average players out of the game and we wont be getting as many injuries and stupidity.
Nash
Murray (draft)
That's my wish list
However unrealistic
I'd prefer to see us not go after one of the big boys. A short deal for a guy like Hudler sounds swell.
As a UFA pick up, Suter and Parise would be worth the commitments but their respective teams will keep them or another team will outbid us. So let's not get carried away here.
Parenteau remains the best option but the sense is he wants to continue to grow with the young guns in NYI. He'll probably remain there as well.
The other option no one is talking about, which I think is more likely to happen given this year's crop of UFA's, is active roster trades and draft picks for rights of RFA's. I predict a very active draft this year. Have a look at the RFA crop and consider teams that need major overhaul.
Mason Raymond is rumoured to be moved. TJ Oshie and David Perron are up for renegotiation again this year, is Peter Muller worth a look? He'd be cheap for sure. Jonathan Blum on D, etc...
Other options to consider folks...
Thats 1 game, the rest of the series he was hit plenty, especially in game 5 or 6 with a big open ice clean hit.
Carkner is enough, Konopka can be released.
Your right. Our goon job really deterred Prust and others form going after karlsson after the whistle again
Yes Carkner beat the shit out of Boyle. But think in terms of regular season not playoffs
Only reason game 2 worked out was because we played NYR again. In regular season that doesn't happen, therefore not effective
To get to playoffs you need to roll 4 lines and 3 pairs of defense
Maclean showed us in his regular season team he doesn't like to roll Carkner/Konopka
He benched them scratched them. If Gilroy would have been 25% better Carkner does not see any playing time in round 1. If winchester does not get injuired and/or BUtler suck so much Konopka does not see playoffs, and they are all rid out of town
Now we have sens fans wanting to bring both back because of:
1-Game 2 goon job
2-Konopka getting 15min a game to win face offs because we are a puck posession team. Get me a more versatile face off specialist that can actually carry the puck while winning face offs
Well we laughed at it, possibly drafting Murray by moving up to top 5 but he has recently fallen past the top 10, so you never know man, he might slide to 15 or we move up a couple and grab him at 12?
Should we be excited to get someone who slides that much? Or hope for Ceci to fall a couple of spots instead of Murray falling several?
Tough call.
That is contrary to everything I've heard. Buzz is for months now he has been counting down the days to get out of Long Island and hasn't even wanted to discuss a new contract with them.
Yeah it is but I have no clue why he is falling to begin with. Its intriguing.
Did his bad game vs Russia stand out that much for him to drop significantly??
Apparently not according to this:
http://www.islandershockeyblog.com/2012-articles/may/pa-parenteau-rumor-untrue.html
But if the so-called rumours of him wanting to come to a canadian city are true, that would be advantageous for us..
Especially if said Canadian city is a bridge-drive away from his family...
His name is too damn long!
Scored by #??, P i e r r e - A l e x a n d r e P a r e n t e a u.....phew...
Sign P.A., trade for Pjaarvi Svenson and Letourneau Leblond and watch Bob Cole have a brain aneurysm the next time he covers a Sens game, especially if they are on the same line.
Just sayin'
pigeonhole him as a goon if you want but he won 70% of his faceoffs, played incredible on the PK and was extremely responsible at both ends of the ice. Not to mention the tremendous leadership he showed. Spezza's empty netter was only due to ZK's play to takeaway the puck and get it to spezza. Paul MacLean wouldn't have played him in the dying minutes with a lead and have him take key D-zone faceoffs if all he brought was "goonery." At the $700,000 per year it will cost, why the heck not?
I think it is a given we would have to move up to get him.
We have a chance to step up on Defence this off season being the deck has been somewhat cleared for some new blood, we need to be mindfull that Gonchar is gone next season.
On the fighting front, don't we have a guy in the prospect system we picked up late in the draft last year.
We drafted a tough guy from Spokane or Portland in the WHL. There is an article in The Hockey News on him because he invented a peanut butter jar that opens in the middle when it's half empty, and the cap screws on the bottom half. Smart kid, and a tough customer.
I never said he didn't bring just "goonery" to the table
The reason he was out there was because like you said he won 70% of draws. My biggest thing is that we can find more serviceable guys out there who win 70% of draws that can be more useful over a 82 game season
Yes in the playoffs he was good, but to be completely honest, if Konopka is our minute left, defend a lead guy then we have problems
I like Konopka but I really don't his place on this team, especially if we can get a real 3rd line centre who can win 60% of draws
I'll have to check the magazine when I get home and see if it mentions his age. WHL teams can only carry 3 overage players. If he is turning 20 this year, I doubt his junior team would keep a roster spot open for him. Most overage players in the WHL are goalies and defenceman. Most likely, he is on his way to Bingo to replace Francis Lessard.
Found it, Darren Kramer, 20 years old. I think we can definitely expect him to be in Binghampton protecting our young guns this fall.
I certainly don't see him as our 3rd line centre either. But I do see a role for him as a 13th forward who would add basically everything you'd want out of a 3/4th liner when he was in the lineup. And he would cost the league minimum.
That's it exactly. If there's a spot for Konopka on our team going forward it's mostly as a role player and spot filler. He's still young-ish but he's not really part of the rebuild so much as a good option to keep around until we have a better option (or he plays himself into the future bottom 6).
He'll be kept if we have room for or need a 13th forward for cheap.
True, I wasn't referring to him as our 3rd line centre, just saying if we had a real one then even Konopka on 4th line becomes somewhat useless.
If Konopka is willing to sign league min, and is ok watching majority of games from pressbox then I'm all for it
I was just sick of watching him take stupid penalties last year, not keep up with our tempo of play, and really do nothing to help us win all year aside from fight here or there
That's my attitude. He does right things for us in terms of face-offs, fight and kill penalties, but again, I'm sure we can find someone for league min who does PK and Face off, yet can also play a meaningful shift
But if he is willing to be 13th forward, make league min, play sparingly then all the power to him, we will take him back.
But I stress he should not be a regular in our line-up
The only way I would be okay with him being a regular is if we have someone (or multiple guys) playing in Bingo that we expect to be part of the future. i.e. if Stone, Petersson and Zibanejad all end up in Bingo for more seasoning then having Konopka keep a roster spot warm isn't a big deal. He can easily become a scratch if we want to call one of those guys up but if their development is better served by playing in Bingo then it's not like Kono is holding us back.
Now, if we sign some massive UFAs and are "making a run" of sorts then that's a bit different. But then you have to factor in that Kono's pretty valuable in the playoffs.
The last thing to consider is that if we do sign him for another year he might fetch some return for us at the deadline.
Lots to consider, but as many have stated he's not exactly going to make or break our team.
If he signs early with some team for anything over $750k then let him go, easily replaceable
If come July 25th and we still have a hole in our roster, sure why not, for exact reasons you said
Parenteau-Spezza-Silfverberg
Michalek-Turris-Alfie
Foligno-Regin-Zib/Stone/Neil
Condra-Smith-Neil/petersson/prospect
Extra: Daug
Where is Greening? Playing in San Jose so we can have Doug Murray lining up with Karlsson lol
Must have been an Empty Net goal, cause thats all Michalek is good for right........
Where are the haters now lol
Bright side, early exit from WHC may mean Alfie wants Cup that much more
So Semi Final teams: Finland/Slovakia/Russia/Czech
Who saw that coming
Yeah the Russian are licking their chops I'm sure.
Mind you the past four winners have been russia-russia-c zech-finland
Yeah all the other three teams are thrilled as well that the Swedes (in particular) and USA/Canada are already out. But Russia has to think they're the favorites at this point.
He actually had a pretty nice goal. Stole the puck in the corner when the D man was trying to break out and walked into the slot and put it top shelf. Give him a lot of credit for that goal.
Seriously. Can't wait for the haters to come and try to say that the game-winning goal and two assists beforehand were somehow "luck" or something.
Alfie tells media this "may" have been his last game. Don't know if that's a hint or not, really.
"This may have been my last competitive game." RT @EkExpressen: Alfredsson: "Det här kanske var min sista match på tävlingsnivå". #Sens
81 GP, 177 hits, 6G, 15A, +21, 21:03 Average Ice Time.
Can handle playing with top pairing defensemen (Lidstrom, Kronwall).
Familiar with MacLean and his style and systems.
He sure has burried a lot of goals this year.
You can argue Konopka for next year but I expect BM gave him a one way for a reason.
Doubt he will be back, more because at present we are kind of full as a team.
Now that Sweden is done BM can start working on the Karlsson contract.
One year not one way, can't read where to fix on my iPhone
The screen is all white on the edit, do others get that
I believe his wife and kids live most of the year in California, and it's rumoured that's where he wants to play. Take that with a grain of salt as I've heard that for three years running I think.
Fuller translation of the article:
Earlier in the tournament Alfredsson said he had not decided whether there will be a continuation in Ottawa or if he puts his skates on the shelf.
Maybe this ws my last match at a tournament level said Alfredsson, who will think for a few weeks before making a decision on the future.
That's only a google translate and it doesn;t tell us an ything we don't already know. I don't see Alfreddson announcing his retirement anywhere other than Ottawa.
Call it wishful thinking if you want but I think his comments has more to do with playing for Sweden than Ottawa.
Chirp, why does Murray believe he has a pretty good shot at landing Parise? There are so many other teams... big buck teams.. that will back up the truck and pay him whatever he wants...
I see Detroit landing Suter..
Ottawa stands a good chance at Parenteau... if that is the way they go.
The only other person outside of Detroit who knows Hudler is Paul McLean. If he thinks he fits.. then the Sens go after him... and they could stand a chance of getting him with the McLean connection.
As for Team Canada.. they gave it all they could.. it was not enough.
Kevin Lowe said after the game that the Slovaks had no business being 'in the game'. Is he kidding? I did not see the whole game.. but it's obvious the Slovaks played well enough to stay close.. and win it on a mistake and a stupid, selfish penalty.
It's too bad Stamkos, Toews & Patrice Bergeron were all injured. With them on the team I think Canada gets to the final. Crosby refused to go. Where was Rick Nash? Where was Eric Staal? Why were not spots left open for better players that lose in the first couple of rounds of the playoffs -- like Shea Weber, Milan Lucic, Jordan Staal. How can Lowe justify putting an 18 yr old on that team when there had to be other more experienced and qualified defenseman to fill in with the injuries on D?
I read on TSN that Lowe is on the management team for the Olympics.
This is, I believe, the 3rd straight time that Canada has not made it past the quarter finals. Why would Yzerman keep him in that position?
Feel bad for Alfie and the Swedes.. but that was a sweet goal by Michalek. Too bad it came so late in the game to not give the Swedes much of a chance to get it back.
Certainly don't want Russia to win it all... but it appears to be leaning that way.. Damn...
The 2nd route could be trade someone like Weirchoich and a pick to get a younger top 6 defenseman that has shutdown capabilities. We could also look to resign Matt Gilroy as he did not have a bad stint with Ottawa he was just expected to play solid.
1. Resign Kuba 2 years @ 3 mil per season
2. Let Carkner go to UFA
3. Resgin Gilroy to a 1 year @ 2 mil contract to keep him for one more year to see what he has
4. Sign a role player to fill in the top 6 that can do the job that is not Parise or Semin. I think both would be amazing but you just know that they are going to be hard to get. I say get a guy like Ryan Smyth if it is possible. He loves to play in front of the net and de-flect pucks in, sounds like the perfect guy for Karlsson on the Power Play
or
Trade Gonchar somewhere are get some young forwards back for him and/or picks
example Gonchar to Edmonton for Mangus Paajarvi and Ladislav Smid. Something on the lines of that as it would give Edmonton an all star defencmen that they need and the shutdown guys Murray is looking for and a potential top 6 forward.
Just throwing out some ideas who knows what will happen all I know is it is going to be a surprise wont be expected.
No one in their right mind will pay Gilroy $2 million a season! Secondly, even Lowe isn't stupid enough to make that trade, Smid was their best defenceman last year. Stick to GM mode on NHL 2012.
You lost me here ... well actually you had already lost me, but nobody is going to take Gonchar's contract off our hands unless we take an equally bad contract back - which we shouldn't be considering.
Let's just ride out our last year (or less) with Gonchar.
If he waives the NTC of course.
sign a ufa d (jackmen, garrison, carle, boychuck, oduya)
nash spezza stone/silfverberg
michalek turris alfredsson/silfverberg
greening smith neil
condra regin o'brien
daug
Phillips, karlsson, Cowen, Gonchar, ________, Boro/Carkner
Anderson
Lehner
YEAR 2 of the rebuild
- look at Zibanejad Stone Silfverberg step in
- look for murray to sign top 4 dmen to go with Cowen with Karlsson
- Rebuild the defence draft ceci reinhart or bystrom
- Add a 20 goal scorer either through trade or ufa under 27 years old -david jones or Dustin Penner type
you are saying they wouldnt want to play here because alfie isnt here anymore? wow.
i now remember why i ignore your comments on here. not only is your username ignorant, your thoughts seem to be too.
atleast your year 2 rebuild thoughts half make sense..
Hahaha thats exactly what im saying when a team loses a all world talent like Alfie its going to be hard to sign another all world player its not hard to understand .When uncle eugene says he wont over pay or sign any UFA over 5 YEARS u arent getting parise or suter ...keep dreaming it's not ignorant its reality
i didnt say anything about getting suter or parise is realistic. ive been pretty quiet on here about hoping to sign those guys because i still believe both are staying right where they are. ive been saying i want to make a push for guys like hudler and bryan allen.
i was just saying that it is pretty ignorant to think that a FAs choice to join us at this time would be based on if alfie is playing or not. that statement would make more sense with a winger deciding to join us or not depending if we have a legit top center.
just like alfie was, we will be drafting our own high end talent.
Penner($2,000,000) - Turris ($1,400,000) - Alfie ($4,875,000)
Foligno ($2,500,000) - Regin ($800,000) - Zibanejad ($1,775,000)/St one ($600,000)
Greening ($816,667) - Smith ($700,000) - Neil ($2,000,000)
Konopka($700,000)
Jackman ($3,500,000)- Karlsson ($6,000,000)
Cowen ($1,265,000) - Gonchar (5,500,000)
Phillips ($3,083,333) - Borowiecki ($610,000)
Carkner ($900,000)
Anderson ($3,187,500)
Bishop ($650,000)
Either his wife wants him to retire or he is playing hard ball with BM to take a serious run at the cup.
He loves to play hockey and enjoyed the season so there has to be more to it.
If his contract was done I could see the retire thing a bit clearer.
He has said he needs to feel the drive or motivation to stay in shape over the summer, a legitimate shot at the cup would motivate him.
If that is the case I hope we pick up Sutter and a couple of Top 6 forwards.
Michalek Spezza Nash
UFA Turris Alfie
Greening Regin Silverburg
Foligno Smith Neil
Condra Butler extras
Suter Karlsson
Cowan Phillips
Gonchar UFA/ Trade
Anderson Lehnee/Bishop
Borocop Dacosta Stone Petersson Zibby and others can all be call ups from Bingo
How did we get Nash in this scenario?
I think this is a clear cut symptom of heat stroke!!!
I believe in this scenario Colunbus traded us Nash for the negotiation rights to Daugavins, Klinkhanner & Konopka. We got fleeced!
C
1- Stoll (3.5m) (3LC move Smith to 4LC)
2- Gaustad (3m) (3LC Move Smith to 4LC)
3- Campbell (1.5) (4LC, interchaneable with Smith)
LW
1- Parise (7m)
Rest suck
RW
1- Parenteau (4m)
2- Jones (3m)
D
1- Suter (6m)
2- Oduya (3m)
3- Foster (2m)
Overall 5
1- Parise
2- Parenteau
3- Stoll
4- Oduya
5- Foster
If we miss out on Parise/Suter then A combo of Parenteau/Stoll /Gaustad and Oduya/Foster
Parenteau-Spezza-Silf
Michalek-Turris-Alfie
Foligno-Gaustad/Stoll-Neil
O'Brien/Condra-Smith-Regin
Extra: Daug/stone/petersson
Karlsson-Oduya
Cowen-Gonchar
Phillips-Boro
**Foster is intriguing cause of his powerplay abilities but Oduya is a better "need"
No idea how we could pull it off, just saying a few top signings or trades we could really take a serious run.
I was on the fence about staying as we are other than D until I thought more about Alfies motivation to come back for sure.
It is not my money but we have the cap space to make a splash
It pains me to type this, but Alfie's retirement will be a positive if it happens at the right time (i.e. when he deems it is time). Not saying there are not so many negatives along with it - especially for fans, but in order to build a team that will make the playoffs the next 10 years we can't go trading away assets (or cap space) for a short-term fix out of nostalgia for our captain.
You don't like Jiri Hudler or Bryan Allen? Just curious as to why.
But I'm not completely convinced he can be that go to guy we need at the price he will command
As for Allen, he is serviceable for sure, and I would have no problem if we do sign him but I like Oduya more in that role
Exactly, the Team can go balls out for Alfie but will they. He has no reason to come back to play if it aint for a Cup run.
I said balls out but really all we need to have a real shot is a top 4 Dman and a TOP 6 winger (preferrably top 3)
A splash in UFA would not hurt the rebuild just the pocket book.
BM could unload for picks after the run.
Gonchar and Alfie are off the books next year for sure anyways.
If Melnyk really wants to get Alfie a cup, we have more than enough cap space to re- sign the guys we want;
Karlson - $6 million
Foligno - $2.5 million
Jim O'Brien - $1 million
And sign;
Suter - $7 million
Parise - $7 million
And still have approximately $3.5 - $4 million left for a shut down Dman, Bruan Allen or Shane O'Brien and Carkner as a 7th Dman. The following year we will have $10 million in cap space when Gonchar and Alfie come of the books so we have the cash for our prospects moving forward.
Git er done Mutray!
I think it has more to do with his own level of play, his health (now and long-term) and how much "fun" he's having. Even if this team doesn't make any additions it should be a fun team to play on. They're young, plenty of talent, they seem to really support each other etc.
Heck if I was a billionaire I'd help Melnyk pay for Parise and Suter just because they're that good and will be for years to come, but I'm not sure that we need to make any kind of splash just to get Alfie back. And short of Parise, Suter and maybe one or two other guys I really don't think we SHOULD make any UFA signings just to try and get Alfie back. If this was going down two years from now then maybe we "make our run" a year or two ahead of schedule to have Alfie be part of it (not really to make Alfie happy but to have his skill/experienc e/leadership on the team) - but this next year is too early to go for broke.
Again, before people misunderstand: adding real top-notch guys like Suter and Parise don't count as "go for broke" since they're in their prime. Signing those guys is almost like the best of signing an older established player and a young prospect in one.
I'm a huge wings fan and this is exactly how I feel about Hudler. There are serious Red flags with but at the same time, he has put up 50-60 points with less than 15 minutes ice time. BUT as you mention, not sure if he'd live up to what he would demand. I see a Ville Leino type season as a serious possibility for him.