Oldest expression in hockey: "Ya can't make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t!"
We have one tradable Chris Phillips and we want to keep him for JC. EriK the kid remains ours...
No one wants Kuba or Gonchar...
No one wants our goalies...
No one wants any of our forwards except Foligno and he's mine...Jaarko maybe...
No one wants our coach or GM...
No one wants to buy our team off Eugene...
So lets all just stick together and ride this one out. When you are down is when you make your biggest mistakes in life.
"Don't re-sign any expiring contracts...draft often, draft well!"
Thursday, January 6, 2011
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But if we aren't resigning them, why not trade them now for whatever you can get? (With the exception of Phillips for JC.)
ReplyDeleteStatus quo is demoralizing when we are sucking this hard.
I'd rather see BM dump a few guys for 2nd, 3rd, or 4th round picks at the deadline, bring up a few guys to give them some NHL experience for next year, keeping in mind that the bigger we tank, the higher our picks will be.
It sounds to me like Murray is poised to do something like this if we don't string a lot of wins together before the deadline...
@Oman:
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Let's maximize the return on those expiring contracts. BM may have a plan, but is he too "lame duck" to execute (the Eug has handcuffs on him)?
I'm not for "tanking" on purpose, but if it serves the purpose of evaluating the talent that we have in Bingo, then why not?
Phillips could go "rent" himself out for a few months, maybe have a shot at a Cup, and come back next year knowing that he added another prospect(s) to the organization. I'd call that "taking one for the team".
@Nik:
Any reasonable offer on anyone should be considered. The nucleus of this team has had its chance: it came close, but won't come close again.
My gut feel is that it things have become a little too comfortable for some of the guys that have been here awhile. And besides, do we want to be known as Ottawa - the city where hockey players go to end their careers ?
JL
You guys got it right. I'm thinking trade dead line, as sooner and we get scalped. This is all about next year, I'd start by telling #12, #9 and #11 they are the third line going into next year...
ReplyDeleteI like that thinking Nik. Except for keeping phillips. Do we really want to keep him around to "teach" players? I don't. I just want this team to be really bad really fast so we have 1-2 more years of really stinking the joint up before we start to be seriously competitive again.
ReplyDeletepg
pg:
ReplyDeletePhillips may be up to him...money and term? But age is showing everyone's warts!
We gotta get to the Trade Dead Line...
Phillips can go and not come back. We have Luke Richardson to teach the younglings.
ReplyDeleteWith parity being the way it is now, Murray (or his replacement) will have no problems unloading expiring contracts (Ruutu, Phillips, Kovalev, Shannon, Campoli). These players will make ideal playoff rentals for teams needing more depth.
"Don't re-sign any expiring contracts...draft often, draft well!"
Larr
If the coach and GM are leaving.. we don't know if Richardson would be back as a defensive coach on this team.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for keeping Phillips. He has gotten better and has been very good for this organization for a long time.
I say wait until the deadline. You get more value when teams are 'competing' for players.
Getting rid of just Kovalev, Kuba, Leclaire, Ruutu would be good enough. (although I like Ruutu). Get the young players to fill in those gaps and maybe give a push to the veterans to get them to actually play hockey again.
Try for the 'blue-chip' goaltender if you can. That will make a huge difference.
You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs (2nd oldest expression in hockey. Phillips has to go as he might be the most desirable asset we have. (I know that sounds crazy). You don't keep players around just to teach others how to play the game in a rebuild.
ReplyDeleteMy own personal rant is this: I really hope they don't fire Clouston. He doesn't deserve it, and anyone who watches the Sens on a regular basis knows this. It's time for Murray to stop finger pointing: it's old. Like him and his ideas. His record as Sens' gm speaks for itself, and will continue to for years to come, and it's ultimately us that pay the price for it. Time for him to resgn and let someone with a more vision, realism, and a better professional scouting staff take over.
pg
Tim Murray next GM.
ReplyDeleteBryan "assistant" GM (with full GM powers from behind the scenes) in an "advisory" role.
All but confirmed on Sensay.
Looks like a lot of chicken shit rammed down our throats for the next few years.
If another Murray takes over...well, that'll be VERY tough to swallow. Kind of like if they hired another sutter to take over as GM in calgary. Guilt by association. Not to mention he's the assistant GM and largely responsible for pro scouting- one of the major reasons BM has been such a miserable failure as GM.
ReplyDeletepg
That's a pile of shit. I can't see Murray in an advisory role Euge will either pull the plug soon or give him until 20 games into next year to see how some of his more promising picks pan out (Cowen).
ReplyDeleteThis season has been a catastrophe. Why the team couldn't build on last years playoff success, with supposedly a more healthy team, is a mystery. Michalek's Cheechoonian slide into mediocrity, Kovalev's suckage royale, even Gonchars fade, not to mention Regin and Foligno's dismal performances all contribute to this. Kuba - the assist machine has 4 in 25 games - wtf? Fisher is back to 35-40 pt pace. Something else has to be up - is it the coach has lost the room? or the training regimen is lacking?
I refuse to believe all these players could collectively suck as bad as they do.
The question is - what if Murray magically trades some of them for (thought to be) decent players and or picks and they still suck? Known good players seem to come here and decline...
Murray has some players in the system and next year looks(ed) promising. That's why I think Murray will be given more time. To see how some of them pan out. There will be more cap space for free agents, and I think Murray will be given the chance to spend for a couple of younger impact players. If he moves some of the deadweight then all the more (but I'm sure he won't be spending to the cap. If 10M comes off, then 5 will be spent and guys like Smith and Butler used instead).
Maybe a new coach would shake things up, but not for long term so Clouston will be here till the end of season. If a coach comes in it'll be an experienced one (like MacT). And there aren't too many kicking around.
Murray's rope is a little longer (that the coaches).
But all this changes with a one little old 11 game win streak. We saw one last year 'round this time and bandwagon came out all polished and shiny ...
A season of suck yeilding some high picks and talent is not necessarily a bad thing. Problem is it takes a couple of drafts to re-build and bring in talent. The Sens fanbase can't wait that long. It'll be a return to the Rod Bryden days when the team threatened relocation.
I want to be optimistic but fear the worst - Euge making a knee jerk reaction and firing GM and coach, and bringing in a genious like Mike Milbury.
Nik:
ReplyDeleteHere's one for the conspiracy file. Imagine that this whole thing goes way beyond hockey. Here is the scenario:
NHL hockey franchises are assets. They have value. If a team is on the downturn, revenues go down, and red ink starts to spill. The franchise value goes down.
The Eug is presently embroiled in divorce proceedings, with an eventual split in assets. The Eug has cashed out of biovail. That amount is defined (no swings in value due to stock fluctuations). The only thing in his portfolio that can swing significantly in value is the value of the Senators franchise. Maybe he is trying to lower its value temporarily?
Know it's not hockey talk, but what if? Call me crazy.
JL
BM doesn't need to stick around for us to see how his picks turn out: they're ours even when he's gone. BM has shat the bed for long enough. He better not be back in any capacity. His record speaks for itself. He's traded 2 1st and 2 2nd round picks in the past couple years: we won two playoff games and have campoli to show for it. The heatley, spezza, fisher, kovalev, gonchar, and kuba (off the top of my head) are all inexscusable, and other than kovalev all have limited or total movement clauses. 4 coaches have been behind the bench under his tenure. We have won TWO playoff games since he took over!! TWO!! What more does he have to do to get fired? Have sex with Eug's mom then not call the next day?
ReplyDeleteIf Melnyk is trying to lower the franchise's value, he certainly has the right man calling the shots.
pg
I had a long answer typed and lost it. Summary - I'd still give till 20 games next year. If I'm firing the coach I'm putting an experienced guy that's respected behind the bench. BTW I think the players have an extreme dislike for clouston and that's what's wrong. They hate playing for him. The lip service isn't showing on the ice. If I'm axing the GM, you almost have to get an experienced guy too, probably not Pierre Fn McGuire
ReplyDelete