There’s always change expected from one year to the next but not many team’s in the National Hockey League are at risk of losing their entire top line.
That is the situation facing the Ottawa Senators this summer with Jason Spezza on the trade block and both Milan Michalek and Ales Hemsky poised to test the open market. Based on everything we are hearing right now, it certainly sounds like all three of those guys will have a new home when the puck drops in October.
According to a report from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, talks between the Senators and Ales Hemsky have broken off and at this point, it seems like Hemsky is intent on testing free agency. Garrioch suggests that Hemsky is looking for something in the $5.5 mil a season range and that the Sens just aren’t willing to go that high. For a budget conscious team like Ottawa, that just isn’t the kind of money they are willing to commit.
Hemsky looked great during his brief audition in Ottawa but you could always sort of tell this was a temporary stop for him. He had terrific chemistry with Jason Spezza but with Spezza likely on the way out, the reasons for Hemsky to stick around started to dwindle pretty quickly.
We’ll always have this goal, I guess.
