WRITTEN BY SENSCHIRP READER- Dennis
Baring a miracle run, it is safe to say that the 2014-2015 season for the Ottawa Senators will go down as a frustrating one. Expected to battle for the playoffs, this year’s team has struggled with consistency, which has all but ripped this year’s playoffs away for good, but has also kept the team from the league’s basement. The question of today is, what needs to happen this off season for the 2015-16 Ottawa Senators to make the playoffs? There are two things that need to happen that will put the Sens on the track of long term success.
1st Need: Acquire a Top 4 Defenceman
This need is quite obvious. The pairing of Karlsson-Methot is our undisputed top pair. Cody Ceci has shown this year that he is well on his way to being a solid top 4 two-way type defender. Jared Cowen, unfortunately, is still a long way from being that top 4 stay-at-home type that he projects to be. His game still needs lots of development and piling on the pressure of being a top 4 defender usually hurts the development of most defencemen. The obvious plus to adding the above mentioned piece is that it will allow Ceci to be more offensive and take some of the pressure off Karlsson, and help keep our forwards producing. The obvious negative would be the cost of acquiring this type of player. If we end of picking in the 10th-15th range this summer, that 1st round pick could be enough to acquire that top 4 defenceman in or just getting into his prime.
Who would I suggest? Marc-Edouard Vlasic (or another big minute, left shot defenceman)
Anticipated Cost: 1st RND Pick + mid-level prospect or (2) 2nd picks (OTT & DAL) + 2 mid-level prospects
The market is at a premium for defenceman, and I doubt that San Jose or Ottawa would be dealing from a position of strength or weakness. This would simply be a hockey trade. Vlasic is known as a solid defenceman, perhaps underrated as well. He doesn’t do one thing great, he’s just solid all-round. He could do with a bit more hitting, but with being well on his way to a sixth consecutive season with double digit plus-minus numbers on the good side, there isn’t a whole lot wrong with his game. He’s also 27 years old, which would make him fit in with the Senator’s long term plans. Is it worth it?
A few other possible options…
Best Fit
-Marc-Edouard Vlasic
-Niklas Hjalmarsson
Decent Fit
-Zbynek Michalek
-Johnny Boychuk
-Cody Franson
Risks
-Keith Yandle
-Andrej Sekera
I think these are all the defenceman that we have at least a remote chance of getting. As has been mentioned, it seems that the market for defenceman is at a premium, and finding a good top 4 prime aged or young defender is something that almost every team would like to do. Bidding wars and a reluctance to deal young high end assets is something I tried to take into consideration.
2nd Need: Let the young FWDS develop
As was previously mentioned, consistency has been an issue all season. Our current top 6 FWD group has shown that it can produce like a top 6, but they haven’t shown it consistently. Having an improved defence will undoubtedly help with this, but time will as well.
Because of the young nature of our forwards, nobody is quite sure what they have in some of these players. For all we know, Mike Hoffman could be that 1st Line LW that we have been looking for, Mika Zibanjead could be a 1st centre, and Curtis Lazar could be the next Dustin Brown. The problem is that we just don’t know yet, and will not know until some point next season at the earliest. If we trade some of these players away for an established top 6 or top 3 FWD, we could unknowingly trade away way more than we realize. Once we know what we have upfront, start adding to it if needed.
This group is not far from being a playoff team. Over 30 games this year have been decided by one goal. Since the first game of the season, it has been very obvious as to what our most important need is, a top 4 two way or defensive defenceman in his prime. I look at this team and I see great things coming. If the right pieces are added at the right time, these Ottawa Senators could, one day, become Stanley Cup Champions.
Until that glorious day when we can look down at every other hockey fan of every other team and say WE ARE THE BEST, just enjoy the ride and know that this is an organization heading in the right direction, a direction of long term success.
