Conrad

Mike Fisher to Nashville (shock) for a 1st in 2011 and a conditional pick in 2012.

INTERPRETATION RUN DOWN / HEARTBREAK LANE

I’ll miss the guy. This is when the rebuild gets real. It had to happen, and I’m glad it’s happening, but this is the moment when you go back to the apartment you once shared with your girlfriend or boyfriend and start separating your CD collection (when there were CDs).

Also, if you thought the Sens were bad now (11th loss in a row last night, only one win in I think 17), things are about to get really messy.

This biggest gain from this is getting out from under $8M in outstanding salary and a cap hit of $4.2M for the next two seasons. I’m surprised, and happy, that the Sens didn’t have to take any salary back in the deal, though with a team as deep in prospects as the Preds are, it’s too bad we couldn’t get a more developed young player in the deal.

Preds are currently 11th overall in the league, meaning that the 1st will probably end up being bottom fifteen. That’s basically a Nick Foligno added to the fold. Not bad, considering Fisher was a 2nd rounder himself, but for a player who was to be the future captain of this team, this is yet another signal that the days of the huge deadline deal are gone.

As for the conditional pick, my understanding is that it’s a 3rd rounder if the Preds win one playoff round, and a 2nd rounder if they win two or more. Keep in mind that Nashville has never won a playoff series, so this might end up just a straight 1st rounder for Fish.

Also keep in mind that the West is ridiculous right now. Nashville is 5th in the conference, but only four points ahead of 9th (and only five points ahead of 11th). They’re one losing streak away from our first rounder being turned into a top 15 pick.

JUDGEMENT: Aaaahhhhhh I dunno. Fisher is a fan fave, and it sort of sucks to see him traded for a lottery ticket. But at the same time, this team just turned about $14M in cap space next year into about $20M in cap space. They didn’t take a damn thing back.

I know it was never going to happen, but I wish we coulda gotten one of those sweet prospects in Nashville’s system. They’re going to be a ridiculous team someday soon.

Peter

Yes fish will be missed. Though his production was down this year there is still a need for what he does best. A veteran presence and classy guy is never easy to replace. There is going to be a hole in this team for a while. Call it a scab or a scar.

I think objectively this is a good deal. I wonder if murray’s love affair with his prospects played any role in zero kids being Ottawa bound. Maybe fish hinted at wanting to go to music city and kinda hamstrung his g.m. a bit?

So now it begins huh? I don’t see a huge impact the rest of this season (only because i dont think it can get any worse) but next should be interesting. Keep playing the kids this year, don’t make a panic signing this summer, maybe amass a couple of first rounders when the Spezza and Gonchar contracts become a little more palatable.

I think every fan should know, nay expect this team to suck holy balls next year. Too many kids, no finishers and a disinterested and frankly wasted Spezza.

This is going to be rocky. I fear to watch, yet I cannot turn away.

James

“Sooooo…are we NOT calling this post ‘So Long and Thanks For All the Fish’ orrrr….somehow TSN didn’t go for that”

When the Sens lost their 54^th straight back in Novembuary, finally, after much resistance, I started leaning more toward what Conrad had been saying for a while and thought “Okay, uncle already, this core is past its prime, the team is officially TERRIBLE…let whoever go. . . minus Spezza b/c he’s impossible to move/ way hard to replace…what are you gunna trade that guy for? Ryan Getzlaf? Youre going to get murdered *LITERALLY* trying to move that guy – but I digress (not really)…and minus Alfie because YOU CANT TRADE MY DAD, STEP MURRAY!!! *goes to room, starts blasting Marlyn Manson* Just kidding, I put it out there on the blog (for those not reading at home – all of you) a while back that I was super comfortable if Alfie even wanted a shot at the cup before he turns THIRTY NINE…he’s done enough in this era of time, the era before he becomes our new GM *hopeful tears in eyes*.

Anyway, Phillips, Fisher, etc I was all get rid of the core. Lets get young and cheap! But then when it gets closer to the deadline you start to get sad thinking about only spending every second weekend in a three hour long court mandated supervised visit with your former Sens dads ( I think we can all agree Phillips is the DADDEST looking guy in modern history). That and we might get stuck sharing our room with some bratty pipsqueak of a step brother (I think we can all agree that Blake Wheeler is that)…but you know what? Im already reading all this bull in comments sections (Smartest move to continue to believe in humanity – wait for it…wait for it – NOT!) all “HORRIBLE MOVE! FIRE MURRAY!!! LOUUUUD VOICES!!!” unless this is a leafs fan trolling (and trust me you are a bunch of trolls, the lot of you) THIS IS THE TYPE OF THING WE WERE DEMANDING. Now look at me. IM the one whos yelling and im ALWAYS calm and completely reasonable (not).

Bottom line: We want young and we want cheap, which I am not an expert on either of these things as I am 64 years old and make 8 figures a year, but it would seem this is the brave new world we were begging for online and in the press. What we give up in the process of said future of course is a ‘sure thing’. We KNOW how good and hard working Fisher is. If we had just traded for a 2^ndround, 44^th overall pick we’d be all “off with Murrays head!” but that’s the pick that this heart and soul, selke finalist guy went BUT if we were the ones GETTING Mike Fisher in a trade 10 years after his pick, I think we’d be pretty happy. Well, the Comment Section Toughies wouldn’t be happy…they are lieterally never happy (and are racist homophobes J too ) taking a gamble is tough and stressful (Bobby B no points in 11 games) but the way players are developed these days a First Round pick is pretty much as safe a bet as they come outside of an active player.

Speaking of first round picks, maybe this is the time where Nick Foligno begins step up in an enhanced role to become the NEW Mike Fisher b/c cousin has kiiiiiiiiiiiind of been a beast lately. In conclusion, I don’t know how to run a hockey team at all and I for one welcome our new overlords. We’ll miss you and your generosity* Mike, as Pierre McGuire never (fucking) stops saying “He’s not only a tremendous player on the ice, he’s also a tremendous human being OFF the ice.”
“Relax, Pierre.” – Everyone

*Quick little story, a friend of mine had a baby a few years back and pretty much from birth, the child suffered numerous seriosus health problems. A low income single parent, in a desperation move, she contacted Mike Fisher’s people and eventually got in touch with him asking for help. Mike helped her, a stranger, weather some pretty burdensome financial storms taking care of a sick child on her own. This story never made one headline and was even a pretty private thing amoung friends. Safe to say, that it is not the only story of its kind invoving Mike Fisher. He did and will continue to do a lot of good for whatever community he’s in and even though a lot of people give him a hard time because he is so down with JC, he does a lot more than many 64 year old bloggers do. Thanks Mike.

From all of us at The CCFR: A few highlights. We especially like the first one because it was clutch and it immediately shows the crowd at the Scotiabank Plan streaming for the parking lot. Good luck, Mike. There may be plenty of empty seats where you’re going, but the people who’re there will appreciate having hockey around.

We’re a little late on this one, as we were distracted by the Sens scoring 5 goals and still losing. And by distracted, we mean we went on a four day trip of self-discovery through the Ozarks with nothing but a Rambo knife and some choice cigarettes. We began to hallucinate, and this figure came to us through the haze, and we did think “Oh man, even our friggin’ Guardian is boring.”

So The Senator is a Senator, but only insofar as anything relating to the Ottawa Senators are Senators (because they are, in fact, either gladiators or imperial troops. The senators were the ones in the togas debating taxation). Probably would have been cooler to rename the franchise the Ottawa Legion or Cavalry or the Palaiologan Byzantine army, named after the dynasty of the Palaiologi (1259–1453), which ruled Byzantium between the recovery of Constantinople from the Crusaders and its fall to the Turks in 1453. During this final phase, Byzantium was little more than a city-state that hired foreign mercenary bands for its defence. Thus the Byzantine army finally lost any meaningful connection with the standing imperial Roman army – hence the connection to this Senators team and that which once contended in the playoffs.

Anyhoo, the Sens are terrible, so here’s a question for you: in the 2011 draft, given the choice between a Matt Duchene style forward and a bluechip defenceman, which would you take?

Sens are back in “action” tonight after a heartbreaking loss in which they showed some goddamned pride for a change. Spezza and his what-must-now-be-mechanical-shoulder are back, and he gets a biscuit of a game against one of the few teams worse than the Sens to test out his giveaway reflex, which Kovalev and Kuba have been keeping warm for him in his absence. Nice to see those two step up and make sure giveaways keep happening while Spezz recovers. Sens have a real chance to end their losing streak, which is now at 6,589. In tanking news, they are two points up on NJ for third last overall, three on the Islanders for second last, and four from the first overall pick.

Conrad

Check out this sweet candy I bought on ebay for about $12. There’s no name on the back. So, discussion topic: which name do I get put on this bad boy? I’m thinking Varada, but I’d be open to other obscure and terrible players. I’m also thinking Butler, though that’s an obvious jersey foul to the tenth magnitude. Daigle would also be interesting, and a curse on my house. Saprykin?

I’d like to know more of what you guys think of these articles from the Sun and Globe. I’ve listened to a few podcasts about them now, and read all the articles, and I think this notion that Melnyk has “announced a rebuild” is over stated. All he says is that there’s a plan in place and that he isn’t firing anyone, and then follows it by saying there could be a Stanley Cup in Ottawa within a year and that all we’re lacking is a “game-changer.” Sounds an awful lot like exactly what they’re doing now to me.

It’s the Globe article that offers up the juicy tidbits and the specifics – most of which have already been denied by Murray – like how Murray is getting kicked upstairs, Clouston is gone, that expensive veterns are on their way out (a really contentious point, because who would take them?) and that the rebuild is centered around this top five pick. I think we might be getting our hopes up that the team is going to really tear it down when it’s likely that Fisher, Spezza, Alfredsson, Gonchar, Michalek and Kuba – in other words, all the big ticket players – are all going to be in a Sens uniform next year.

So, we’ve all been talking rebuild, but do you think it’s more likely that this team tries to get picks where they can and then still goes out and signs big ticket UFAs in the off season? Is Melnyk insisting on the Toronto Special: a one year rebuild?

Finally, Murray said in his press conference that Rundblad and Cowen are ready to go next year. Do you burn on year on these guy’s entry level contracts to get a good idea of what you have, or do you bury them in the minors to protect their prime years? They both look ready to go to me, though they aren’t big minute players: they’re 3-4 / 5-6 pairings until they get their feet wet.

Pete

Looking good! May I suggest you go with Magnus Arvedsson or Petr Schastlivy… maybe even my favorite former sen Stanislav Neckar… so many possibilities!

I agree the notion of the rebuild is overblown because frankly you don’t take a team from the basement to the top in an offseason. Ottawa is a game changer away from being a seven seed. The sens are two game changers and a goaltender away from being cup contenders. It’s splitting hairs really. Seems to me like Melnyk should be preaching patience and showing some contrition. His statements came across as kinda arrogant. I’m glad you know more than hockey than me Eugene, but just because you think you have plan doesn’t shield you from criticism. But hey, he owns the team, so he can say what he wants.

Okay the best part was the awesome display of crazy-pill addiction from B Murray. Rundblad and Cowan? Really? That’s your plan? Those guys are going to be great pros and I’m glad they’re in the system but they’re not the answer to Ottawa’s prayers, they’re the interesting footnote to the failed puck moving, mobile defenceman experiment from last offseason.

Who’s going to be between the pipes? Seems like that’s the major issue here. Am I way off? Why was that not brought up during Murray’s fire-side meltdown? Conrad your point of every player being available at the deadline is a little scary since I’m terrified there’s a going to be a panic deal.

Long story short. Start Lehner next year, get another lottery pick, ditch a bad contract. Let’s have this rebuilding conversation again this time next year.

Prianka

That jersey is amazing! I’ve been checking stores for one of those for years, apparently I should just keep an eye on ebay. And $12?? Jeeze, that’s cheaper than the knock off jerseys they sell in the tourist shopping area in Seoul. If I were you, I would totally throw Eaves on there. I mean he wasn’t terrible but then Daigle isn’t obscure. If you want to go really obscure/random you could go with someone like Kaigorodov and of course, there is always Heatley (too soon?).

Was the word ‘rebuild’ really never used by either Murray or Melnyk? I haven’t read too much other than the Sun and Post articles, but with Murray claiming the team will be ready in a year, and Melnyk refusing to give any stance (I think it was when he was talking to the Team, he said it could take one year, or three, or five and that he doesn’t want to put that kind of pressure on it) it’s interesting that the Post decided to write such specifics if they aren’t true. So, I guess Melnyk kind of is preaching patience, and he is showing it too by holding onto Murray and Clouston until the end of the season.

Getting rid of everyone (except the Swedes) and their dog seems like a good idea in theory, but in practice is this really going to happen? Players who had real trade value at one point (Spezza, Kovalev, Gonchar) have all been having a terrible year – so either teams are going to give massively low offers for them and we’ll end up with no one, or (which is more likely), no one will want to take over the expensive contracts of our aging Russians/Spezza.

At this point it seems like things can’t get worse, but Peter, you have a point about it coming down to a panic deal, especially close to the trade deadline. I would hate to let Spezza go for next to nothing (just because he is having an off season, and has a huge salary hit) because the team is having a bad year. Spezza has shown that he is a real contender for the captaincy, and could be playing for this club for a while. Before we get rid of players like him, let’s take a step back and remember that there is still another season next year, and the next and five years from now.

It’s hard to say whether goaltending or goal scoring is the bigger issue at this point. I do, however, think that we have the ability to score goals (Spezza, Fisher, Alfie, Foligno, Kelly, Michalek etc). I am not so confident in our goaltenders. At this point, I can barely remember how Leclaire plays between one injury and the next and honestly, even when he does finish his rehab from rehab, how long will it be until he is injured again?? I don’t think he is the goalie we can depend on. I’ve only seen Lehner play once, and it was the only win the Sens have had in the last month. It was also against the Islanders, and he let in four goals. Considering the position the Sens find themselves in now, maybe it’s time to get Lehner on the ice and see what he can do. We play New Jersey for our first game after the break, might be time to give the kid (another) shot at the big leagues.

James

Rad jersey! I must say though, for 12 bones make sure that thing is adult size medium or large as Steven and I were getting to some ebay merch madness one night and found an identical back jersey for quite cheap…got that mah in the mail…yeah, child’s medium. Didn’t even fit any of the ladies in the house. I mean we gave it away to a little tyke at the home opener vs. Buffalo (well, to his mom – b/c you know, stranger danger-) which was pretty cute but ultimately a waste of money. Buyer beware. All the name suggestions were really great I humbly suggest these:
BONK …I mean how awesome would having the name BONK on your jersey be? I think he plays for the Tucson Thunder Cats now. Ps. Lotto pick watchers I think Bonk was picked second overall…

TURGEON… ahh…Sylvain Turgeon the OTHER Pierre Turgeon. I think this was the first Senator I was ever excited about except for maybe….
SIDORKIEWICZ… I mean…who cant get behind an NHL player from Poland? The Sens first starter and a great hockey name to boot!! He also used to play for the Whalers…so
MARSH…I cant believe no one offered that up yet. A chance you could get bought a beer at a game…by Brad Marsh. Or people will think youre his son or something.

PITLICK. May win your heart for this story alone, used to live in my friends BASEMENT. Her Dad and Lance were old buddies and when he came to play here he lived in their rec room …for A WHILE. Good dude, btw good dude.

Marc

A Kudelski jersey would make you the coolest cat in the 613. He was arguably the first sniper in Ottawa’s modern history, who was then traded to another team for the equivalent of an OC bus transfer. The “trading something for nothing” trend began and ended with that transaction…right?

Other players that will make you cool: Muckalt, Tugnutt and Prospal.

Murray told me through a dream that the team is one year away from winning the Cup and that he will bring McGuire in as his replacement. Then all the players turned into monsters, played a crazy game against Michael Jordan who teamed up with a bunch of cartoon animals. Jordan and the toons won. Charles Barkley got his gambling powers back and all was well.

My take on this reboot:

-Trade whoever you can (whoever is Fisher, Gonchar, Ruutu, Kuba, Murray, Carkner, Lee…this list can go on forever) get picks or prospects and let the kids play.

-Do NOT sign expensive, past their prime players to 3 year, 15 million dollars contracts during the summer.

-Ignore phone call from Barbados at all times.

…the world seriously needs a picture of the Spezzafacehouseboat. Can the image/picture guy hook that up?

James

Hello everyone! A warm welcome to our new friends AND a beginning of The Empire Strikes Back Ice World cold welcome to this brave (meaning…whatever) new world for the Sens as well as the Sensternet (patent barfing).

First I’ll address the rumors surrounding my recent absence:

Yes, I WAS clinically dead. Something something, translucent goo from the 1994 Robert DeNero – Kenneth Branagh buddy comedy Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein brought me back from the Abyss (another movie about goo)

Moving on,

I think that yall (French for ‘you all’) covered as many bases that can be covered in New Zealand Rules American Baseball about the recent announcement by The Euge stating…hold on … lemme just check my notes here…mmm’kay, “Melnyk to Media: Anyone who thinks we should blow the team up can go blow themselves… …up” …nope, nope…that’s dated a couple years ago…I should really update my Newton. Oh, heres a newer one…”Melnyk to Hall of Mirrors that he thinks is a press conference: Everybody best buckle the FUDGE up in this funk mobile and come along and ride on this fantastic voyage that will be journey to the Stanley Cup FOREVER”…Oops…hilarious but not the one. OH HERE IT IS “Melnyk to Unplugged CB Radio at Bert’s Bar: Now I am become Death. Destroyer of Core Rosters.”

So, that’s something that happened, wasn’t it? So we have all travelled through each other’s trust caves and expressed our inner most feelings about how the team we’ve grown to be really REALLY bummed out watching/not watching after one period will more or less cease to exist for the ….*shudder* next couple of seasons in order to build for a more Pajarvi-Svenklestein-esque future.

To directly quote one of the all time greats:

“At this juncture, the current paradigm is in the process of shifting”
– Bob Dylan, Two Time Source Awards Nominee

That said, aside from the almost, oh so close to confirmed rumour of Filip Kuba to Detroit for Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Babcock, 2 first round picks in 2011 and 2012 and the TV movie rights to “Never Let Me Go Wunder Grandpa: The Nicklas Lidstrom Story” … it is pretty safe to say that it is going to be a very different looking Binghamtottawa Senators next season. 

As much as were all hoping for a team with fewer stars than the skies over Tokyo during a full moon * deservedly pelted with garbage/sarcasm at 100%* surly the team will leave us SOMETHING to look at for the upcoming HUNDREDS OF GAMES TO GO BEFORE THE TEAM IS GOOD AGAIN. – Quick clarification: Good right now for me is defined by a 4-1 loss at home or better – Obviously the entire roster isn’t going to change overnight.

Smooth Jimmy’s Aktivity Korner (.angelfire.net)!

So since this is being framed as a straight up rebuild let’s assume that all prospects and Binghamton Senators are safe and sound and snug in their beds…

What I want to know is who are the 5 current roster players would most want to see protected moving forward and WHYYYYYYY *sob sob sob* WHYYYYYYY? Now, lets be creative here, I don’t want to see the same Kuba, Kovalev, Leclaire Cheechoo, Schubert list over and over. Besides I’m pretty sure Kovalev was put on waivers last season.

I’ll start:

1. Jason Spezza: Yeah he makes Eleventy Billion Dollareedoos a month (all Australian figures) but please climb aboard this house boat I built in the shape of Spezza’s face. It is a house boat that floats on a sea of first line centres being the new puck moving defensemen / jade monkey skull of hockey rarity. When this team emerges from the dark ages we will likely STILL need a first line pivot as even if Ottawa picks up a new blue chip C, it will still take time to get him or her prepared for their upcoming role (see: Tavares, Jonathan; see also: Upper Body Strength, tons of needed). As many tears it will produce from some clowns, we may be looking at our new captain here. I personally think it’s a role he has a good chance of thriving under and can finally silence those praying to teen Jesus (or equivalent) for more maturity from the Spezz Digressor. Onward Spezzboat.

2. Erik Karlsson: Sophomore undersized, all star defenseman second on team in points?  Sophomore undersized, all star defenseman second on team in points. (also of note: Everyone else’s list)

3. Milan Michalek: It’s called spending to the cap MINIMUM people. Seriously, if this team is going to be gutted and its assumed by Me-irre McGuire that Spezza will stay on as No.1 C, he is going to have some WHACKY(er) dance partners on the first line (Bobby Butler?, Corey Feldman?, Peter Ochocinco?) we need to have at least ONE dude who is a legit top 6 NHL player on the wing. Im saying this just because he has been awesome lately (all things considered) but for that AND also because he works quite hard and I don’t really think he has had a full opportunity to strut his stuff here in Ottawa. I also long for this team to have a semi-stable first line / don’t know anything about anything. Also, can we save any frigging face from the whole Heatley garbage dump trade?

4. Christobal Kelly: I choose to protect Kelly because he is so good at reading cue cards and is emerging as a cheaper/less frustrating Mike Fisher. Fisher is obviously prime trade bait at this point and a poster boy for an over paid underperforming core and will likely go and Kelly is having a great season (again, all things considered). He could also finally start the “Unckie Chris’ L’il Defensive Forward Mentorship Programme” for all the two way kids coming up….and Jason Spezza can hire someone to take notes for him during the “How to NOT turn over Peter Puck” seminar.

5. Daniel Alfredsson / Chris Phillips: Now that you have all stopped gasping…this was hard. The Right Honorable Daniel Alfredsson, for me, a huge fan…who finally bought my long coveted Daniel Alfredsson jersey THIS YEAR OF ALL YEARS is not a guy I WANT to see go at all. As a fan of Dear Leader, I acknowledge that he has done more for this franchise than any other player and picked up the slack in a post Daigleppointment Alexei Yashole world. That said, he is 38 and still carrying the team on his aging back…Pappa Alfie wants to win the cup somewhere else before for starts his training to be our next coach/GM? I didn’t hold it against Mats Sundin when he left the Barfs so I’m sure as hell not going to blame The Strawberry Blonde Admiral. Its up to you Pappa Alfie. He gets a half a spot here.
Phillips is the far more controversial choice here. So yes, we have 11 year old prospect Jared Cowbell waiting in the wings…but seriously, the Sens are being handed losses at a five goal margin in this Post-Volchenolyptic war zone… I don’t know if I could handle Phillips gone too. For the love of Pete, I would hope they’ll be another defensive defenseman or two coming up in the near future and there is an opportunity for Phillips to serve as mentor to these young pups at a cheaper than current rate . Also, we need a couple of dudes to stop Karlsson from being constantly smashied in the face area by what is becoming a seriously terrifying Boston Bruins squad. He also might serve as mentor for a seminar called “DON’T DO WHAT CHRIS PHILLIPS DOES” so he gets half a place here…btw Chris: YOU ARE BEING OUT CLASSED BY MATT CARKNER RIGHT NOW…YOURE A FORMER #!1 PICK IN A CONTRACT YEAR FOR CORN SAKES PICK IT UP.

Your thoughts? And though now that there are two more writers, I doubt we have anymore readers…but if you are reading this join in the comments sext-tion with your top five. For an added bit of fun add your hopes for Coach and GM of tthhhhhheeeeeee fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutuuuuuuuuuuuure

Conrad

It’s gon be hard for me to write an equally spirited 35,000 words to match James…

FIRST: I wanna say that I would trade Spezza if I could get a reasonable return. 1st line centers are rare, but not ultra rare. Certainly not so rare that you couldn’t pick one up with, say, a top five pick. I’d like to keep him around, but it’s tough to think of paying him $7M per to be hurt and frustrating. He’s already sorta proven that he can’t play near his ceiling without an elite winger, and he’s not gonna get one for a few years, so what’s the point? By the time the team is ready his contract with be up and he’ll prolly walk for nothing. May as well trade him soonish, while he’s young and his value is high(er) than wait until his arm breaks clean off. And as for Michalek: dude is going to literally shatter some day. I don’t want it to happen in a Sens uniform. Having said that, I think he makes $6M next year (eeeeeeeeiiiiish), so he’s not getting traded anywhere.

OKAY GET ON WITH IT:

Again, assuming that all non-roster players (Cowen, Lehner) are automatically protected…

Erik Karlsson: yup, he’s going to be one of those guys. He’s not Drew Doughty or Duncan Keith or anything, but he’ll be mister 1A someday, and I wouldn’t trade him for anything outside of a top five draft pick right now. I only wish we could freeze him in carbonite and enjoy his prime years when this team is ready to compete again, which is to say, when our world resembles Virtuosity.

Nick Foligno: first, because he’s young, and cheap, and exactly the kind of depth player we’ll want, and second because we’re not going to get anything for him anyway. He’s got a lot of years ahead of him, and one bum season (though what a shitty bum it is) isn’t enough for me to throw him to the wolverines.

Peter Regin: See Foligno, Nick. Cheap, young, not going to get anything in return. We can afford to wait and see how he pans out.

And…that’s it. I would trade every single other player if I could. Someone on Silver Seven pointed out that almost as exciting as the top five pick is how every subsequent round is also a high pick, and that’s as important to the drafting plan. If we could fill out those rounds – especially the second – I would trade away the Scotia Bank Seats if I had to.

Man, is it ever going to be weird when the All Star Game is in Ottawa next year.

James

I respectfully disagree with asspezzment. Its true that he has suffered from injury lately as is what tends to happen when one is hit from behind headfirst into the boards, but everyone so easily forgets that when Spezza DID come back from injury last season, he decided to become a scoring machine and basically got the team a spot in the playoffs. Also, seriously ONE win without him AND is tied for 5th for the team for scoring with almost 20 games less than most players…I hear what youre saying he hasn’t been a 90 point per year player without a 50 goal man on his wing i just dont think he is the total plug people make him out to be…If the Sens get that game changer that Melnyk so badly wants…I’d still like to see Spezza dishing them out. I dont know why I sent this rebuttle …

Conrad

It’s cool! I agree with you that he’s a good player. I just think it’s a bit like the Kessel situation in Toronto: I don’t want to pay someone prime money to have one brilliant play every game that results in a goal but the team still loses 4-1. If Spezz won’t be surrounded with the players he needs to make this team work, then I’d rather get a good return for him.

Anyone see this?

So…Murray denies reports, wants to remain GM, thinks team is one year away from contending, AKA cements his demise.

Marc

Re Murray article on the canoe: AHHH HELL NO!!! I’m done with his shawvillian shenanigans. Take the gig as an advisor and enjoy the senior (advisor) citizen discount. Your 2010-11 plan to force the other team to block your team’s shots (in lieu of the Sens blocking shots) was neither clever or…a frickin plan. On to the next…

THE DAY BEFORE THE TRADE DEADLINE

Everyone who is from Sweden raise your hand. Ok you guys can go to the locker room…and you are not the biggest losers.

If you giggle with an uncontrolled fury, you’re safe. You know where to go.

You had a bad season and share your name with a commonly used screwdriver. If you promise to play nice, you’re in.

Name rhymes with begin? You’re golden. The remaining “athletes”…beat it.

…James, if I can’t ride shotgun in the Spezza faced house boat, we’ll have a tough time being friends.

Conrad

I can’t wait until this team signs Sergei Federov.

James

Bryan Murray can you stop stirring the pot FOR A SECOND.

God, imagine this guy wasnt running a sports team but just giving servers

the HARDEST time about coupons at Swiss Chalet all the live long day?

At least he’d be bugging a few less people.

…also THIS just in from the Ottawa Citizen:

Area man working on Spezza head shaped houseboat. When pressed for comment the man said, “Wu Tang is for the children!” Details as they develop. Click the link below for an exclusive video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS181X4F3bw

Marc

Inspectah Deck had this to say about the Sens season: “They bomb atomically, Socrates’ philosophies and hypothesis can’t define how they be droppin these mockeries.”

Prianka

Conrad: Nothing says rebuilding like signing more aging Russians …. oh wait.

Murray seriously needs to just stop everything that he is doing. A day after everyone is happy about, well not Melnyk’s announcement, but at least happy about what Roy MacGregor wrote in the Globe and Mail about Murray becoming a sort of team consultant – he has to go and blow everything up again. Also, if there is any truth to Melnyk doing interviews for the GM position, Murray should maybe SHUT HIS GIANT PIE HOLE! Man, is his face going to be red when Melnyk announces a new GM at the end of the year ……. At this point, I don’t really care who it is. It’s time to get fresh blood and a new perspective in the GM office and the ol’ Bank. The only reason I can see Murray keeping his job is that he is telling the media that a one year rebuild is possible (must be one hell of a draft this year!), and since he is behind the table at the trade deadline, it makes sense for him to see this rebuild through.

Bryan Murray told the Team 1200 that Alfie is essentially untouchable, and that he has said time and time again that he wants to retire as a Senator. At this point, that should pretty much cement the will they or won’t they argument about retiring his jersey number. Considering these remarks, I will leave him off my list of the protected five.

King K: This one is pretty obvious. The kid is second in team scoring (only one point behind our Fearless Leader) and although he makes his share of defensive blunders, he is by and far the best D-man on the team. This kid is going to have an amazing career (maybe even a possible candidate for future captain, not after Alfie of course, but after that, who knows?). Taking his age into consideration, is this kid seriously only 20?! It is important that he is a key part of the rebuilding. He’s been with the big club for about two years now, and this year in a big way. He can help the new kids feel more comfortable so the young ‘uns don’t feel like they are coming into such a pre-established locker room.

Milan Michalek – I’ve complained about him this season as much as the next person, but these past few games he has shown how good he can be. Now that he is (finally!!) getting his skating legs back, it is amazing to see the power with which he drives to the net. On top of that, he makes a lot less than many top 6 players (his annual cap hit is $4.3M versus Spezza’s $7M) and James is right that it would be nice to save just a little face in the entire Heatley debacle.

Chris Neil – Neil gets on the ice and plays his heart out every night for this team. He fights guys to bring up team morale, sometimes even guys on our team (at least it’s during practice). At $2M, there is no way we can afford to get rid of this guy especially because his value is so intrinsic to Ottawa and his trade value wouldn’t be very high.

Jesse Winchester – On the third line with Neil, and another guy who plays his best game every night. I love seeing him (and Neil) battle for the pucks, skate hard and actually forecheck unlike some other lines that will go mentioned. These guys are the reason that Ottawa can boast any depth at all. His cap hit is a ridiculous 750K … that right, he’s not even over the million mark. He’s got another year left on this contract and he’s shown to be a promising player – it’s worth taking the risk and hopefully we’ll see his trade value rise over the next season.

Jason Spezza – He’s an oft-injured, unreliable center who makes $7M …. it’s just not worth trading him. If Clouston could stop juggling his lines for five minutes, Michalek and Spezza could develop some real chemistry. I would like to see Spezza leading the charge, when Alfie steps down. He is a really great player, WHEN he’s playing and I feel like the younger players will look up to him. I also like that he isn’t afraid to show a little displeasure towards the media, or the oftentimes fickle fans in Ottawa. Right now he is skating with the team, even if he is avoiding contract drills so who knows maybe we’ll have him back after the All Star break. Not that it would help us if he suddenly became an insane goal scoring machine (because that means finishing 10th or 11th in the East, instead of in the bottom five), but it would be nice to get a few on the board and avoid repeating last week’s performances against the Flyers and the Habs.

I would kill to be a fly on the wall in the ScotiaBankPlace offices these days …. let’s see if Murray says anything else upsetting to the media over the all star break.

Conrad

As if every Sens blog won’t already be all over this because it gives us something to talk about other than how terrible the team is, The Euge spoke up, and the Globe and Mail had one of those articles where they get info from “a source.”

Here’s what I like about the story:

Most obviously, that the team recognizes the situation they’re in and are moving to ensure the long-term success of the franchise rather than consider it an anomaly correctable with a signing or two. There was always a danger that Melnyk could consider this team two or three key pieces from contending again and try for another season of “Anything can happen in the playoffs.” That he stepped up to lend some clarity to the situation, and is willing to make the hard choices required when a team falls apart, is encouraging. He should be happy: his interview will do exactly what it was designed to, which is reassure a pissy fan base that the right decisions will be made.

Also, that Murray isn’t going to be kicked out of the organization. He was apparently asked to stay on one more year (meaning he didn’t necessarily want to), so I’m glad he won’t take all of the blame for this collapse. The Sens will retain his mind for drafting while moving in a new direction.

Lastly, the preliminary interviews for a replacement GM have already started. That, combined with the notion that they did some consultation with key fans and corporate sponsors, means that this has been brewing for a while. A rebuild requires methodical planning, and Melynk is saying all the right things.

What gives me pause is that it’s Melnyk doing all of the planning.

He’s already been accused of meddling too much in hockey operations, with some even going so far as to say signing Kovalev was his idea. (Who knows if that’s true.) But, to find out that this billionaire pharmaceuticals magnate is slaving night and day over a plan to bring a Stanley Cup to Ottawa…that sort of terrifies me. The last thing you want is a fan – even a very rich one who happens to own the team – drafting the plan for a team’s success.

Lastly, with the team happening to go off the rails this year, it looks like we might have just missed the chance to make Ottawa boy Stevie Yzerman our GM. It was probably never going to happen, and they couldn’t have known the team would be this bad, but seeing how much success Steve is having in Tampa and knowing that we’re in the market for a GM six months later stings a little.

Marc

In my opinion Melnyk believed that this team was, as you mentioned, 2 or 3 players away since they made it to the big dance. Acquiring 1 key player is a tall order. 3 is borderline impossible. We’ve all heard this at least a billion times: building from within and the draft is the way to go in the cap system. Signing past-their-prime Russians is the wrong way to build a winner.

While I am happy with Melknyk’s “announcement” that it’s time for a new plan/rebuild, I feel that they should have worked on this earlier. I know that it’s easy to say that in retrospect. My blind faith in this team made me believe that they could compete at a high level all season and surprise a few people along the way. I deleted the Hockey News app on my Blackberry and labeled everyone as haters.

We all know that the Eugenius gets heavily involved with this team. Wouldn’t you if you were a billionaire fan boy with your own pro franchise? Any owner has the right to make suggestions but the decisions should be left with the people he hired to run the team. I’m sure he had some heavy influence regarding the Kovalev signing. His lobbying for this forward surely served as a sobering lesson to Barbados man that his responsibility is money, and not hockey operations or scouting.

Best of luck to Murray in terms of trading some of the older assets to contending teams. A few of the current roster players can really help any team in a playoff spot.

It will be interesting watching the Sens until the end of the season. I say bring as many kids up from the farm as possible and let them get that experience. It can’t get any worse.

Pete

Yes, this is all good PR. What piques my interest is that does the ease with which Eugene assuage our fears mean the flaws in this team are obvious?

What if they aren’t? Okay this team stinks and most armchair pundits, myself included, can point to any number of obvious faults. Melnyk’s insistence on having the right plan in place is re-assuring yet at the same time it gives me a little too much of the “all the eggs in one basket” vibe. Murray had a plan for this off season and it didn’t take. Melnyk signed off and the team promptly went titanic. What type of interviews are being held when Murray is sticking around and the owner has a plan in place already? Why would any competent GM want this job if it’s just holding the strings or worse, to act as the fall guy. You can’t fire the owner.

The reassuring thing here is that the top five prospects in the draft are all similarly skilled and can help the sens. We don’t have to win the lottery.

Cause let’s face it, Ottawa isn’t winning anything right now.

Prianka

I think part of the reason that our fears are somewhat easily laid to rest, is that the Sens fans are just happy to know that something is going on, plans are being made and change is on the horizon. Before this announcement the last time we had heard from Melnyk, he was still talking about making a push for the playoffs.

Melnyk is making the right move by keeping Murray and Clouston in their positions for the remainder of the season. The way the Sens have been tanking, it doesn’t make sense to put a new coach behind the bench only to have the blame of this season placed on his shoulders as well. I also like the plan of Murray stepping away from the GM position, but being maintained as a consultant. He has brought in some good players in the draft the past few years. I don’t envy him the job of getting rid of our old Russians, Phillips, et al but I am really hoping that we keep Alfie.

Marc, I agree that we should play as many as the Bingo kids as possible. As long as they aren’t getting injured, it is great experience for them. There is no better conditioning for the big leagues than to play in them.

So far the only name that I have really heard thrown around for a new GM in Ottawa is TSN’s Pierre McGuire. I would be curious to know who else they are talking to for these preliminary interviews.