(UPDATE 12:29 AM)- Great stuff from James Gordon of the Ottawa Citizen as he finally gets Eugene Melnyk to explain exactly what happened and why Alfredsson left. And as I mentioned in the article below, a big part was the fact that Alfie wanted to get paid but to also see the team add a significant piece now. Melnyk says they just couldn't afford it.
I've been having trouble putting this into writing but I’ll give it a shot because I think people are looking at the Alfredsson departure the wrong way.
Daniel Alfredsson didn't choose Detroit over Ottawa. He chose Detroit over Boston. Confused? Bear with me for a moment. The way I see it, Alfredsson made two important decisions this off season and while they happened one after another, they were actually quite independent of one another and motivated by an entirely different set of factors.The first decision the former Captain and face of the franchise made was to leave Ottawa.
And if Alfie ever does open up about what went down in the week leading up to July 5th, I'm certain he'll tell you this was the hardest decision he made. And he has his reasons why he did it. There are those that will disagree, but I feel pretty confident in saying that this decision had to do with money. Not money in Alfie's pocket, but rather the team's willingness or ability to spend now. The long-time Senator wanted to get paid what he was worth but also wanted to see this team improve the team now.
Murray will tell you he had the Bobby Ryan trade in the works but at no point was there budget to sign Alfie for what he was worth and add Bobby Ryan. I just don't believe it.
There also some talk that as part of this negotiation, Alfredsson wanted to “solidify” his role in the organization once his playing career came to a close and that maybe the Sens weren’t quite ready to do that. Add to that the reported tension between Alfie’s agent JP Barry and Eugene Melnyk over the Heatley fiasco and there were so many elements that had the potential to turn the negotiation sour.
And as we know, it did indeed turn sour.
Once Alfredsson had made the decision to leave Ottawa because he just didn't get the commitment to winning now that he was hoping for, it was probably pretty easy to choose Detroit. Good team with a similar system to Ottawa's a, a few fellow countrymen on the roster and a chance to play with elite talent in Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.
The way I see it, only once that decision was made to leave Ottawa, did he choose the Detroit Red Wings. The real wild card in all of this is the free agency courting period that likely provided Alfredsson with some of the reasoning for making decision number two was made before he had finalized decision number one.
We’ll never know exactly what thinking went into this decision but I’m not convinced it was ever an Ottawa or Detroit decision in Alfie’s mind. So while there has been a lot written about the fact that Alfredsson feels the Red Wings have a better shot at winning now than the Senators, I’m not convinced that comparison ever factored into his decision.
It's an important distinction that hasn't really been made in a lot of the conversation surrounding the most dramatic move of the NHL's off season. But in my mind, he didn't choose Detroit over Ottawa. He chose to leave Ottawa and once that difficult decision was made, he picked Detroit as his home for next season.
Very different decisions with entirely different reasoning behind each.
Hmm. Does that make any sense? I hope so because I'd really like it to be the last thing I write about Alfredsson's departure.
This team is in a great position heading into this season and it's the start of an exciting new chapter in the history of the franchise. Bobby Ryan provides a socring punch they haven't had in years, Erik Karlsson is healthy and ready to take another run at the Norris Trophy and Jason Spezza is poised to step into the Captain's role.
Despite the drama of the off season, it's a good time to be a fan of the Ottawa Senators.
