WRITTEN BY- lukewellspring
As a Sens fan not content to spend the next six months playing the DLS (Dahlin Lottery Simulator), I decided to be more realistic.
So I’ve crafted a potential starting line-up for opening night of 2018-19, based on a more realistic draft position of fourth, and built around some of the changes in philosophy and personnel the organization clearly needs.
The current coaching staff would never play this kind of lineup. It’s too fast. Which means it’s too young and inexperienced. Which is one of the reasons Dorion is going to can Boucher at year’s end.
Or so we hope.
The league’s getting faster, with every game played. Boucher, who cannot accept that his system has grown obsolete, wants to swim against that current. It’s not working. Plus it’s clear that he’s lost The Captain and the room, which is roughly what happened in his second year in Tampa Bay.
Beyond the firing of Boucher, this lineup pre-supposes four moves:
1. A trade at this year’s deadline: Derick Brassard and Cody Ceci, for a top-notch goalie prospect and a decent draft pick or a young blueliner with upside. Washington and Ilya Samsonov might be a good fit. Pittsburgh and Tristan Jarry could be even better.
2. Drafting 3rd or 4th, the Sens would pick a fast, skilled winger who’s ready to play now. I’ve plugged in Filip Zadina, who, as a left winger, happens to fill a need for Ottawa.
3. They spend around $4-4.5 million a year this summer on a free agent defenceman, to partner Erik Karlsson. A Marc Methot ,Mark II. Someone solid, unspectacular and steady, like Calvin De Haan or Ian Cole, should they make it to market. Someone not named Johnny Oduya.
4. They buy out Dion Phaneuf this summer. And probably unload Bobby Ryan in the summer of 2019, completing the transition to an up tempo team.
This lineup also assumes that other, rumoured moves don’t get made. Mike Hoffman stays put, since the idea of trading him and his contract is sheer, Melnyk-driven madness.
JG Pageau and Zack Smith are still useful players. And their contracts make them less marketable than they appear, so I don’t see much coming back in exchange. There are other vets – Burrows, Thompson, Dumont, Pyatt – I’d ship out instead. In my view, if Pageau stays, he’s got to be the 4th line center. Gone are the days when you could get away with a Pageau-centred 3rd line, designed to shut down and not score.
Here’s what I came up with:
Hoffman-Duchene-Ryan
Zadina-White-Stone
Dzingel-Chlapik/Brown-Batherson
Smith/Formenton-Pageau-DiDomenico/Gagne
Others from:
Pajaarvi, Burrows, Dumont, Paul, Perron
Methot Mark II-Karlsson
Chabot-Jaros
Claesson/Harpur-Wideman
Others from:
Englund, Lajoie, Wolanin
Anderson
Condon
Hogberg
Jarry/Samsonov
Sharp intakes of breath will have followed the sight of Colin White as the 2C, Filip Chlapik or Logan Brown as the 3C and Christian Jaros as the 4D.
It puts a lot of responsibility on young shoulders but I don’t think the Sens have a choice. Their top two right wingers, Stone and Ryan, are skilled but not fast. That means their line mates have to be. And Colin White has a real good head on his shoulders, in addition to decent wheels. He reminds me of a young Mike Richards, with better speed; a deluxe version of Trocheck in Florida.
Both centres vying for the 3C – Chlapik and Brown – are left shots. Loser goes to the wing, either in Ottawa or Belleville.
To my eyes, Batherson, Formenton and Gagne are all ready to push for spots. I’d give them a long look.
Brassard has a nice playoff resume. Give him a chance to add to it elsewhere, since his age and contract make him a diminishing asset. Coupling Brassard with Ceci in a trade and keeping part of their salaries and cap hits would make for a rare, attractive package for a playoff team looking for help down the middle and at the back. Tailor-made for Pittsburgh.
And the Sens need to upgrade their goaltending. That’s Job One for Pierre Dorion. Given that Anderson will be 37 on opening night, no one in the organization can count on a bounce back.
Since Samsonov and Jarry are both blue chip prospects and they belong to rival teams, Dorion should just conference in MacLellan and Rutherford and turn the deal into an auction between the Caps and the Pens. Get other teams involved, if that’s what it takes.
On Jaros, the key there is his ability to move the puck. He’s not just a banger. With two pieces like Karlsson and Chabot, finding safe, mobile options to play alongside them shouldn’t be that difficult.
So there you have it. The Sens opening night line-up, for October 2018. Unless, of course, they win the lottery. In which case, I will happily re-write this.
Feel free to comment and dismantle my logic. But know this: I didn’t write this for the Chirp cognoscenti. I wrote it for Melnyk, who I suspect is hiding among you and commenting occasionally. Cos he just can’t help it.
I have my money on the alleged Chirper known as: whathappentomyteam.
GSG! Go Sabres Go!
