As expected, it was a fairly quiet NHL Trade Deadline for the Ottawa Senators.
With moves already made for Kyle Turris and Ben Bishop, Sens GM Bryan Murray could have just stood by and watched the other GMs make moves. Instead, Murray joined the deadline day action, trading defenceman Brian Lee to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for UFA to be, Matt Gilroy.
In Gilroy, the Sens add a Hobey Baker winner and a player that will fit in nicely with the puck moving system put in place by Paul MacLean. He is a strong skater and distributes the puck well, putting up 17 points in 53 games this season. Chris Phillips has been taking a regular shift on the power play lately but you would think that Gilroy gets a look on the second power play unit at some point.
Brian Lee has played much better of late and had become a lucky charm of sorts for the organization.
But the fact is Brian Lee never really fit in with this organization and was always the first guy to come out of the line up despite his improved play. Lee never lived up to the billing of being a high first round pick and he'll have a chance to resurrect his career in Tampa Bay.
Gilroy is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and Bryan Murray has already indicated that the Sens will consider bringing him back into the fold. The stretch run will give the Senators a chance to see what they have in Gilroy and make a decision on where he fits in moving forward.
While there is a tendency to look at deadline day as a pivotal point for GMs, Bryan Murray made his moves throughout the season. He added Kyle Turris to fill a void at centre ice, he addressed a lack of goaltending depth in the organization by picking up Ben Bishop and he acquired another puck moving defenceman in Matt Gilroy.
So this is it folks, this is the roster the Ottawa Senators will head down the stretch with. What do you think? Do you like the moves Murray made (or did not make) this season?
- Ben Bishop, acquired on Sunday for a 2013 2nd round pick, will head to Binghamton for the time being. Murray suggested that he expects Bishop will get into a game some time next week. Murray also hinted that Robin Lehner will likely get the start tomorrow in Boston.
- It should not come as a big surprise but the league named the red hot Erik Karlsson as the league's first star for last week.
- Thanks to everyone that joined in today's live blog here on SensChirp. We had more than 1,400 readers at the busiest point and reads contributed more than 2,000 comments over the course of the day. Special thanks to TrueSensFan for helping with the comment moderation!
