One thing that is abundantly clear after the deadline is that for the most part, people have no idea what the Senators are up to.
That includes fans, that includes insiders and that includes the other 30 teams. It includes me. It includes you. Nobody really knows what the plan is and nobody has a firm grasp on where this organization goes from here.
It turns out one of the defining characteristics of #ThePlan is to keep everyone guessing at all times.
There was no big sell-off. There was no mandate to cut salary as much as possible. Zack Smith is still here, primarily because there was no team willing to take on his contract. Mike Hoffman is still here because Pierre Dorion set a price and stuck to it. Bobby Ryan’s contract is still on the books because they weren’t as desperate to move it as some people thought.
And most importantly, there was no trade involving their franchise player. While it sounds like they came pretty close, Pierre Dorion refused to settle. And that should be a huge relief for Sens fans. Unfortunately, what comes next is anything but clear.
“If Erik Karlsson is here on July 1st, he’ll be receiving a contract offer” is what Pierre Dorion told us. Makes sense except that Pierre Dorion is one of two people (for now, anyway) that has a say in whether or not Erik Karlsson will be here on July 1st. They will decide if he’s here, they will decide if they’ll listen to offers this summer and they will decide what that contract offer looks like.
What matters is that Erik Karlsson is an Ottawa Senator. The organization managed to avoid making a terrible mistake. And for now anyway, that’s all that matters.
What happens next is anyone’s guess.
To his credit, Erik Karlsson said all the right things today. He made it clear that he wants to stay in Ottawa and emphasized that he never wanted to leave.
If there is one take-away for the organization following the debacle that was these last two weeks, it’s that they need to do a way better job of controlling the message. They need to proactively communicate their intentions and correct people when they have the facts wrong.
That’s not necessarily what happened here but the Senators made things way worse by going into hiding (both Dorion and Karlsson) and they allowed the speculation to run wild.
Whether they were actively trying to trade him or not, there is no doubt they could have done a much better job guarding themselves from the criticism they faced the last two weeks. Bryan Murray was a master at that. Pierre Dorion still has a long way to go.
Meanwhile, the team has 21 meaningless games left in their season. And one of those games will be played tonight against the Washington Capitals.
As they prepare to play out the string, the Senators made a couple roster moves, calling up Erik Burgdoerfer and Jim O’Brien from Belleville of the American Hockey League. Yes, it’s the same Jim O’Brien. He’s actually been one of the more consistent players with the BSens and by all accounts has earned a contract and call-up.
O’Brien, a former first-round pick, last played with the Senators back in March of 2013.
Guy Boucher has his team on the ice for the game day skate in Washington. Here is how they are expected to line up for this one.
Paajarvi-Duchene-Hoffman
Ryan-Pageau-Stone
Dzingel-Smith-Gaborik
McCormick-O’Brien-Pyatt
Claesson-Karlsson
Chabot-Ceci
Borowiecki-Harpur
Mike Condon gets the start in goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.
