The inevitable has finally happened.
Today at noon, the Ottawa Senators officially placed forward Colin Greening on waivers.
Give Bryan Murray credit as he pulled every possible string in an attempt to avoid going down this path. He tried to drum up interest in the media, he sent league-wide emails to other General Managers and he even let Greening’s agent try to work something out. In the end though, no team was willing to take on the risk associated with two more years at $2.65 mil a season.
I really believe that if Greening was on a league minimum contract, there would be a team willing to take a chance. It just wasn’t going to happen at the price he’s at right now. He’s a hard-working guy that can skate well and play physical at times. The Senators massively over-estimated his ability to produce offence but Greening still seems like he has at least some of the tools to be an NHL player. Greening has just one point this season and it came on a rare “automatic goal”, where he was hauled down on a breakaway with the net empty. Although that’s not how Greening will remember it.
For now and assuming he clears, Greening will report to Binghamton of the American Hockey League and try to find a way to revive his career.
We’ll always have Game 3, Colin.
-I noticed late last night that yesterday’s Taylor Hall rumour had made it to the Oiler fan base and was largely met with disbelief and mockery. Not surprising because the way it was presented to them lacked some context. A few points of clarification: 1) Many teams have called the Oilers about Hall, 2) It happened at least a month ago, 3) Lehner was only part of the Ottawa offer and 4) The Oilers said no. Anyway, what that rumour shows us more than anything is the type of player the Senators are looking to add and also, the value they feel Robin Lehner has. Deep breaths, Oiler fans.
-The Senators announced they have signed forward Brad Mills to a one year, two way contract.
-The Senators were on the ice for practice this morning and there is a whole lot of juggling going on with the forward lines. Colin Greening and Alex Chiasson were the extra forwwards while defenceman Erik Karlsson was absent from practice. Here’s how Cameron had them lined up this morning.
Michalek-Turris-Stone
MacArthur-Zibanejad-Ryan
Hoffman-Pageau-Lazar
Condra-Legwand-Neil
