With no new progress to report on the CBA front, a lockout is looking more and more likely.
Gary Bettman will meet with the owners a week from now to discuss their plans moving forward and while there are no formal talks planned between the two sides, there have been rumours about informal negotiations. According to some reports, Steve Fehr and Bill Daly met for dinner in New York last night.
The fact that both sides remain somewhat amicable is a good sign moving forward although it would be nice if they made starting the season on time a top priority.
That certainly doesn’t appear to be the case right now.
Meanwhile, both organizations and players need to be ready for all possible outcomes. While camps around the league won’t open if there is a lockout, teams and players are prearing for all scenarios. A few Senators players have been holding informal skates down at the Sensplex to stay ready.
You can bet that a whole host of Senators players are making alternate arrangements in the event of a lockout. We know Gonchar is looking at the KHL. Karlsson is hoping Sweden will open its doors to locked out NHLers and says KHL might be an option. This morning, Bruce Garrioch tweeted that based on comments from Bryan Murray, Jared Cowen would start in the AHL with the Binghamton Senators.
Cowen certainly wont be the only guy heading to Bingo during a lockout either. Zibanejad and Silfverberg have both shown an interest and Mark Stone is also a likely candidate to join new bench boss Luke Richardson in Binghamton.
Also of note- according to a tweet from Ken Warren, Murray suggested Zibanejad would play as a left winger in Bingo. While he’s a natural centre, this gives you an idea where his best chance of cracking the big team roster might be moving forward.
Will be interesting to see how Richardson and the Sens organization manage the ice time down in Bingo in the event of a prolonged lockout. Important to find a balance between developmental priorities and keeping the NHL guys fresh for the start of the season, whenever that ends up being.
For what it’s worth, Murray also indicated that the Smith extension is likely his last move before the start of the upcoming season.
- Unless Senators news breaks over the weekend, it could be a quiet weekend around these parts. Along with a couple SensChirp readers (I think?), I’ll be taking a bus down to Boston to catch the Red Sox and Jays on Saturday night. Not exactly a clash of AL East elite but Fenway Park remains one of my favourite venues in all of sports. Keep an eye out of Tweets during my trip, for those interested.
