Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, “No question, (Murray)’s disappointed at how the team has fared this season, but he also thinks the Sens can quickly turn that around next season.”
The quote was pulled from Pierre Lebrun’s article detailing what Ottawa may do or intends to do at the deadline.
The short story is that Lebrun characterizes Ottawa has been classified as a “seller” at this year’s deadline. As he should since the Senators slot as one of the ten-worst teams in the NHL this season.
Normally under those circumstances, teams would be expected to parlay a number of their expendable vets for prospects, draft picks, salary relief or the sheer cathartic bliss of moving out some roster detritus, but as Lebrun illustrates, Ottawa’s veterans are immovable.
Ottawa’s roster composition is unique. This non-playoff team cannot move its veterans because: 1) the level of interest in Ottawa’s veteran players isn’t there **cough** Michalek, Phillips, Legwand **cough**; or 2) Ottawa simply isn’t interested in moving them because they fill a specific niche (ie. Chris Neil). Surround Erik Karlsson and Marc Methot with some mediocre blue liners and a bunch of good, but not great, young forwards,and you have the recipe for a playoff bubble team.
Throw in the limitations of a small budget and how to make the Senators better becomes a complicated puzzle for Bryan Murray to solve. I’m feel pretty comfortable saying that the answer is the addition of top six forward is not the answer.
Other News and Notes:
– According to today’s game notes, Senators goaltender Chris Driedger will wear the rare number ’32’ during the course of his promotion. He becomes only the third player in franchise history to use the number. The unforgettable Rob Ray and Daniel “the bandit” Berthiaume were the others.
– Neglected to mention this yesterday, but after Clarke MacArthur was felled by a concussion following his collision with Senators goaltender Robin Lehner, the Senators have called up Jean-Gabriel Pageau from Binghamton. It just wouldn’t have been the same had Pageau not appeared in a game versus Montreal.
– Over at ESPN Insider (paywall), Craig Custance had an article polling a number of NHL agents who disclosed the most common destinations that players include on their no-trade clause lists. Not surprisingly, a number of Canadian franchises ranked in the top five most common destinations. While Edmonton appeared at the top of the list, the Senators tied the Maple Leafs as the fifth-most common team. Obviously it’s a small number of respondents to the poll, but the inclusion of the Senators shouldn’t be surprising.
As Custance outlined, “smaller-market teams that can’t spend as much as their big-market counterparts are a tough sell. That hurts Ottawa. Factor in the Canadian media scrutiny and they get mentioned on a lot of lists.”
– Elliotte Friedman posted his latest ‘30 Thoughts‘ piece on Sportsnet and there are a few Senators-related items on there. None of them really provide fresh intel — ie. Karlsson campaigning to management for Methot’s return, Bryan Murray possibly returning for another season as GM — but news that Methot’s contract was done on Sunday night after
– The NCC held a press conference at 3:30 pm ET this afternoon to disclose the short-listed bids for the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats. As expected, the Senators were shortlisted for the process.
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