Murray can praise the youth movement and say he's happy with the current roster. Eugene Melnyk can rant about how all players should WANT to play in Ottawa. But the fact is, the Sens were vocal about wanting to make some significant additions this off season and so far, have come up short.
Now that’s not to say the additions they have made haven’t been good ones. Latendresse is a low risk option that if healthy, could be a useful player for Paul MacLean. Mike Lundin provides some depth to the back end. Marc Methot gives the Senators another top four defenceman and potentially a new partner for the defending Norris Trophy winner.
All safe moves that should help the team next year. Sure they lost the likes of Nick Foligno, Filip Kuba, Matt Carkner, and Zenon Konopka but there are plenty of players ready to fill those roles on the team.
Looking at the Senators current depth chart, there still appears to be a need for one more legitimate goal scoring threat. Someone who can slide in on Spezza’s wing and be counted on to score 20-30 goals. And that’s assuming the Captain is coming back for another season.
Jakob Silfverberg, Mika Zibanejad and Mark Stone are all hoping to grab spots in the top six but it might be unreasonable to expect them to fill that role this early in their development.
The good news is there are still some options out there. With Parise gone to the Wild, the belief is the NHL’s trade market will again heat up. The Senators will make some calls but there are going to be a number of teams looking to add. Alex Semin and Shane Doan are still available. Evander Kane’s name keeps coming up in Winnipeg. Bobby Ryan is unhappy in Anaheim. And Rick Nash is still looking for a new home.
Tim Murray was on the Team 1200 yesterday afternoon and made it clear the organization is willing to move a couple prospects if it means making the team better right now. From the start of June, the Senators have let it be known they are willing to move some quantity for quality.
Add to that the fact that the Senators still find themselves below the salary cap floor and it’s pretty clear, something’s gotta give.
So while Bryan and Tim Murray may say they are happy with the line up the way it is, you can bet they’ll be working the phones trying to add another piece before the season starts in…well I don’t really know when the season is going to start.
Same here bud. I've already turned the page with Nash and giving up Noesen, Puempel, Silfverberg, Lehner, etc. simply isn't worth it. Now if we can get Semin out of the way to be signed elsewhere will not have Murray even think about signing him.
Im thinking the only way to solve this would be to have player salaries fluctuate with cap. If a player signs at 5 mil and the cap increases 10% so does every player under contracts salary. Thats how you ACTUALLY tie revenues to salaries
http://www.sportsnet.ca/iphone/hockey/2012/07/05/leafs_van_riemsdyk_centre_position/
Not tryna be mean or anything but Tim Murray is Bryan's nephew, no biggy though
I don't really think that Alfie is taking any new players into consideration. It would impact his decision a little bit if we added some big piece or if Murray made some stupid trade - but I doubt he was waiting to see how the team looked. The reason I doubt it is mostly because he himself said he needed to see if he still had enough "fire" to put in the off-season training. Now, it's a little easier to find that fire if you're picturing Nash or Suter on your team of course.
As for RUSHRLZ - I actually agree that if Alfie does retire this year that it's probably the best thing long-term for the team. It's hard to think or type that because the "fan" in me wants Alfie to play forever, but practically speaking this team needs to find it's post-Alfie identity and the sooner we start doing that the sooner we find it.
Now, since I'm much more "fan" than practical, I'm going to force myself to watch Leaf promotional videos as punishment for typing that last paragraph.
Nope. Unless you count the coy way he played dumb about Ryan when asked.
But really I wouldn't read anything into that. He'd be smart to keep it quiet unless it somehow helped his case. I think it was good for him to let it be known that we were looking at Nash since it put some pressure on CBJ to try and get Ottawa on Nash's list. But with Ryan there's really no need to go public - it would just get fans excited and possibly drag current Senators into rumors as going the other way.
The future is as bright as it's ever been for our Sens, let's enjoy it. The negativity here is the exact same rhetoric we heard all of last year. We got a great team here, and it looks like it's set to keep getting better and better. Enjoy the ride, guys. This team is gonna be competitive for years and years to come.
A minor tweak here and there isn't gonna change much. Obviously a huge move makes a huge difference but we're in a position where we have the luxury of being patient. Can't wait to see what happens to the Sens in the next 5 years.
I'm by no means a Garrioch apologist, but reporters/colum nists aren't responsible for writing the headlines. Those are completely beyond their control.
The only question with Ryan is what will he cost? He really should cost more than Nash since he's younger and some even thing better. The down side with him (if there is one) is that he's a UFA sooner but hopefully by the time he's a UFA we've built a very good team and he's in a position where he'd like to stay.
Zibby(they want a 2nd center...judgin g by the prospects game he may be ready...not necassarily as high end now as they would ideally want but a good young piece)
One of Stone/Noesen/Pu empel(another good young piece that doesn't cost much, as I seem to recall reading somewhere they weren't looking for much salary back)
2013 1st round pick(yeah yeah strong draft....blah blah blah...I will take an established star for an unknown)
Then maybe if they want something else do one of our 3/4th liner overabundance like Dacosta/Butler/Condra
Not sure it would be enough and I seriously doubt they move him before Nash as he will set the value...unless we blow them away(and that offer is comparable to what was rumored to be the front runner on Nash)....If they wanted a goalie which I am not sure if they would or not you could work something for Bishop/Lehner, although this drastically increases the value from our side IMHO.
But Ryan is exactly the top 3 type of player we need....him or E Kane. Murray/Melnyk/e verything rumor wise has been far too quiet lately, leads me to believe that they may actually be getting serious though and it is being kept under wraps to try and pull something off before Nash expands his list.
1. People commenting on pretending to know what it will take for Alfie to retire. Only Alfie knows. The only FACTUAL statement we heard was that Alfie was going to work out a bit before making his decision.
2. People that are overly optimistic that we will be a better team next year. Don't get me wrong, I'm optimistic too, but in reality, we are looking at a lot of rookies possibly playing on our team. If you thought last year was streaky, just wait until this year. I do think we have some top-notch talent, but it doesn't guarantee us wins. Edmonton is a great example of this.
3. People assuming a Ryan trade is in the works at this point. Garrioch's article was very different than the implication of the headline. There isn't one "insider" that has led us to believe that a trade is in the works. Same goes with E. Kane.
Hmm, I thought he wanted more like 4 mil...3 is a lot more reasonable.
Could have shortened this immensely...
Things you hate
evidently life....you realize it is July right?? people are shooting the shit about just about anything possible hockey related.
Yeah, very reasonable!
Yeah I almost wish we'd kept him now as that could turn out to be a very reasonable deal. I guess we still need Methot more though.
As for adding Stone or Noesen to the Ryan deal, no way would I give up one of those guys plus Zibanejad. Those three guys (plus Silfverberg) are way more valuable than any of our other prospects up front, so I wouldn't give up two of them. If the Ducks would take Zibanejad, Puempel and our 1st next year (or something similar) then we're talking.
For anyone that reads this site regularly or follows Chirp on twitter - we already know Alfie's decision and Chirp is keeping a lid on it.
You have to remember that if we end up with Ryan locked up long term that is another top 6 spot gone...so we have
Ryan
Spezza
Silfverburg
Turris
Michalek
All longish term...so there is really only one other top 6 place for any of our highly touted forward prospects. A move will happen at some point.
I hear ya. It was more the Alfie comments that I didn't like. Most of the hints going around are that he's coming back. Comments about us getting a top 6 forward as a reason to come back or not was frustrating to read.
same few people say view A
couple come and counter view B
some troll comes in with view C
FIGHT
rinse repeat day after day
Cowen, Bishop, Noesen, Ceci, Zbad, Hoffman, Pageau, Silfverberg, Stone, Lehner, Puempel, Prince, Wiercoch, Gryba and Borowiecki.
I could be wrong but I don't think anyone can talk extension until the final year of the contract. So we'd have to settle for Murray feeling confident he can extend him when the time comes but no guarantees. You're right about the top 6 though but it wouldn't be so bad to have 7 guys that could be top 6. What with injuries etc and as much as we all have faith in the guys you listed there's always a chance someone doesn't pan out completely.
But yeah if we're allowed to dream a little, a top 6 like this for the next 5 years would be pretty sweet:
Michalek-Spezza-Ryan
Silfverberg-Turris-Noesen
But if we give up both Zibanejad and Stone to get Ryan then the drop off might be pretty steep to the third line.
Silfverburg
Zibby
Ceci
Peumpel
Lehner
Noesen
Stone
Wiercoch
Boro
Gryba
the rest are long shots at best to me especially with the people ahead of them. and my list sucks as I ADDed and missed far too many that should be listed haha
In order of importance to the organization (not exactly the same order as skill):
Cowen
Silfverberg
Noesen
Lehner
Ceci
Zibanejad (though not sure why I keep ranking him this low)
Stone
Bishop
Wiercioch
Borowiecki
Puempel
Pageau
Prince
Gryba
Hoffman
If you ask me tomorrow the order might change a bit - many of these guys are just too green to know for sure.
Cowen
Silfverberg
Ceci
Noesen
Puempel
Zbad
Lehner
Bishop
Borowiecki
Stone
Hoffman
Prince
Pageau
Gryba
Wiercoch
Sens finally getting rid of the proverbial dead weight. Good to see.
He had 47 points last year. He's worth more than 1.5.
Zibanejad
Cowen
Silfverberg
Noesen
Ceci
Stone
Prince
Borowiecki
Puempel
Bishop
Claesson
Pageau
Weircioch
Hoffman
Gryba
I agree, if alfie figures he has a shot of the cup he'll be back.If the teams stays as is he won't.Alfie deserves better,we have the cap space sign/trade for either ryan or doan and pick up 1 more top 4 dman (quincey, weber ,J Bow)
rule out the possibility of the Senators
trading for Bobby Ryan. The Sens will have
Jacob Silfverberg and Mark Stone battling
for a roster spot. Even if Daniel Alfredsson
decides to come back and possibly signing
an extension, the Sens could still add some
depth. Alexander Semin is the only legit
scoring threat left on the UFA market.
Sources are saying the Ducks still aren’t
sure what they are going to do with Ryan.
They may need a young dman to replace
the lose of Justin Schultz. The Sens have a
current cap hit of $47 million, so taking on
Ryan’s $5.1 million salary isn’t a problem.
Sources are saying that the Flyers, Maple
Leafs, Penguins, Red Wings, Lightning and
Senators will make a run at Ryan. The
Ducks may have to move some salary to re-
sign Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, who’ll
be UFAs after next season.