*** Ottawa Senators Thread ***

[Fenxis 99]

If I were an Ottawa fan I wouldn't want to see Lee included. I think he'll be just as good, if not better, than Bouwmeester and at a cheaper price right now.

I'd definitely not want to see him moved... though I'm wondering if Lee could be seen as being disposable with Kuba+Bell's performance and with Karlsson+Weirroch in the pipeline.With Vermette's hands of stone and Schubert's lack of brain is something right out of the Wizard of Oz.

[Fubar The Sperm 1]

Yea I really don't want to give up Lee unless we think Picard is gonna be even better next year and we can actually sign J-Bo when the year ends. Where is the money gonna come from though? Let Kuba walk and give him that money and go with Auld and Elliot and give him some of Gerber's money?I mean Bouwmeester, Phillips, Smith, Volchenkov, Picard and Bell could be a decent improvement if Picard and Bell get even better. I rather just save the cap space for next year and keep Lee and if anything look to move Fisher to free up some cap space and maybe bring in a decent prospect in the deal.

[Fenxis 99]

Yea I really don't want to give up Lee unless we think Picard is gonna be even better next year and we can actually sign J-Bo when the year ends. Where is the money gonna come from though? Let Kuba walk and give him that money and go with Auld and Elliot and give him some of Gerber's money?

I think that's the idea... $3m under cap now$3m Gerber->Elliot$-4m Kuba->Bouwmeester$600k Neil->BassSo assuming cap remains the same (and Bouwmeester signs for ~7) there would be 2 1/2 million for whatever. That's not factoring in the $3m for Vermette if he is traded (Zubov 0.7m) so there $4-5 mill for a top-6 forward (Comrie?). Win-Win.

I mean Bouwmeester, Phillips, Smith, Volchenkov, Picard and Bell could be a decent improvement if Picard and Bell get even better. I rather just save the cap space for next year and keep Lee and if anything look to move Fisher to free up some cap space and maybe bring in a decent prospect in the deal.

Fisher has a no-trade though -- so we are 'stuck' with him.

[Fubar The Sperm 1]

I think that's the idea... $3m under cap now$3m Gerber->Elliot$-4m Kuba->Bouwmeester$600k Neil->BassSo assuming cap remains the same (and Bouwmeester signs for ~7) there would be 2 1/2 million for whatever. That's not factoring in the $3m for Vermette if he is traded (Zubov 0.7m) so there $4-5 mill for a top-6 forward (Comrie?). Win-Win.Fisher has a no-trade though -- so we are 'stuck' with him.

I don't mind Fisher when he plays like he did right before he got injured but the problem is he has these long inconsistent stretches.If we can find someone to play with him, maybe Foligno, Zubov, Winchester or an avordable FA then signing J-Bo to a big contract worries me way less. He can play up to 30 minutes and feed our snipers all day long, we just need to make sure we have the guys in place that can play together and can actually do something with his passing.

[Fenxis 99]

I don't mind Fisher when he plays like he did right before he got injured but the problem is he has these long inconsistent stretches.If we can find someone to play with him, maybe Foligno, Zubov, Winchester or an avordable FA then signing J-Bo to a big contract worries me way less. He can play up to 30 minutes and feed our snipers all day long, we just need to make sure we have the guys in place that can play together and can actually do something with his passing.

The thing with Fisher is that even when he's not producing on the scoresheet he's still out there hussling -- not disappearing from the game. However, it really would have been nice (though not allowed under the CBA) to be able to factor in his injury time.The big problem is we don't have the players to go with Fisher to actually make him a true 2nd liner. The types of players he meshes with, physically, are all 3rd liners.

[Fenxis 99]

"This move [note: the Richardson waiving] has the rumour mill in full swing with speculation that a deal with the Panthers may be close. Still cant get confirmation on just how close this deal may be but it would appear that the name of Ilya Zubov is now being discussed as is Florida forward Stephen Weiss."Hmm... didn't catch a game with Zubov playing but by all accounts he did pretty well.

[gruven 530]

"This move [note: the Richardson waiving] has the rumour mill in full swing with speculation that a deal with the Panthers may be close. Still cant get confirmation on just how close this deal may be but it would appear that the name of Ilya Zubov is now being discussed as is Florida forward Stephen Weiss."Hmm... didn't catch a game with Zubov playing but by all accounts he did pretty well.

Is this an eklund rumour?

[Fenxis 99]

Is this an eklund rumour?

Definitely not - even before reading Eklund "jumped the shark" I didn't go there much (as Kevin Lee did a worse job covering the Sens than even the craptastic Ottawa Sun).

[Fenxis 99]

Interesting rebutal to a Jeffrey Simpson (Globe and Mail) hatchet job on the Sens:"Last year, he shipped defenceman Joe Corvo and serviceable winger Patrick Eaves to the Carolina Hurricanes for Mike Commodore, perhaps the slowest defenceman in the league, and winger Cory Stillman. Both were free agents, and both departed at season's end, leaving two more holes in an already shaky Sens lineup."Rebutal:"It's too bad Eaves is lighting it up this year and Joe Corvo asked for a trade. Not to mention that their absences were filled by Jason Smith and Jarkko Ruutu. I think most Sens fans would choose the Smith/Ruutu combo over Corvo/Eaves but we're Sens fans. We're smart."When will pundits realize.. players leaving on FA aren't "lost" for nothing; you 'gain' their cap space if they had signed here. Would have signing Commodore at 4? mill made that trade better? No... IMHO Ruutu >> Eaves, Corvo > Smith so it's a wash.

[gruven 530]

Interesting rebutal to a Jeffrey Simpson (Globe and Mail) hatchet job on the Sens:"Last year, he shipped defenceman Joe Corvo and serviceable winger Patrick Eaves to the Carolina Hurricanes for Mike Commodore, perhaps the slowest defenceman in the league, and winger Cory Stillman. Both were free agents, and both departed at season's end, leaving two more holes in an already shaky Sens lineup."Rebutal:"It's too bad Eaves is lighting it up this year and Joe Corvo asked for a trade. Not to mention that their absences were filled by Jason Smith and Jarkko Ruutu. I think most Sens fans would choose the Smith/Ruutu combo over Corvo/Eaves but we're Sens fans. We're smart."When will pundits realize.. players leaving on FA aren't "lost" for nothing; you 'gain' their cap space if they had signed here. Would have signing Commodore at 4? mill made that trade better? No... IMHO Ruutu >> Eaves, Corvo > Smith so it's a wash.

A player is only 'lost for nothing' in his UFA season if you could have traded him for an asset at the deadline. Ottawa was obv. still a playoff team last year, so dumping players wasn't an option. However, if you COULD have moved the player for an asset and you didn't, then yes... you gave them up for nothing. A UFA still has value on the trade market in his last season..

[Fenxis 99]

3-0 with the Sens black jersey. Given, other than the first 20? games last year, that the team hasn't played all that well in the red uniforms I wonder if the team will permanently go back to black if this trend continues.

[Fenxis 99]

heh...4-0 in black5-10-4 in red

[coesillian 0]

I watched the Sens lose tonight to the Devils. they just aren't a very good team right now.I heard a rumor about Trevor Timmins thinking about taking up a Gm spot in Ottawa. He's a HUGE reason to the habs success, beign our head scout. Our roster is like 50% of hi s pick with a full farm of prospects.I don't know what the sens need but they need a big fix.

[serge 904]

I watched the Sens lose tonight to the Devils. they just aren't a very good team right now.I heard a rumor about Trevor Timmins thinking about taking up a Gm spot in Ottawa. He's a HUGE reason to the habs success, beign our head scout. Our roster is like 50% of hi s pick with a full farm of prospects.I don't know what the sens need but they need a big fix.

newsflash..They have been a bad team for a long time...They have major issues that cant be fixed...They have 2 $7 million players that are even averaging a point a game....They have absolutely no one that can score after the so called top 3...THey have a $4 million player in Mike Fisher who has 3 goals and is a minus 7..They have major cap issues for a LONG time...Its sad really

[Fubar The Sperm 1]

They have major cap issues for a LONG time...Its sad really

Not really. Besides Fisher none of the contract are all that bad. Maybe Alffredson if he declines greatly. Even with Fisher he's still relatively young and 1 bad season doesn't mean his contract is horrible.

[digitalmonkey 929]

The Senators should grab Jusi Jokinen off waivers.

[Fubar The Sperm 1]

The Senators should grab Jusi Jokinen off waivers.

Is that possible with the roster freeze right now?

[Zach6668 513]

Jokinen cleared some how...

[digitalmonkey 929]

Jokinen cleared some how...

Teams seem to be waiting to claim on the recall. It saves them salary.

[Fenxis 99]

The Senators should grab Jusi Jokinen off waivers.

Who would you pitch?

[WhiteSpade 0]

Is that possible with the roster freeze right now?

Yes. There are a couple exceptions to the roster freeze:"Teams may sign players during the roster freeze or call up players if roster space becomes available. Also, if a player is placed on waivers before Dec. 19, he must immediately report to any team that claims him during the Holiday Roster Freeze period."

[digitalmonkey 929]

Who would you pitch?

I think the Sens have plenty of candidates worthy of riding the pine.

[Fenxis 99]

I think the Sens have plenty of candidates worthy of riding the pine.

True.. but they have generally been getting value for their cheapies/bingo players. Where they are getting killed is their 2m+ players.

[Fenxis 99]

To resurrect this thread:

Goaltending is the least of their problems. They are the lowest scoring team in the NHL, and they look just plain old school awful in every game I have watched. They always seem to have a rotation of one or two players trying and everyone else ****ing around.

Murray tried to clean up the locker room bringing in character people. Though as Lapointe and Smith have shown.. character w/o skill is useless!Looking at the cap hits I'm not sure how the team can seriously reinvent itself before 10/11... if one goes with the assumption that the Sens' transition game is the problem then having Kuba (only vet PMD - puck moving defenceman) as an UFA really sucks.A coaching / GM change is possible, esp once the Sens come back from it's road trip or at the All-Star break. Though I'm not sure it's all that smart of an idea.. Murray has been pretty good at the draft and I'm not sure how much of the blame is at Hartsburg's feet. At some point professionals need to setup and be professionals.

[Fubar The Sperm 1]

Elliot called up yesterday and might start tonight. I will be at the game since no one wanted to buy my tickets. Hopefully he plays well and Sens waive Gerber. I'd like to see him steal the starting job outright since I just grabbed him in the yahoo league but mainly for the sake of the team and his development it would be nice to see him play well enough to alternate starts with Auld.