On Wednesday afternoon, Bryan Murray and the Ottawa Senators took the proactive approach, signing forward Kyle Turris to a five year extension worth $17.5 million.

While Turris still has another year remaining on his contract, the Sens liked what they saw in his half season audition with the club and were confident that he fit into the organization's long term plans.

(UPDATE 1:07 PM)- The Ottawa Senators have announced they've signed forward Kyle Turris to a five year contract extension worth $17.5 million.  The deal will see Turris earn an average of $3.5 million per season.  Turris has been training hard this off season and should be a bargain at that price. Nice move by the Sens.

If it weren't for that pesky CBA issue, the Ottawa Senators would be just a few weeks away from opening training camp at Scotiabank Place.

They would be just 26 days away from the first game of the preseason. A short four weeks from the first preseason game on home ice, and in just 44 days, we would be getting set for the season opener at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Instead, the only date on the mind's of hockey fans is September 15th.

As much as we all try to pretend it's not there, the lockout possibility looming over the National Hockey League is very real.

That September 15th deadline is approaching quickly and there has been seemingly zero progress between the two sides.  With that in mind, another excellent entry for Chirp of the Week that looks a little closer at the lockout possibility and how it may benefit the Ottawa Senators.

While questions continue to swirl around the current CBA negotiations, the Ottawa Senators took care of some business of their own earlier this afternoon.

The Sens have announced the signing of first round pick and Ottawa 67's star, Cody Ceci.  The defenceman was Ottawa's 15th overall selection in the 2012 Entry Draft and is expected to at least push for a job at training camp.

August is a quiet month to begin with. Add in the CBA uncertainty and you know there will be a serious shortage of Sens news this month.

With that in mind, I'll open it up to the readers again for this week's Chirp of the Week.  This time Chad, a SensChirp regular, shares his selections for the All Time Ottawa Senators team.  Some controversial selection that should make for quality discussion in today's comment section.

As the NHL and NHLPA get set to continue negotiations this week, the players continue to consider their contingency plans in the event of a lockout.

Top prospect Jakob Silfverberg has indicated that if the NHL is shut down this season, he would be open to playing the season with the Binghamton Senators of the AHL.  This is good news for the organization and should really help Silfverberg adjust to the North American game.

It's never a good idea to open old wounds but in the middle of a quiet August, with labour unrest dominating the headlines, I thought it might be interesting to take a walk down (bad) memory lane.

It was a decision that just about every Senators fan would like a mulligan on. In the summer of 2006, the Sens and GM John Muckler found themselves in the unenviable position of having two top end defenceman hit unrestricted free agency at the same time.

With the NHL and NHLPA locked in a bitter dispute over the new CBA, the Ottawa Senators have made a surprising move less than a month before the start of training camp in September.

Despite the bang up job done by Bryan Murray and his staff, Eugene Melnyk has decided to hand over the title of General Manager to…YOU.  That’s right, you.  In your infinite wisdom and extensive experience in the SensChirp comment section, Euge feels as though you are the man/woman for the job.

The league has had a chance to review to proposal from the NHLPA and it was a predictably cold response.  

After taking approximately 12 hours to review the document presented by the players on Tuesday, Gary Bettman and the owners came back to the table on Wednesday and emphasized the significant gap between the two sides.  We are officially inside of a month of the expiry of the current CBA and there's no real light at the end of the tunnel.