Last week’s Andrew Hammond signing provided an unexpected boost to what had developed into an incredibly stale time for Senators fans.
Not that it’s unexpected. Waiting around for the season to end so that the NHL Awards and NHL Draft can get underway signalling the unofficial start to the offseason can be difficult. I mean, sure, watching entertaining hockey without being emotionally invested in the outcome isn’t hard, but when you’re while mixing in some Pavlovian responses – averted eyes from the television screen, muttering a curse – to each and every time Jakob Silfverberg’s steps on the ice for a shift in the Western Conference Final, it’s a little more difficult than it should be.
Fortunately, the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch spent some time talking to Senators general manager Bryan Murray about how the offseason is shaping up and ol’ Boo Boo outlined many of the areas of interest that should keep Murray busy. Most importantly, it gives me something to lazily piggyback and write about.
On the surface, Garrioch lists the following areas as important ones for the Senators to focus on: trading a goaltender; adding a top six forward; getting each of the RFAs under contract; getting players healthy; and signing head coach Dave Cameron to an extension.
By far the most interesting nugget of information pertained to the Senators’ goaltending situation because Murray admitted that “five or six teams have called and there has been some discussion and there will continue to be. We’ll see what comes of it.”
It would not be an offseason without Senators management leaking information to the local media in hopes that the revelation gets picked up elsewhere by other news aggregating websites and disseminates the information in hopes of spurring market interest in one of its player(s).
It’s patented Murray behaviour. The bigger the market for a Robin Lehner or a Craig Anderson, the bigger return, so if he can help artificially inflate it by revealing the interest around the league – whether he’s being truthful or not – then great. I do have to admit that Murray’s revelation fills me with a bit of doubt. Maybe the Senators are not necessarily getting the kind of interest that they believed would be there once Andrew Hammond inked a three-year extension. Hopefully they are, but maybe they’re not.
Garrioch listed the Sabres, Sharks and Oilers as a few of the likely suitors while speculating that the Blues and Flames may have made inquiries as well. Looking at the Stars’ situation with Kari Lehtonen and Jhonas Enroth headed to unrestricted free agency, maybe they’re a dark horse possibility in all of this. The same can probably be said of the Minnesota Wild should Devan Dubnyk elect to test free agency as well.
With a goaltender on the way out, it seems natural that he would be packaged with a few other assets to bring in the top six forward that this organization so desperately covets. I have my own reservations this kind of move, but it has nothing to do with giving up the assets to acquire a good player. It has to do with the opportunity cost of moving these assets to address a position that likely represents a moderate upgrade at the forward position where the Senators are not really that weak.
Judging by how the Senators utilized Mike Hoffman down the stretch, it’s fairly obvious that he’s likely the candidate the Senators would like to insulate or bump down in the pecking order so that he can play easier minutes. Rather than maximize his output or that of his linemates, the organization would prefer to minimize his defensive miscues and downside to his game. Now maybe the Senators can acquire someone who is better than Hoffman, but the question remains: how much will this player out-produce what Hoffman can bring to the table if he plays in a top six capacity? And will that difference be enough to justify the enormous price tag when the opportunity cost could be used to address a more glaring area of need like the team’s blue line?
Admittedly, the argument against trading for a top six forward is dependent on who the Senators acquire, but it’s not often teams are looking to give these kinds of players away.
Although Garrioch lists the RFAs, Cameron’s extension and health of players like Borowiecki and Cowen as important, they’re not really. Borowiecki and Cowen aren’t very good and Cameron’s extension is a formality. Unless the RFAs test the offer sheet market and put Ottawa’s strict budget restrictions at risk, their contracts should get done in short order too.
What really is important is Ottawa’s ability to shed deadweight contracts for redundant veterans who are overpaid relative to their on-ice contributions. If the organization should exhaust whatever markets exist for some of these veteran players and in the event that they don’t exist, buy the players out. Players like Colin Greening, Chris Phillips, Chris Neil and David Legwand should be moved and if there’s a market for Milan Michalek, throw him into the mix as well.
These savings can be put to far better use by reallocating payroll and applying it to the team’s RFAs or to whatever options may be available to the team in unrestricted free agency. Now maybe that doesn’t vibe with the organization’s “we spend smartly” claims, but nobody should really care about those claims if the organization can act smartly to rid themselves of some bad contracts that block better young players from being a part of this roster moving forward because next season, you can’t expect these veteran players to conveniently get hurt again.
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