Back At It- Sens Sign Sweatt, Conboy

SensChirp July 11, 2011 0

(UPDATE 6:42 PM)- Another key player with the Binghamton Senators has found work elsewhere. Cody Bass has signed a one year, two way contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Bass was well liked by his teammates in Binghamton and he will certainly be missed. Good luck in Columbus, Cody!

(UPDATE 3:49 PM)- Busy day for the Sens as they have now signed defenceman Tim Conboy.  Conboy spent last season with the Portland Pirates of the AHL and has 59 games of NHL experience with the Carolina Hurricanes.

(UPDATE 2:53 PM)- The Sens have added some depth to the team down in Binghamton, signing defenceman Lee Sweatt to a two year, two way contract.  Sweatt appeared in two games with the Vancouver Canucks last season.

(UPDATE 12:42 PM)- Another restricted free agent has found work elsewhere. Defenceman Geoff Kinrade has signed a deal to play in the Czech league next season.  Kinrade has spent the last two seasons with Binghamton and racked up tallied five points in 23 playoff games with the Calder Cup Champion Binghamton Senators.

If there had to be a time for the SensChirp server to crash, I’m glad it happened in mid-July.

It has been a busy few days for myself and the web designer as we try to get everything here on the site back on track.  As I’m sure you’ve noticed, there has been a number of tweaks over the weekend but I think we are finally close to have things back to normal.

The forum is now back up after being temporarily removed.  We have also changed the comment section so that there are pages of them rather than have them all appear on a single page.  Hopefully this is just temporary and we can have the comment section back to the way it was in the near future.

Thankfully, it has been a quiet few days for the Ottawa Senators anyway.

Other than the additions of Mark Parrish and Bingo back up Mike McKenna, it has been a quite stretch for the team.

I was told over the weekend that Bryan and Tim Murray are both still working on a contract for RFA Bobby Butler and that both sides are optimistic something can get done in the near future.  It really doesn’t sound like there is anything to worry about on that front.  It has been mentioned before but if the two sides can’t agree on something, Butler will just sign his qualifying offer.

There is also the matter of sorting out a fairly crowded blueline.  The Sens already have Gonchar, Kuba, Phillips, Karlsson, Lee and Carkner under contract and need to find a way to make room for hopefuls like David Rundblad and Jared Cowen.  The preference would be to find a taker for Filip Kuba but obviously that is easier said than done.

This is a tough time of year to make deals. Teams are getting close to have their roster in place and want to have room to let young guys push for spots in camp.  I think the Sens may have to go with the group they have for the next little while and try to get creative a little closer to training camp. The Sens also have to careful to make sure they stay above the cap floor.

Despite his well documented struggles last season, Kuba is a guy that could help the Senators if he could regain the form of a few seasons ago.