Right, so every hockey talking head is currently flapping their gums about how Bryan Murray went all Bryan Murray and totally mortgaged the sens promising future/destroyed an orphanage/cancelled Star Trek TNG. I’m here (well, here, not here) to tell everyone to chill out. Armchair GM-mmetry is a staple of hockey fandom and folks have a right to do a bit of head scratching, (okay so my melon is admittedly a bit raw) But let’s see if we can spin this a little more to the positive. Considering how many poop jokes I make I can’t honestly consider myself an actual journalist so any semblance of hockey analysis should be taken with a shot of Wisers (Tryin to get my hand’s on J. York’s hooch money there)

1. David Rundblad is awesome or wait, was awesome, or wait he’s going to be awesome? Totally confused here, it was obvious David was having problems with the lack of time and space big strong NHL forwards are encouraged to impose on young blueliners. This led to an abundance of risky curl-and-drag moves on the opponents blueline. Is this problem insurmountable? Heck no, he’s going to be a good player, that’s not up for debate. What was questionable was how this team was going to impose a defensive system with MacLean being forced to constantly avoid playing Karlsson and Rundblad at the same time. It appeared that having an abundance of risk takers on the back-end was not in Murray’s 2012-2015 strat plan. To me, this boils down to one of those early season fantasy moves, where you either deal from a position of strength or sell high on a guy.

2. The bust as myth. Quick think of any underperforming high draft pick and don’t use the word “bust”. It’s a death sentence in hockey, one that’s all too frequently tossed around. Doesn’t matter what kind of team/system/organization they were drafted to, the ice time or line mates they were provided. Don’t live up to the hype and fail to prove the talking heads right for fawning over you prior to the draft and the onus falls squarely on your shoulders. I can understand how Sens fans might be a bit sensitive thanks to our current relationship with one Nikita Filatov,  but those of you screaming that Filatov never got decent ice time or line mates (yes I just hit Jesse Winchester with a rolled up newspaper) can’t possibly be grading this deal a loss so soon? Filatov and Turris are mutually exclusive.

3. Character issues,  Kyle Turris is a terrible human being. I know right? How dare a young guy over value his production and make an ill-advised career move? What youngster hasn’t made questionable career moves? (not just hockey but in all lines of work) He found his ice time limited and was dangerously close to being labelled a draft bust. So he decided to look out for number one. He used his previous production as leverage. (it’s the only leverage a player will ever get) My point is go ask your boss if you can have more money. Back so soon? What they didn’t think you deserved it? Hmmm, maybe they were wrong about you? Maybe you’re not a team player? Hey what’s that they’re putting in your personnel file? Ruh-roh. C’mon gang, Murray isn’t building a Midget AAA team here, he needs a second line centre with mitts and skill, maybe he won’t end up doing an oil changers commercial or be labelled a room guy (I’m more of a bar guy, if you’re wondering) Character is overrated, most of the talented NHL players are either the product of well orchestrated PR campaigns or tremendous assholes. If it means more points, then bring on the assholes! (do not enter that last line into IMDB!)

4. Future considerations. Think about a few unknowns going into this deal. Particularly with realignment. Murray needs to construct a team capable of winning a playoff series against the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs (gah!) in the not too distant future. Maybe Murray is envisioning a team with top-end talent up front and size on the back end. (not saying Rundblad was tiny but he didn’t exactly play big) Given the big cheese’s propensity to deal this might only be the start. I think the puck moving defenceman experiment might end at Karlsson and Gonchar. Lastly there was quite an incendiary article from professional hockey troll Ryan Lambert on Puck Daddy basically calling the coyotes GM the crown prince of hockey management. My retort is that Phoenix, just like every team that stockpiles young talent, will one day be forced to back up the brinks truck to keep guys. This includes us. Maybe Murray thought he can reason with Turris during negotiating his new deal and thus made this move to avoid the potential disaster of having to decided between Rundblad, Karlsson and Cowan. (and you guys thought Redden v Chara was gut wrenching) If we have to debate between paying our special little guy and our special huge guy James will never get down from the bell tower.

Bottom line is it’s another high risk, potentially high reward type deal. Ottawa has young blueliners in the system and no one close to Turris’ potential in the middle. You want to build a champion, you don’t do it with the Bobby Butler-Eric Condra-Peter Regin-Stephane DaCosta poo poo platter. You swing for the fences, I can live with that.

NOW COME AT ME TROLLS!!!!