Coming off a season where he looked like a 30 year old again, the playing future of the Ottawa Senators 39 year old Captain remains in limbo.
Over the course of sixteen seasons here in the Nation’s Capital, Daniel Alfredsson has become the undisputed leader and face of the franchise and at some point within the next couple of weeks, he’ll let the organization and the fans know if he has a 17th season in him.
The speculation right now seems to indicate that Alfie will return for another season.
While he has yet to inform the team of his plans for next season, Alfredsson has been training the past couple weeks and is expected to make a decision on his playing future before the NHL Draft set for June 22 in Pittsburgh.
For fans that watched #11 play last season, there is no doubt he still has the skills and work ethic to be an extremely valuable player. Alfredsson scored 27 times in 2011/2012 and finished with 59 points. Despite suffering a concussion in the Sens opening round series against the Rangers, Alfie returned and was far and away the best player on the ice in the deciding Game 7 at MSG.
But much like his fellow countryman Nicklas Lidstrom, Alfredsson has to feel as though he can play and play at a high level. That’s why these past couple weeks of training have been important as Alfie has to ensure that he still has the desire and drive to commit to another season.
The Senators have already shown an interest in adding one top six forward and would be looking to fill a couple holes if the Captain decides he can’t play another season.
While Bryan Murray has let Alfredsson know he can take all the time he needs before making a decision, I think it's fair to assume we’ll hear something in next ten days leading up to the NHL Draft.
- More than 20 of the entries in the Predict Erik Karlsson’s Contract Contest have the deal getting done at some point this week. Sounds like initial conversations between the Sens and the Karlsson camp have been positive and it should be a relatively quick and painless negotiation.
- Senators defenceman Chris Phillip will be opening his new restaurant Big Rig Brewery, tomorrow. Located at 2750 Iris Street, the Big Rig Brewery is a restaurant and brewery rolled into one. For more information check out the website or follow them on Twitter @BigRigBrew.
- The Rick Nash speculation that was discussed here on Friday continues early this week. Certainly wouldn’t say a deal is imminent by any means but the belief is Murray and Howson have at least discussed the possibility. You can bet the Jackets will have teams knocking down their door leading up to the draft. The Rangers, Sharks and Leafs are all expected to be in the mix.
