Much like an ill advised Glen Sather free agent signing or the arrival of Canada Day on July 1st, the “Ottawa should acquire Zenon Kenopka” recommendation from the Ottawa Sun has come around like summer clockwork.
Below is an article written in its entirety by Tim Baines and as is the norm, my comments are in bold…
Before Bryan Murray decides to go on a Canada Day spending spree, he’d better pull out a shortlist of recent Senators free-agent signings and wash down a couple of Tylenols with water.
Before Tim Baines decides to write an editorial piece criticizing the Ottawa Senators free agent signings, he’d better pull out a philosophy book and recognize that the organization has moved from its cut-and-paste ideology predicated on the signing of past-their-prime free agents to augment a complacent core. A core, that management felt was owed an opportunity to return to prominence based on the team’s 2007 Stanley Cup Finals appearance. Obviously that didn’t happen and we’re now in the midst of a rebuilding phase that management acknowledged will not culminate in the signing of UFAs from FA classes that make Sean Couturier’s max rep bench press result look strong by comparison.
At this juncture of the article, I’m already torn: on one hand, I already know where this is leading; on the other, I know if I stop now, I won’t be able to poke fun at the rest of it. Shall we continue?
Alex Kovalev. Sergei Gonchar.
Exhibit A. Exhibit B. Is Baines referring to these players as bad free agent signings? Or is this more of the same Sun xenophobia that we saw earlier this weekend when Don Brennan commented on Ottawa’s influx of Swedes?
Ouch! Painful to Eugene Melnyk’s wallet. And painful to Senators’ fans, who may have to take the patient approach rather than putting a Band-aid on a team that likely needs a couple of years to recharge and rebuild.
It sounds like Baines might grasp what the concept of a rebuild…
There certainly doesn’t appear to be a quick free-agent fix. Mediocrity will be made into millionaires as some NHL owners seek a missing piece of the puzzle and others look to get to the $48-million salary-cap basement level come July 1.
Getting warmer…
The Senators have $20 million or so to spare under the $64-million cap, but Melnyk won’t be looking to give a big chunk of that out to a guy like Brad Richards, who some team will give $50-55 million or so for seven or eight years.
Warmer…
Nor are the Senators likely to crack the piggybank for a stud defenceman like Kevin Bieksa or a proven veteran goalie like Dwayne Roloson.
Ignoring the use of the word ‘stud’ to describe Bieksa, he’s getting warmer…
While the Senators need scoring support everywhere, there is a guy available, a former Ottawa 67’s star, who would provide a big boost. Zenon Konopka. The guy can fight. He can hit. He can win faceoffs. He’s a leader. He’s a good guy on and off the ice.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
What happened here? Where did he go off the rails? How can someone acknowledge that fans may have to be patient instead of encouraging the organization to sign band-aid solutions and then conversely suggest that the team devalues their product further by signing a guy who can’t skate, score or sell tickets?
He’d be a third- or fourth-line centre here. It seems like a no-brainer, assuming the price is right.
If Kenopka is a third line center on Ottawa, then the team is worse than even the most insufferable cynics give them credit for. Talk about taking a step back – signing a veteran center whose best quality is dropping the mitts and winning faceoffs. It’s not enough to have the likes of Chris Neil, Zack Smith and Matt Carkner on the roster, the team needs more pugilists.
Even the need for another good faceoff man is mitigated somewhat by the team’s success at the dots during the regular season – the Senators had the 11th best faceoff success rate in the league at 50.8%.
And with such an influx of projected third and fourth liners in Binghamton who are on the cusp of making the parent club’s roster, it doesn’t make sense to stall the development of these prospects by inking some cost-effective journeyman to block their path. It’s for this reason that ignoring Kenopka on the FA market makes as much sense as shying away from expensive fodder like Brad Richards or…
Long-ago Senator Brooks Laich (dealt away for Peter Bondra) would be a good fit. But if he’s fetching four or five years at $3.5 million per season, it’s too pricey.
Laich inked a 6-year $27-million dollar extension this morning, I’d have to agree. That’s another Mike Fisher’esque contract.
Does Ottawa take a chance on injury-prone Tim Connolly? Or maybe a once-good Simon Gagne? Or inconsistent Michael Ryder? Maybe Ville Leino or Tomas Kopecky?
Where can I fill in the Scantron bubble for none of the above?
Baines answered himself with these statements, Connolly is the new Marc Savard, Simon Gagne was good but now he is not, Michael Ryder is inconsistent and Leino and Kopecky are both complimentary pieces for depth on an already established team. The Senators need more moves like Filatov – Low risk/high reward variety who have many controllable years left before hitting UFA and have plenty to prove before mining the riches soon to be doled out by over anxious owners a few July 1st from now.
I love the deal for Nikita Filatov, one of those unfulfilled potential guys, who could fit into a top-six forward spot. Don’t expect much from the Senators on July 1. Just sit back and watch other NHL teams get stupid. It’s good entertainment anyway.
Or sit back and watch the media get predictably stupid with suggestive signings like Konopka. It’s just as entertaining as beating a dead horse with a barber pole striped bat. It’s twice as fun.
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