It’s every fans’ least favourite time of the year. It’s the day after your team gets eliminated from the playoffs and all the players are parting ways. Unfortunately some players, such as Ray Emery and Joe Corvo (at the deadline) also take their parting shots. However, here are some thoughts for you armchair GMs in Ottawa.
Even though Emery professed that he was not a ‘cancer’ in the dressing room, anyone that loosely followed the Ottawa Senators this year knows that he was a major distraction to his teammates. Rayzor even had the nerve to tell reporters that he was not interested in speaking and left his teammates to answer questions meant for him. His teammates weren’t so positive on the situation: [paraphrased] “At the end of the year, he started playing hard and working hard,” said Dany Heatley. So was he not working hard before? Enjoy your money Ray, you’ll be nothing more than a cash grab in the eyes of Sens fans.
Wade Redden once again dodged questions about him returning next year. He knows, GM Murray knows and we all know that he will not be playing with Sens Army next year. He was a good member of this community and played with class for the 11 seasons he was here but it’s time to move on for the good of both the organization and Wade. For all of you that think he should be signed at a discounted price, consider this:
Tom Preissing, Brian Pothier and Joe Corvo were all chased out of town because they were about/or they were being paid $2.5 million per year while being 5th or 6th defenseman on the team. Neither of them played on the PK, and were 1B options on the PP.
The same can be said for Redden next year. Even at $3.5 million, he’s not going to play on the PK in front Phillips-Volchenkov or Schubert-Commodore (or some other defensive stall worth that we sign). I can see the Sens pushing hard for Meszaros and/or Lee to get more ice-time with the big boys on the PP and probably Schubert for his ridiculously strong shot. If we re-sign Stillman, he’ll probably continue to man the point on the PP too. So Redden’s specialty team time will probably drop too. So, paying a guy that squeaks on the Specialty Teams once in a while just doesn’t make any sense. Especially at $3.5+ million. Thanks for the good times Wade.
The veterans that were brought in at the trade deadline are all Unrestricted Free Agents this summer. While Mike Commodore and Cory Stillman have expressed the possibilities of re-signing with Ottawa, Martin Lapointe and his $2.4 million contract appears to be heading elsewhere. If Commodore and Stillman can be re-signed for roughly $3.5 million I think GM Murray has to bring these guys back for another run next year. This will also negate the fact that we traded Joe Corvo and Patrick Eaves essentially for nothing. For the record, Martin Lapointe was traded for a 6th rounder, so if walks away from contracts it’s not as much of a loss.
What to do with the young guns? Nick Foligno and Cody Bass definitely earned their way on the NHL roster next year. Will Bass continue his 4th line center duties or will he replace Chris Neil? Nick Foligno was dynamite in the playoffs and will slot in nicely alongside Mike Fisher and possibly Shean Donovan should the later be re-signed. Brian Lee will be playing on the blue line next year with the Senators and he will probably log many of the minutes freed up with the departure of Redden.
Here’s a lineup that I’d love to see next year:
Forwards:
Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson
Foligno-Fisher-Stillman
Matt Cooke -Kelly-Donovan
Schubert-Bass-McAmmond
Defensive pairings:
Phillips-Lee
Volchenkov-Commodore
Meszaros- Alexei Semenov
Power Play 1:
Alfredsson-Spezza-Heatley
Stillman-Meszaros
Power Play 2:
Foligno-Fisher-McAmmond
Schubert-Lee
Penalty Kill 1:
Cooke-Kelly
Phillips-Volchenkov
Penalty Kill 2:
Bass-Fisher
Commodore-Schubert
Goalies:
Martin Gerber
Brian Elliot
