Jason Smith signs with the Senators

For once the rumours held true… the Ottawa Senators have signed the hard-hitting, shot-blocking and endless character player, Jason Smith.

Some nay-sayers will point out that his ice-time was the lowest of the 6 Philly d-man during their playoff run last year but he did also play those 17 playoff games with 2 seperated shoulders.  He lead the team in blocked shots and hits for both the regular season and the playoffs. Smith has captained the Edmonton Oilers and more recently the Philadelphia Flyers.

Much like last year’s trades at the deadline, GM Murray has surrounded Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher and Chris Phillips with more leadership.  He was signed for $2.6 million per year for 2-years.

Hopefully Murray isn’t done yet, as we still need a 2nd line winger to play the opposite side of Nick Foligno, centered by Mike Fisher.

Good job GM Murray!

Ottawa Senators’ Post-July 1st+2 2008-09 Projected Lineup

Bryan Murray missed out on the big fish but he’s made a few minor moves, so far in the Free Agency Period:

1 – Jarko Ruutu was signed to a 3-year $3.9 million contract
2 – Alex Auld was signed to a 2-year $2.0 million contract
3 – Shean Donovan signed a 2-year (estimated) $1.5 million contract

I think Ruutu is a risky signing because as Tucker showed last year, the Shift Disturbers tend to fade out quickly after they reach a certain age (around 32 years old) which Ruutu hit this year. I am quite happy that he signed for considerably less than both Avery (around $4 million per year and Tucker around $3 million per year). The tandem of Neil-Fisher-Ruutu will be one of the best lines in hockey.

Alex Auld will provide a solid back-up presense to Gerber and based on his interview with the Team1200 this afternoon, I think he’ll also push Gerber for the #1 position in the Nation’s Capital. We all know that Gerber doesn’t like to be pushed, but in my opinion, Gerber has yet to live up to his $3.7 million per year contract, thus I hope Auld comes in and pushes Gerber hard in the last year of his contract.

Shean Donovan was easily a top-6 forward for the Senators in the playoffs last year and I would put him ahead of Spezza, Heatley, Fisher and Lapointe off last year’s roster. I’m really happy that he decided on accepting less money from Ottawa and that Murray rewarded him with a 2-year contract.

So that leaves us with the line combos for next year. With the return of Donovan and the addition of Ruutu up front, I’d expect the lines to look something like this (edited July 3rd after reading a few articles):

Alfredsson (4.5)-Spezza (7.0)-Heatley(7.5)
Foligno(1.0)-Fisher(5.0)-Ouellet(1.2)
Winchester(0.5)-Kelly(2.0)-McAmmond(1.0)
Ruutu(1.3)-Bass(0.6)-Donovan(0.75)

Total forwards: 32.35

I’m going to make a bold statement and say that Vermette and/or Meszaros will be packaged with something else for Dan Boyle (plus maybe Michel Ouellet).

On defense:

Phillips(3.5)-Volchenkov(2.5)
Boyle(6.5)-Lee(1.0)
Nycholat(0.5)-Schubert(1.2)
Carkner(0.5)

Total defense: 15.7

In goal:

Gerber(3.7)
Auld(1.0)

Total Goalies: 4.7

Total cap hit: 52.75 (plus minor league contracts) + Ray Emery’s buyout: ~550K and we should be under the cap but with very little room for error.

In my wildest dreams, we may be able to sign Brendan Shanahan or Markus Naslund for small contracts with incentives and obviously we wouldn’t have room for Boyle.

Keep the Focus on Who Plays for the Senators Right Now

So as history dictates, the Senators will most likely continue to build through the draft and through smart trades (Dany Heatley, Wade Redden).  I’ve tried over and over to think up of big free agent signings that the Senators made at the free agency period.  The biggest name I could come up with on the current roster: Martin Gerber.

Aside from the top-3 players that are free agents this year (Sundin, Hossa, Campbell) is any other player really that much better than our current top-4 forwards and top-3 defenseman?  Furthermore, many of these players were great values because of their looming free-agency.

Does anyone want to throw $5 million / year at Radim Vrbata or keep Mike Fisher?
How about $7.5 million / year for Brian Campbell in exchange for Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov?
Michael Ryder is due for a pay raise of his $3 million contract, that’s a Chris Kelly and Chris Neil
Marian Hossa, who started his career here, reportedly turned down a $7 million / year contract by the Penguins, so let’s pencil him at $8 million.

So, regardless of what the Senators do this free agency period, know that we have Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley, Mike Fisher, Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov on our team for $24 million next year.  I’d gladly take these 5 players before throwing $23 million at Vrbata, Campbell, Ryder and Hossa.

Plus I’d still have $1 million to sign Patrick Lalime.

Vermette Rumours

Year after year the name of Antoine Vermette pops up at the trade deadline and on July 1st. He is apparently always the coveted and “prized piece” of the trade. My question is why?

It just doesn’t make any sense. Vermette started his career on the 4th line with the Senators and in the next 6 years, he’s played everywhere from 2nd line wingers, 4th line centre. Each and every time that he’s been given an opportunity to take on a larger role with the team, his play proved that he is nothing more than an offensive 3rd line center that can kill penalties. Too often his plays end up in the corner and he rarely finishes off his checks. If the NHL tracked the amount of KM’s skated by each player like FIFA does, I’m sure he would lead both teams in distance skated… however on most nights that’s all he does. Skates around the ice aimlessly.

If a team is willing to offer Vermette (or Andrej Meszaros for that matter) a contract averaging $3.5 million/year, I’d see no point in the Senators matching the offer. Here is the break-down (non-official) for Offer Sheets:

Amount	Compensation Due
$863,156 or less	None
$863,156 – $1,307,811	3rd round pick
$1,307,811 – $2,615,623	2nd round pick
$2,615,623 – $3,923,434	1st and 3rd round pick
$3,923,434 – $5,231,246	1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick
$5,231,246 – $6,539,061	Two 1st’s, one 2nd, one 3rd round pick
$6,539,061 or more	Four 1st round picks

At $3.5 million /year the Sens would stand to receive a 1st and 3rd round pick in next year’s draft. One could only hope that the Offering team finishes poorly so the Sens have an outside shot at landing Tavarez or Hedman.

Brian McGrattan traded to Phoenix

Many Senators appeared to have lost a willingness to play for each last year.  A few of the more common rumours were:

1 – Emery, McGrattan and Spezza have setup a camp in the dressing room and are sticking together
2 – Spezza moved in with his girl friend at the recommendation of the Team to get away from Emery’s party lifestyle
3 – Heatley wanted to show that Spezza sucked by out-shinning and out-classing him at the World Juniors

With the buy-out of Emery’s contract and McGrattan’s trade to Phoenix, Spezza’s supposed “camp” will be short a few members next year.  Bryan Murray alluded many times to a “problem” that existed in the dressing room and he appears to have dealt with it, in Murray-fashion, quietly and internally to the team.

Many people, like myself, invest lots of time and money into the Ottawa Senators.  While everyone enjoys the odd garbage news tid-bit, deep down I don’t want to hear about Emery’s cola problem or Spezza’s wild nights downtown.  It devalues the product on ice and thus cheapens the value I receive for my time and money.

Here’s to hoping the problem was really the negative vibes thrown towards Spezza’s way by these 2 ass-clowns and next year the team will focus more on business as opposed to the extra-curricular activities all too often associated with hockey players.