Author Archives: Varada

Free Agent Frittata: Day Five

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Matt Carle – another day, another quality free agent off the market. Tampa signed Matt Carle to a six year, $33MM contract that will pay him a $5.5MM cap hit. This makes him the highest paid d-man on the team. 

Six years may seem like a lot for a 3-4 defenseman, as does that hit, but he is only 27 years old. The Lightning get themselves a stalwart who they can count on to provide NHL quality defense for years. Can’t complain too much about that.

They’ve also quietly assembled an interesting defense corp, though it’s one with a lot of question marks. You have Carle, Victor Hedman, Eric Brewer, twin grampas Matt Ohlund and Sami Salo, and our boy Brian Lee. If Anders Lindback works out for them–and by works out, I mean provides NHL replacement level goaltending–they should return to the playoffs in the typically weak South East. Also worth mentioning that the usually poor Lightning now have the ninth highest payroll in the league. The honeymoon is going to be over for Yzerman if they miss the dance again.

Tim Murray interview – the boys over on 6th Sens did their interview transcribing thing with Tim Murray, and Timmy said a few confusing things. First, he thinks Latendresse will score differently than Foligno because he goes hard to the net. I don’t think I ever saw Foligno score a goal that wasn’t the greasy, in-the-crease variety, and he took about a million goaltender interference penalties last season to prove it. Murray then goes on to cite injury and conditioning concerns for Latendresse. Well, I’m psyched.

Timmy also gets a dig in on Columbus, and how Methot should be excited he doesn’t have to play there anymore. Eaaaaaasy Studebaker: Sens finished fifth last a couple of seasons ago. We’re not exactly heavyweights here.

Finally, it sounds like the team is pretty much set on a defensive corp of Karlsson, Methot, Phillips, Gonchar, Cowen, Lundin, and Borowiecki. Here’s hoping Cowen takes that next step…one also has visions of a Gonchar trade dancing in one’s head.

Free Agent Frittata: Day Four

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As James just put it: “Wild put two hotels on Park Place.”

Or as I think: total and utter lunacy.

The Wild now have about $35MM, or 50% of their cap space, tied up in five players: Parise, Heatley, Koivu, Suter and Backstrom. That’s a lot of elite money for only sorta elite players. (And in the case of Heatley a 20-goal scorer.) The fact remains that all of that talent still doesn’t have a premier playmaker to dish them the puck, a liquid weak defence, terrible injury problems, and they can’t score. They stunk last year. I don’t know if Parise and Suter are enough to cure what ails ’em.

Also can’t help but wonder who the hell these owners think they are. $12MM in bonus money EACH in case there’s a CBA rollback? How can that investment ever come back in jerseys and ticket sales?

I get that both players wanted to be close to family, but it’s hard to understand how they both turned down bonafide contenders like Pittsburg, Detroit, or even Chicago. It will be something special if they build a winner in their home state. But Minnie has nowhere to go now if it doesn’t work out. They’re spending more than every team in the league except Boston, and they were seventh last in the league last season. I can’t wait to see that Forbes ‘value to salary ratio’ thing they do every year.

Final thought: good lord, how much is Weber going to get next year?

Free Agent Frittata: Day Three

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Hugh Jessiman – Ah, who cares. It’s a warm body for Binghamton. When is the other shoe going to drop on reaching the cap floor, though?

You have to think that Murray is going to bring in at least another $2MM-$2.5MM player (presuming he re-signs O’Brien and Daugavins to similar contracts to what they received last year), and he may need to fill up to $7MM of space if Alfredsson decides not to return. Maybe Adnan over on SilverSevens gets his wish and we see Alex Semin in a Senators uniform. But I’d bet on more defensive depth. The forward corp is already looking at players in the press box.

Jagr – This is just hilarious. $4.5MM for a 54 point player? Every article I’ve read so far talks about how “invigorated” Jagr seemed last year in Philadelphia, and how he helped Claude Giroux become a dominant player. How about playing with Giroux helping Jagr to score 54 points, which, by the way, was only seven more points than Nick Foligno? Dallas will probably sell a few more jerseys as a result, but can’t imagine Jagr possibly living up to this salary.

Who’s left? – there’s a lot of 30+ year old veterans on the market – Doan, Huselius, Hagman – but not a lot of players who you want taking time from your prospects. Michael Rozsival out of Phoenix might be worth looking into, having played good second pairing minutes to a great CORSI rating. Carlo Colaiacovo too. And then there’s Peter Mueller, who could be reunited with Kyle Turris as two players Phoenix poured all kinds of development time into and got nearly nothing out of.

Free Agent Frittata: Day Two

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Again, some random thoughts on free agency as we head out into the hockey wastelands of summer.

Cap floor – I went on Twitter for a little while yesterday (not usually something I like to do) and it seemed like there was much discussion and confusion on just how far under the cap floor Ottawa is after these first couple of days of free agency. According to Capgeek, Ottawa has to spend almost $4.3 million to reach the cap floor. And other than Jim O’Brien and Kaspars Daugavins, there are no additional free agents that need signing.

That means that there has to be another move pending from Brian Murray, doesn’t there? Do we trade for the ghost of Tim Thomas? Did Jonathan Cheechoo sell his house in Orleans?

Who’s left? – other than Parise and Suter, I mean. I read somewhere that Parise wants $12M in each of the first two years and at least a decade-long deal, so let’s not touch that with a ten foot pole. Suter would be an amazing pick-up, but will probably get something similar. The rest is a whole lotta mixed nuts. Anyone want a slightly used Wojtek Wolski or Marco Sturm? Can only hope Ottawa is in on these Bobby Ryan sweepstakes. Apparently Anaheim wants a second line center back in return. We have a couple of those (kind of) in Turris, Regin, maybe Zibanejad. They probably don’t want prospects though.

Toronto Maple Leafs  – hilarious to see Brian Burke pontificate on how July 1st brings out the worst in GMs when he so memorably said “July 1st is our draft” only a few years ago. So, let me get this straight: he doesn’t use the draft to build, doesn’t use offer sheets, doesn’t offer front-loaded contracts, and doesn’t rely on July 1st. How can any GM abstain from so much on principle and still hope to build a team? What’s left except to trade mediocre players for different mediocre players?

Didn’t stop TSN from dedicating a few too many words on the Leafs signing a third line centerman, though.

Derek Roy – sort of can’t believe Buffalo only got Ott and Pardy for Roy. Sure, Roy had a stinky last season, but Buffalo is a team with a permanent coach. Surely there was a GM out there who thought Roy could be productive in a different system with different linemates, especially on such an affordable deal and with only one year left on it. Instead, the Sabres get a pesk who can put up a few points, and an enforcer. It’s like trading Chris Neil and Zenon Konopka for a former first line center. Seems totally weird to me.

Free Agent Frittata: Day One

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If there was any doubt that Ottawa is a team on a tight internal budget, that’s all gone now. Having poured money into Karlsson’s new deal, Ottawa couldn’t even bring in their shutdown defenceman without shipping out a comparable deal in return. Then they took a flyer on two players who figure to contribute or barely play at all, giving them one year deals for about a million each. We’re thinking of changing our name to Welcome to Your Lundin Years.

Foligno for Methot – I think we all knew that Foligno was going to be traded sooner or later. Like Antoine Vermette years ago, he was a player who, rightly or wrongly, had expectations foisted upon him and didn’t meet them. Like Vermette, he was long rumored to be a part of one package or another, and was sought by other GMs who know he can be a solid complementary player. And LIke Vermette, when Murray finally pulled the trigger, it was for a return with potential to go either way.

Ottawa needed a shutdown defenseman, and with players like Jason Garrison getting $4M+ and SIX YEARS (nuts), it seemed the only way it was going to happen was by trade. Also, with Foligno set to get around Methot’s annual pay anyway ($3MM cap hit), they offset each other.

But is he any good? I guess, in a word: maybe. Methot played a career high average of about 17 minutes a night last season, having previously hovered around 16. His CORSI is all over the damn place – Relative CORSI is a terrible -16.3, but QOC was positive (even if it was only 0.920). So he was one of the worst players on a very poor team, basically. He’s also already 27, so he probably doesn’t have much room to grow.

There are plenty of questions about how he was used by coach Scott Arniel, so I’ll reserve judgement. But to me, this move seems about what Murray can afford. If the Senators need to be a team close to the cap floor, then maybe he couldn’t afford a new deal for Foligno and the defenseman he needed. Still, I hate to see Foligno go this way. It’s like trading a likeable guy with some upside just as he’s entering his prime for new carpeting in the dressing room.

Filip Kuba – Unlike almost everyone else, I think $4M a year is pretty reasonable for a guy who can play 18-20 minutes a night. Or, if it’s too much, it’s not by much. I think he’ll be a good player for Florida. Unspectacular and reliable.

You have to wonder if Ottawa would have been better off giving Kuba this deal than having to give up Foligno for Methot, who’s on a four year deal, and makes almost as much as the salary escalates year-over-year.

Not signing PA Parenteau or David Moss – Two random names, I know, but I like both players and thought they’d complement Ottawa’s system well. Parenteau got four years at $4M per in Colorado, and Moss got two years in Phoenix.

Roundtable of Death – Draft Edition

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Varada

I’m torn about the Cody Ceci pick, which is to say that I’m not totally pumped, but I’m on board for now.

Obviously snagging the second highest scoring defenseman in the OHL, who is already man-sized (copyright PJ Harvey) at 6’1, 205 lbs, and was forecast to go in the top ten, is a huge plus. It may actually qualify as a steal. Ottawa didn’t need to give up assets to trade up. They got a hometown boy. All these things are awesome things.

Of my two outstanding doubts, which I guess are healthy to have when we’re talking drafting 18 years olds, the first is outlined in my previous post and expanded on with typical rigor by Tyler Dellow over here. The gist is that defensemen are less likely to become elite than forwards because their development is more difficult to predict, and as such it makes more sense to use valuable first round picks on forwards and more late-round picks on defensemen. Obviously this didn’t bear out this year, with 257 defensemen selected in the first 15 picks.

The second doubt comes from having left skilled Teuvo Teravainen on the board. I have no more detailed analysis than that, only that Teravainen seemed like the most skilled forward left at 15th, and I wonder if it makes sense to use first rounders on forwards. Having said that, Ottawa drafted Karlsson and Cowen with valuable first rounders, and, here’s the latest from the House of Small Sample Sizes: those decisions seem to be working out well.

Other random thoughts: Ottawa drafted not one, but TWO goaltenders, the last of which is from the QMJHL, which James and I were just joking doesn’t produce a lot of great goaltenders, hence the 5th round picks who have scored a point-and-a-half per game in that league. Also Chris Driedger, who I know nothing about but whose numbers look terrible, but hey it’s goaltending. Nobody knows anything. Malcolm Subban got drafted in the first round, fer Chrissake, and I’ve only ever seen that guy allow goals in bunches.

Who else had a tingle to see Filip Forsberg fall to 11th? Would have been incredible to trade up to get him, though without any 2nd round picks that would have been hard to do.

Finally, on the trade front, it seems a lot less likely that Ottawa would be involved for any of the stars on the block – Nash or Ryan – without that 15th overall pick to throw in the package. That’s probably a good thing.

James

First off, I know we just signed our domain name to a lucrative 7 year contract but does anyone want to change the name of the blog to, “I’m Not Totally Pumped But I’m On Board For Now Dot Com”? I just feel that really gives the reader an idea of what it is we do here.

Yeah, I don’t know, all due respect, I’m not ready to buy into this 20 minute old theory of ‘don’t waste your first round pick on a defenseman’ that’s been going around lately. If only because of the Sens last two defensemen taken in the first round. Maybe I’m too hands off with the draft because of the many Wiccan ceremonies that have to be held in order to take someone. I missed the entire first round because the movie Labyrinth was on television which I mistook for the draft. The calculation of the percentage of picks that “work out” (hard to define in and of itself) depends on way too many things that, I feel, do factor in, to name a few: Organizational incompetence (Call it the Calgary Factor), player attitude (Filatov Factor), reaction to pressure/bring rushed to perform (Schenn Factor), ever changing respective team needs/trends (ajghraseb factor) and a liberal sprinkling of some straight up bullshit (Datsyuk Factor…seriously, fuck you Detroit…FUCK. You.). I guess what I’m saying is, I never feel more out of my element than at the draft. Case in point, flash back…

TV: “We have a trade to announce….the Ottawa Senators exchange the sixteenth overall pick for 2009 17th overall pick David Rundblad of Skelleftea of Elitserien”
Me: “Cooooool…..I have no idea what’s happening” *takes sip of Zima*”

Or

TV: “and the Ottawa Senators take Mika Zibanejad of the SEL…Zibanejad had 9 goals in 27 games for Djurgardens last season”
Me: “Cooooooool….I have no idea if that’s good” *takes sip of Zima*

Or

Not even on TV at this point: “and the Ottawa Senators take Mark Stone of the Brandon Wheat Kings with the 178th overall pick. He had 106 points in 71 games second only to first overall pick, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins”
Me: Makes sense. *Portal to the lower forth dimension begins to open on my living room floor*

I like stories. I’m saying, I’m totally fine with Cody Ceci. In fact seems like a logical pick. For all the panic going on in the Sensphere about the future of the blueline I can’t be at all mad at the Sens for making a big investment in it this year (as they did drafting King K and …. Count…Cowen…). I’m especially comfortable with the pick considering that Murray n’ Murray took 3 forwards in the first round alone a year ago. I don’t know why Teravainen dropped so many spots. You know what else I don’t know? Very much about him! I figure Ottawa’s scouts do and I wish the Blackhawks nothing but less success than the Senators in future endeavors!

On a personal note, because of his time with the 67s I’ve had the pleasure of watching Cody Ceci really come into his own at the OHL level which is exciting. I have a lot of respect for the OHL game and think it is a great finishing school for young players before they are draft eligible.

As for drafting two goalies, man, Dorion was not bluffing about that, eh? I see this as Ottawa potentially hedging their bets as we are currently seeing in the NHL trend report that goalie is the new puck moving defenseman (i.e. inflated value). One thing I do know is that I’m glad that Ottawa did not take Malcolm Subban. Look, PK Subban is a very engaging, handsome young man and a good hockey player so naturally his brother is a very good goaltender that I’ve never seen play a good game against the 67s. I could eat my words but for now I’m relieved that the Sens didn’t take him.

Final thought: Happiest part of draft weekend. Not trading a bunch of stuff for Rick Nash. Being bummed out at the idea of acquiring Rick Nash is kind of hilarious but I’d rather the Sens just take their time with the Rebuild. I am way more comfortable with a Kyle Turris type move. Young, cheap skill on the upswing of their career.

Varada

Yeah, I totally hear what you’re saying about how the draft is so riddled with exceptions that it can’t make much sense to be disappointed to be picking a top player with a top pick. I guess from a statistical point of view there are a whole bunch of collar-tugging anxieties – how many OHL defensemen have worked out for the Sens? (6th Sens looked at this. Not many.) How many defensemen in the first round turn into regular NHLers? (Not elite, just actual players who contribute at some level. Again, not many.) And so on. But if this team was going to take a defenseman, I’m glad it’s this one. I mean, it’s kept me from having to do a great deal of background reading about, uhhhhh…Jacob Trouba? Or Slater Koekkek, who is also an OHL defenseman, and who Tampa took five spots higher than Ceci.

I’m coming around to the idea of Rick Nash, but like you were saying when we were drinking beers in an art house basement yesterday while waiting for our friend’s experimental film festival to start (actual thing that happened!): let’s get in on this Bobby Ryan action first.

Pete

There was an experimental film festival and I wasn’t invited? You go now!

Jk, arty playboys, I’m so boned with work and moving and junk that getting this reply out is a minor miracle.

Some rando thoughts on the draft. One, the 24 hours sports news cycle puts way more creedence into the draft than it actually merits. Did you know baseball only recently started televising their amateur draft? And by recently I mean this year, on the MLB network. ESPN or Fox Sports Net wouldn’t touch it. Two, the quality of this draft was definitely on the flaccid side of exciting. The few fleeting moments I did watch were frought with analysts trying to spin the dirt off it like a basketball that rolled into a puddle (sports similies, get your sports similies!)

That being said, I was surprised there wasn’t more wheeling and dealing. A defense heavy flavor usually indicates that gm’s decide this is the year they shore up the substance and take fliers on flash with less frequency. You’d think there’d be a propensity for moving picks. Nope, strange.

Now to the sens…uh, this draft really didn’t really register with yours truly, I like the Ceci pick because it plays well in Peoria (uh I mean Nepean) he’s got decent size and can skate so why not throw the loeb cookie club a bone and take the kid. Side note: Missed Ottawa Citizen sports headline opportunity “Finally!” (Cece Peniston ref there for the non gospel crowd) Two forwards in the whole bunch?

Last thought, I feel like someone should get Scott Howson’s office number, call him up asking who he’d like to recieve (regardless of team) in exchange for Nash. While he runs down the Joey Crabb’s and Nick Schultz’s of the league rip a huge fart (fake or real, not picky) into the phone and hang up. Get over yourself Scott, you’re not lacing em up and you’re not winning this deal. Your star has sabotaged any leverage.

(microphone drop, exeunt)

Some here and there around the draft

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We’ll have our draft roundtable up later today or tomorrow, with scintillating reactions to taking Cody Ceci at 15th overall, but until then…

Rick Nash

I never took the rumors very seriously, given that most of them seemed to originate from Twitter and referenced “league sources.” (Which could mean literally anyone from an assistant GM to the guy who maintains the Minnesota Wild’s website.) But with stories like this one being written I’m starting to get seriously worried about Ottawa actually pulling off this trade.

What if Murray actually meets Scott Howson’s ridiculously high asking price? You might have a minor fan revolt on your hands. It will signify that we’re returning to the Spezza-with-Heatley era of top-heavy talent on the first line, and before we even get to enjoy the benefits of such a deep prospect pool. I would much rather this team throw everything they have at Ryan Suter, overspending on a blue chip defenseman, than give up assets for Nash. I don’t hate his contract as much as most, but I just can’t see it being worth the trading price, especially now that Howson’s already traded for a goaltender and our first round pick is used up.

Clearly Murray is in the last couple of years of his last contract as a GM, so the message is “screw slow-and-steady.” If he has one more year of Dany Alfredsson, he’s going to swing for the fences with Nash and then it’s someone else’s problem. The reality that the next Senators team to truly compete will probably be one with Silfverberg, Noesen, Stone, Zibanejad, Lehner, Puempel, Cowen and Karlsson all in their prime, not one where Rick Nash gets to play with Jason Spezza.

But what about the package mentioned here? Zibanejad, Foligno, Ben Bishop, and next year’s first round pick? That has me curious, and thinking it might be worth the risk. It certainly isn’t mortgaging the future. A very good prospect still years from being an impact player, if ever, when the team has oodles of forward depth right now; a good roster player who still finds himself on the third line more often than not; and a backup goaltender just acquired this year for a second round pick. That’s not much at all. The first round pick is a bit more worrisome, given that 1) we really have no idea where Ottawa will finish in the standings next year, and spending about $8MM on Nash doesn’t leave much money left over to sign some defencemen, and 2) Ottawa doesn’t have a second round pick next year either because of the Bishop trade.

But remember: screw it. This season just might be Murray’s Alamo. He’s going for it.

Also, it might be worth it because Leafs fans have been salivating over Nash for years. (Though I think most of them have to be over it now, what with their souls having been repeatedly crushed. Can they even feel feelings anymore?)

More interestingly, I think, is to parallel with Ryan Lambert’s weekly trolling where he quite rightly points out that all of these sign-and-trade maneuvers by large market clubs should put a seed of doubt in the minds of players. Why would you sign with Philadelphia or New York when you know that you can be traded after signing a 12 year deal, like Jeff Carter, or buried in the minors like Wade Redden? And why, if players know this, would Rick Nash only submit to be traded to the Rangers? At least you know that if you go to Ottawa they’re not going to loan you to a Swiss team just to get rid of the cap hit.

Toronto

How hilarious is this team. One of the worst defensive teams in the league, and they trade a 22 year old defenseman who figures to break through and become a part of their top four for years to come for a forward. Perfect. No goaltending, no defense. The war against traditional rebuilding continues.

The Staal Trade

Really, really surprised Shero didn’t shop him around a little bit more. One week they offer him a 10 year deal paying him $6MM a year (which, by the way, they should be very glad he turned down), and the very next week Staal is gone. Not sure if they wanted to get it done so they could take the extra picks this year, but I imagine the return could have been higher if they’d waited until after July 1st, when Parise and Suter have signed, Nash and Ryan are traded, and the other 25 teams who banked absolutely everything on getting one of those four guys are left holding the bag. Unless of course they cleared cap space because the Pens intend to take a run at Parise, which…good grief. Do all of these GMs know that he can only sign with one team?

Preds

This didn’t get reported on much, but the Nashville Predators signed a new arena lease deal that should keep them in their city until 2028. Why am I linking to this on a Senators blog? As a fan who’s lived through bankruptcy, and who considers the Preds a bit of a model franchise, I have a lot of empathy with Nashville fans. They’re also set to lose Ryan Suter for nothing, which we lived through with Chara. But it’s nice to know that they can count on their team being around for years to come. Congrats, Predators fans.

Our Special Little Guy Wins the Norris

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Clearly it’s the best time to trade him. His value will never be higher! We could get a second round pick for this year’s draft.

Not much to say here that hasn’t already been said: Karlsson’s win is only an upset in the context that people who haven’t really watched him play that much don’t like his lack of penalty killing. But hey, it’s an award without any clearly outlined criteria. What do you expect? Don’t hate democracy. He could just have easily been robbed because Weber was “due.” I find the Jack Adams way more problematic. (It’s awarded to the coach who does the most with the least OR the coach who takes over midway and makes the biggest difference. Never mind that these two things aren’t valued relative to each other very well, or that we don’t know if “doing the most” is as important as “having the least.” Ugh, who cares.)

Anyway, Pierre McGuire said he puts the over/under on Norris trophies for Karlsson at three, which is amazing.

Especially nice to see the win against former Senator and The One Who Got Away, Zdeno Chara.

Anyway, this is just a quick note to say congratulations to Our Special Little Guy on the best week of his life. I know that if I won a major award on the same week that I made $45.5 million, I’d probably have a spring in my step. We hitched this blog train to the right player. Good thing we didn’t name ourselves “For Relaxing Times, Make it Konoptka Time.”

In which we analyze a deal that has the support of 95% of Sens fans and 5% of Leafs fans

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Varada

WHAT I LIKE:

From what I understand, this is a back-loaded deal that increases from $4MM to $7.5MM over its term. This is actually pretty refreshing in an era of front-loaded, long-tail contracts designed to lower a cap hit.

It rewards a young, skilled player, and presumes that he will get better. Sports is one of those few spaces where people can talk about honor, and doing it the right way, and not laugh. Well, that there is an honorable contract. Murray has shown that he will hand these kinds of contracts out to core players. He’s living within his means, while paying players what they’re worth. From that standpoint, what’s not to like about this deal?

Obviously we have a good player locked up for some of his UFA years when he could, presumably, make more money by signing a short term deal, make it to the UFA market, take a 12 year deal from Philadelphia and then be traded to Columbus.

WHAT I LIKE LESS:

I guess there is some risk in that Karlsson has only had one elite year (if you don’t count last year’s 50 point season as elite for a defenceman), and the structure of this deal assumes he’ll produce for several. This isn’t a big gripe, though – even if he regresses back to a 50 point defenceman, that’s well worth the $4MM he’ll be paid in year one. (And he was 20 points ahead of the next best offensive defenseman, so if he regresses, it will be to the strata of other elite D.) There’s an argument to be made that a 2-3 year deal to make sure he’s legit is worth it, even if you have to then pay out more.

Ottawa now only has $26 MILLION in cap space, with the tenth lowest payroll in the league. Poor Euge. How will he get by?

James

WHAT I LIKE:

–          Karlsson signs deal with Ottawa for 7 years. Straight up. Takes me back to the salad days of the signings of several amazing players to long deals such as Spezza, Heatley (which was the style at the time), Fisher, Alfie when it just seemed like the team was going to be amazing forever…forever…forever…for– *snaps out of it* I don’t suppose I’m alone in thinking that it has been many years of looking at a contract like a countdown, “Only one more year of this Kovalev horseshit” or “Only two more years till Cheechoo/LeClaire/Emery/Gerber/Rumsfeld is finally off the books.” I remember a number of times driving home from my old job at the WTYKY.com Planning Committee, turning on necessary evil TEAM 1200 and every other day there being an announcement “…And the Sens have locked up Dan(n)y Heatley (or whoever) for the foreseeable future” and just reacting like, “Good, species just got stronger…see you every year Stanley Cup finals.” Hmmmm not exactly the way things worked out or anything but I have longed for the times when locking up a cornerstone player was a thing of celebration and not just an argument over whether term or dollars was more of a mistake…I mean, that’s fun too but its basically only been that for quite some time. 

–          It’s a long deal but not absolutely INSANE in its length. I feel 7 was my personal comfort zone max and anything between 8 and 10 was plain scary. 7 is enough to show faith that this is definitely a guy that the organization plans to build around during this important phase but not so long like those terrifying Luongo, Carter, DiPietro, Kovalchuck “ill play here until I’m dead” deals. I’m not trying to be foolishly proud on the Sens’ behalf I’m just saying, as a huge fan of Karlsson, I wanted a long deal, would have lived with a shorter deal considering the circumstances surrounding this off season but preferred long. I got what I was hoping for and within reason.
 
–          Length of the deal keeps the cap hit decent for what should continue to be an elite puck mover and hopefully the Sens are going to have a lot of great young players to keep together down the line and will have more room to do it this. As we all know windows of contention are brief in the NHL’s current paradigm and whatever potentially keeps that window open longer is great news to me.
 
–          Initiates what feels to be an official passing of the torch for the organization. We Sens fans got to enjoy some pretty damn strong years in the early to mid-2000s…and then the team kind of drifted into its experimental jazz years. Which…sucked. Coach merry go ‘round, Heatleygate, trade Spezza bull, hobos, sea captains, Joey Bishop. Initiating Senate Reform showed the brass was serious, but this signing is an indication that the future is quickly becoming now. 
 
–          Leafs fans are absolutely hating on this deal which can only mean it’s a great thing.
 
WHAT I LIKE LESS:

–          Comes this monies, comes the pressures. Varada and I watched a lot of games together this season and when Karlsson was really pouring it on and his point totals were starting to get really really real, like the 60+ range when he’d score, one of us would say, “Every 2 points he puts up equals a new hover sea-doo on pay day.” Two point Karlsson games are henceforth known as Hover Sea Doo games.  Well, my Special Little Guy, hover sea-doos achieved. And how. He’s got hover sea-doos all the live long day for the foreseeable future. We’ve seen it countless times where a player signs a huge contract (withthenewyorkrangers) and loses their edge as a player. One would imagine that as of yesterday a certain career goal has been achieved in LARGE by Karlsson. Of course, your Gomez, Redden, Bowmeester type regressions are always highlighted and highlighted again because its fun and easy. The other side of it is that a lot of players sign huge deals and continue to perform at a high level. Heck our own Jason Spezza has despite injury put up a point a game since signing an even more lucrative contract. Its not a science how players react. It will always be a gamble to do something like this. I’d rather have a GM who takes a gamble on an Erik Karlsson than not. If there’s been one thing EK has done in his career so far, it’s been defying the naysayers. Odds are pretty good Papa Alfie has instilled some his legendary game in and game out work ethic on his young brorson (look it up). Teams are going to be clamping down on our Special Little Guy from here on out but he knows haters gon’ hate. GET EM!