Alright, hopefully you readers aren’t transcription’d out after publishing a series of interviews tonight by Bryan Murray, Pierre Dorion and Randy Lee because there’s still a ton of Senators information to get to tonight.
With the 2015 NHL Draft now in the books, there’s no better place to start than by looking at the insights of prognosticators who evaluated Ottawa’s draft.
ESPN Insider Corey Pronman had some positive insights to make on Ottawa’s draft giving it a B+ letter grade. (As an aside, it should be noted that Pronman’s draft analysis is behind a paywall requiring a subscription, so I don’t want to vulture too much of his content, but if you have not paid for an Insider subscription, do it. The work of Pronman and Craig Custance, in my opinion, is well worth the inexpensive investment and then when you consider other information from guys like baseball’s Keith Law, it’s a no-brainer for sports fans.)
“I would have preferred a few other players than Chabot or Gagne in the picks Ottawa took them, but if you look at the class in totality, there was a lot of talent added and diversity in the type of players the organization added to its system. The pipeline was weak coming into the weekend, and while it’s not back to being elite as the Ottawa system was a few years ago, this was a very nice boost.”
In his pre-draft rankings, Pronman had Thomas Chabot ranked as his 45th best prospect while he had Colin White a little higher as his 22nd overall pick.
In his draft review, Pronman spent a considerable portion of his write-up reflecting favorably upon Ottawa’s two first rounders. Although Pronman emphasized Thomas Chabot’s offensive skillset, Pronman noted that Chabot immediately becomes Ottawa’s best defensive product and someone who should not be thought of as a one-dimensional player. He has to “develop his defensive play, but he could be a two-way defenseman as a pro.”
Of White, he praised him as a “great two-way center” who can add some desperately needed depth to the center ice position within Ottawa’s system. In regards to Ottawa’s other picks, Pronman touted the skills of forwards Gabriel Gagne and Filip Chlapik, but pointed out that both players need work with their skating. Christian Wolanin received high praise for his skating and puck-moving skills, while Filip Ahl received compliments for his size, physicality and playmaking skills. Although Christian Jaros lacks a wow factor, his defensive ability relies is steady because of his smarts, gap control and ability to win battles.
Sticking with Pronman’s outlet, his colleague at ESPN, Scott Burnside, believed that Bryan Murray killed it on draft day. His assessment summed up the Senators’ weekend quite nicely:
“GM Bryan Murray did a masterful job resolving his three-headed goalie problem by acquiring the 21st overall pick in the draft from his nephew, Sabres GM Tim Murray. The Sens picked up center Colin White with the pick and also shed David Legwand’s unwieldy $3.5 million contract ($3 million cap hit). The only downside is if Lehner turns out to be another Ben Bishop (who once played for the Senators) and Andrew Hammond, who essentially took Lehner’s job in Ottawa as goaltender of the future, turns out to be a flash in the pan.”
Sports Illustrated was also pretty complimentary of the Senators’ draft, giving them a ‘B+’ grade while The Hockey News listed Filip Ahl as the Senators’ sleeper pick of the draft.
Chris Peters of CBS Sports was not particularly keen on Ottawa’s two selections — giving the selection of Thomas Chabot a ‘C’ letter grade and Colin White a ‘B’. Peters believes Chabot was somewhat of a risky pick because of the mixed opinions of his game. Peters acknowledged that there exciting elements to Chabot as a prospect, but “reports suggesting his lack of size and strength could be an issue.”
Personally, I think it’s pretty interesting to see scouting reports play up Chabot’s size and strength issues when Senators assistant GM Pierre Dorion spoke about these issues positively in his interview on TSN 1200 this past weekend.
“Thomas Chabot will be a top four defenceman and he’s got a lot of room and potential to grow. He’s only, I think 180 lbs. I forget the exact number, but when he came to Ottawa – both him and White were in Ottawa about ten days ago – they were two guys that their potential, especially on Chabot, there was a lot of physical growth and physical potential. So we knew Thomas Chabot was already strong. At 25 pounds (heavier), which he’ll be able to play (at) in the way he skates, he’ll be even stronger and be able to be not a physical defenceman but a contain guy in his own end.”
Like Pronman, Peters seems to be more comfortable projecting White as a safer pick — giving him a ‘B’ letter grade — because he has a strong two-way game. He believed White’s production suffered mostly because of the injuries — wrist and mononucleosis — which in turn caused him to slide in the draft from where early preseason forecasts projected him to be.
Over at Yahoo! Sports‘ ‘Puck Daddy’ blog, Ryan Lambert awarded the Senators with a ‘C+’ grade despite acknowledging that the Senators “got two pretty solid prospects in the first round.” The reason for Ottawa’s average grade? Lambert’s in the Don Brennan camp that believes the Robin Lehner trade will come back to haunt the Senators.
Free Agency Rumblings
Elliotte Friedman’s sobering ’30 Thoughts’ column contained a few Senators-related items regarding free agency.
6. Hard to believe the Bruins are done.
They re-signed Adam McQuaid, who took four years (instead of an originally asked-for five) to stay. McQuaid had some real interest in the market — with Arizona, Edmonton and Ottawa among those sniffing around. After Boston got him back, the Coyotes traded for Nicklas Grossmann and the Oilers acquired Eric Gryba. Not sure they were there at the end, but the Albertans looked at Grossmann,too.
Edmonton was not willing to take on Senator money (probably Colin Greening) which is why it didn’t acquire Robin Lehner.
In consideration of the Senators trading a right defenceman in Eric Gryba, I suppose it’s possible for the Senators to have shown interest in a quote/unquote proven defenceman who has actually played in some NHL games, but if that’s the route they go in, be thankful that Adam McQuaid is off the market. His four-year contract that carries a $2.75 million cap hit is completely unpalatable for a “defensive defenceman” who struggles in a game that is increasingly becoming more and more puck-possession oriented. McQuaid has been a sub-50% Corsi guy in four of his six NHL seasons and a negative CF%Rel player in all of them.
Ah well, McQuaid’s not Ottawa’s problem. He’s just one in a series of terrible decisions that will plague the Bruins moving forward. As I joked on Twitter today, there’s a reason why Bruins fans are quietly wondering if Ulf Samuelsson can somehow also end Cam Neely’s career as an NHL executive.
Friedman wasn’t done writing Ottawa however.
7. Curious to see if Calgary or Ottawa makes a free-agent poke at Chris Stewart. Both teams pursued him when available in Buffalo. The Flames are looking for some sandpaper, and the Senators have liked him for a while.
Sure, Friedman’s musing here and it’s completely possible that whatever interest the Senators had in Stewart has dissipated. Even though the organization has gone to some lengths to reiterate its desire to add another top six forward, I hope that Stewart isn’t viewed positively as a potential solution.
Obviously the situation is somewhat different in the sense that the Senators would only have to spend money instead of giving up assets to acquire him via trade, but it would be a shame to see the Senators clear out unwanted salary up front only to turn around and spend some of that money on a player who has tools but isn’t productive enough to justify his shortcomings as a player.
I would prefer to the see the organization put its money to better use and exhaust its internal options before turning to a guy like Stewart.
According to today’s Bruce Garrioch article, “Murray doesn’t believe he’ll find the elusive top six forward he’s been trying to get, partially because the market, but mostly because he’d like to get deals done with RFA’s Mike Hoffman and Alex Chiasson before deciding what’s next.”
I don’t necessarily have a problem with that because the free agent market is all kinds of terrible, although it seems kind of odd for the organization to focus on getting its own house in order before getting help outside the organization. The organization has the wherewithal to project its budget using projectable salaries for guys like Hoffman and Chiasson, so it should have some idea of how much wiggle room it has when it comes to free agents.
Mind you, with Murray hinting that clearing salary “probably opens the door for one more move later on if we find it,” the Senators once again are teasing fans with the “we may spend some money down the road” sales pitch.
Development Camp Roster
The Senators released their 2015 development camp roster. Conspicuously absent from the list of attendees is Shane Prince, but the Senators looks good at the goaltending position with Matt O’Connor, Marcus Hogberg and Chris Driedger in attendance.
Qualifying Offers
With today being the last day for NHL organizations to submit qualifying offers to their restricted free agents — thereby ensuring that they would retain their rights — the Senators qualified Mike Hoffman, Alex Chiasson, Shane Prince and Cole Schneider as RFAs.
Senators Table Offer to Condra?
The Senators have reportedly tabled another contract offer to impending unrestricted free agent Erik Condra. Per Bruce Garrioch, “no details of the offer were given but it’s believed Condra, who made $1.35 million last season, is seeking a three-year deal.”
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