After yesterday’s announcement from Daniel Alfredsson, the Ottawa Senators roster for next season is finally taking shape.
While the organization could still benefit from the addition of another top six forward, it’s clear the Sens owner is quite willing to continue leaning on younger players and go with the collection of players they have signed right now.
Eugene Melnyk did a bit of a media tour following yesterday’s announcement on a couple of occasions talked about how the confirmation of a final campaign from the Captain was the “missing piece” for this team. In a wide ranging interview on the Team 1200, he talked about not wanting to get involved with the high priced free agents under the team’s current budget.
Despite the owner's public declaration about the realities of a strict small market budget, I don’t get the sense Murray and his staff plan to sit around the rest of the off season.
The Sens have and will continue to keep a close eye on the situation with Bobby Ryan in Anaheim. They are definitely interest and when you consider the possibility of him skating alongside Jason Spezza, you can see why. Shawn Simpson mentioned names like Zibanejad, Lehner, Ceci and Da Costa as the sort of guys it would take to get something done.
Much like Melnyk’s rant during the Sens pursuit of Rick Nash, there seems to be a disconnect between what Eugene says publicly and what Bryan Murray is doing behind the scenes. As the General Manager of the hockey team, Bryan Murray has the responsibility to seek out opportunities to make this team better and he will continue to do so.
Both Tim and Bryan have mentioned that if there's an opportunity at a quantity for quality type move, they have to consider it.
If a move comes up for Bobby Ryan, who has an affordable salary at $5.1 mil a season for the next three years, you would hope that Melnyk is prepared to give his GM the go ahead.
