I held off on commenting on this but in his Sunday column that was published yesterday, Bruce Garrioch put forth the idea that former Senator Chris Kelly could be brought back into the fold as an unrestricted free agent.
The Bruins will have a decision to make on C Chris Kelly sometime this season. An alternate captain, he’s a UFA July 1 and there’s been speculation in Boston he’ll be signed to a contract extension. There haven’t been any talks with the Bruins yet. The Senators will be keeping a close eye on the situation. Kelly makes his off-season home in Ottawa and it would only make sense for the Senators to try to bring him back if he’s available.
I would never dismiss the notion that Kelly would want to come back. After all, this is a player who still lives in the city and who spent his day with the Cup in Ottawa – taking it to various locations like CHEO. Similarly, Ottawa’s an attractive team to play for right now: they’re starting to bear the fruit of some good draft strategies and they appear to be a team on the upswing. Nevertheless, the Senators are in a position in which they don’t really need him. In case you may have noticed, this is a team that has an inordinate number of effective third and fourth line guys on their roster. The emergence and effectiveness (and cost-effeciency) of players like Zack Smith, Nick Foligno, Peter Regin, Kaspars Daugavins and potentially Mika Zibanejad next season, make a prospective Kelly free agent signing seem unnecessary. That’s not to slight Kelly or the season that he’s having; it’s more of an indictment of how I would prefer to see the Senators allocate their payroll. Rather than overpay a third line center who’s having a career offensive season, I’d prefer to see the team use that money to bring in a top six forward or a top four defenceman via free agency or trade.
The Production Line Interested in Alex Auld
Disappointed with Ken Holland’s unwillingness to ever make trades and Ty Conklin’s play, the guys from The Production Line blog asked me what it would take to acquire Alex Auld.
Elliotte Friedman Shares Three Thoughts on the Senators
From yesterday’s 30 Thoughts blog:
5. The Senators are being understandably tight-lipped about Patrick Wiercioch’s injuries (the defenceman was hit in the neck by a puck in an AHL game last Friday). When we do find out more, sounds like we’re going to learn that Binghamton trainer Glen Kinney is a real hero in this story. Patrick, we hope you make a full recovery.
and…
17. Kevin Bieksa said he went to referee Kevin Pollock on Saturday night, asking him to watch Chris Neil. The Canucks defenceman claimed Pollock told him “they were good friends and he knows him well and he won’t cross the line.” Had a good debate with the NHL about this. I wanted Pollock’s reaction, but a couple of league officials said no because “what is said on the ice should stay on the ice.” So, I went to a few “independents.” Most of them agreed with the league.
and…
28. Claude Julien told NESN’s Joe Haggerty that the Bruins were working hard to keep Joe Corvo’s confidence up. In Ottawa, Bryan Murray basically banned Corvo from watching video because he used to beat himself up so badly.
That’s an interesting note about Corvo. If he’s so self-conscious, I’m sure all of those “Uh-oh” Joe Corvo barbs from Don Brennan never got to him at all…
SenatorsExtra.com Prediction Panel
Here are the panel’s predictions for tonight’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.
Craig Anderson’s New Heritage Mask
On Facebook, the Senators goalie revealed a few photos of his gorgeous new heritage mask yesterday. I’ve posted images of its below:
Photo of the (Yester)Day
Obviously, Filip Kuba is a New York Giants fan. Here’s a picture of the defenceman celebrating Sunday night’s Tony Romo safety.
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