Senators trying to trade Jason Smith?

504Heater wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:
They only produce at a clip that is worth thier money when Alfi is there, thats it. You dont need 3 all stars on a line for it to be effective, or even an elite line.

Here, this might be a better way of looking at it:

Mike Fisher had 32 points last year. Foligno and Shannon both started to produce when Clouston came in. Within that time frame we were 19-10-3 or whatever it was. Why? Because behind Jason Spezza was someone who could put the puck in when it mattered. The FFS line was supporting the CASH line and vice-versa. Money or no money, the top line will be shut down and made to look foolish if that's the defence's key every night. When they're made to play against 2 legitimate lines, good things start to happen, the ice opens up - and the team is successful.

I'm not going to stand here and say that Spezza and Heatley had good years - they were both terrible. But they had zero support behind them. If there's a one line team in the NHL that is successful, I'd love to know who and how. Unless you've got an all-world goaltender and D, you're dead in the water.

Neely4Life wrote:All you need to look at are guys like Cheechoo, Penner, Todd White (tell me he is a top 6 guy), Sedagutchi (sp?) so many wingers that are not of the elite, all-star or even top 6 guys who have all been made better by the players they play with.

People would have been all over Penner 3 years ago, now they wouldnt come within a mile of him. Why, because he was made better then he was. You dont need Alfi beside 14.5 million dollars of tallent.

Neely4Life wrote:All you need to look at are guys like Cheechoo, Penner, Todd White (tell me he is a top 6 guy), Sedagutchi (sp?) so many wingers that are not of the elite, all-star or even top 6 guys who have all been made better by the players they play with.

People would have been all over Penner 3 years ago, now they wouldnt come within a mile of him. Why, because he was made better then he was. You dont need Alfi beside 14.5 million dollars of tallent.

Neely4Life wrote:
If they dont score, they are a liability, thats the problem.

cash wrote:Funny story about Todd White: I came across a trade suggestion today that had us trading Spezza, Zubov, and a 2nd round pick to the Thrashers for White and their 1st
Their reasoning? Spezza had 73 points this year and so did White.
:^^^^:

504Heater wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:All you need to look at are guys like Cheechoo, Penner, Todd White (tell me he is a top 6 guy), Sedagutchi (sp?) so many wingers that are not of the elite, all-star or even top 6 guys who have all been made better by the players they play with.

People would have been all over Penner 3 years ago, now they wouldnt come within a mile of him. Why, because he was made better then he was. You dont need Alfi beside 14.5 million dollars of tallent.

Fine, so you can finally fill out the top 6 by putting Alfie with Fisher. Who moves up? Shannon or Foligno? I'm good either way. Foligno and Spezza are dynamite on the PP together, let's give them a shot. Shannon, Spezza and Heatley would be awesome.

We can kill 2 birds with one stone here.

cash wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:All you need to look at are guys like Cheechoo, Penner, Todd White (tell me he is a top 6 guy), Sedagutchi (sp?) so many wingers that are not of the elite, all-star or even top 6 guys who have all been made better by the players they play with.

People would have been all over Penner 3 years ago, now they wouldnt come within a mile of him. Why, because he was made better then he was. You dont need Alfi beside 14.5 million dollars of tallent.

Funny story about Todd White: I came across a trade suggestion today that had us trading Spezza, Zubov, and a 2nd round pick to the Thrashers for White and their 1st
Their reasoning? Spezza had 73 points this year and so did White.
:^^^^:

cash wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:
If they dont score, they are a liability, thats the problem.

That pretty much sums it up.

Neely4Life wrote:
5 on 5 Foligno was an absolute bust with Spezza. A perfect example.

cash wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:
If they dont score, they are a liability, thats the problem.

That pretty much sums it up.

504Heater wrote:

cash wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:
If they dont score, they are a liability, thats the problem.

That pretty much sums it up.

That's fair. No one's gonna argue with that, but instead of lamenting it, shouldn't Murray go to lengths to fix it? I certainly would. I wouldn't be crazy about trading Spezza or Heatley with the prime of their careers to come. I would put two wingers with Spezza who can take on the defensive responsibilities and score as well. Easier said than done I realize, but Mike Fisher on RW is a start. Move Heatley and Alfredsson down with Regin, find Spezza a winger who can play both sides of the puck - and put pressure on him to do the same.

I hate to bring this name up, but someone like Gary Roberts. A guy that plays a mean wing.

504Heater wrote:

cash wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:
If they dont score, they are a liability, thats the problem.

That pretty much sums it up.

That's fair. No one's gonna argue with that, but instead of lamenting it, shouldn't Murray go to lengths to fix it? I certainly would. I wouldn't be crazy about trading Spezza or Heatley with the prime of their careers to come. I would put two wingers with Spezza who can take on the defensive responsibilities and score as well. Easier said than done I realize, but Mike Fisher on RW is a start. Move Heatley and Alfredsson down with Regin, find Spezza a winger who can play both sides of the puck - and put pressure on him to do the same.

I hate to bring this name up, but someone like Gary Roberts. A guy that plays a mean wing.

504Heater wrote:

dennycrane wrote:Florida is a likely destination, IMO.

For whom or what?

cash wrote:
The difference between Gary Roberts at 43 and Donovan is what exactly?
It's not a bad idea, but I wouldn't expect us to start the season with Regin in between Heatley and Alfredsson. Maybe we could give Zubov a shot on the right side with Heatley and Spezza? Then we could have the FFS line stay together but move down the depth chart to 3rd and have a second line of Winchester-Regin-Alfredsson. Then we have a 4th line of Ruutu-Kelly-Bass/Donovan

It kind of makes the 1st line the biggest liability in the entire NHL, but at least they might score some goals....

cash wrote:Personally, I really want to see what Smith can do under Clouston.

cash wrote:Personally, I really want to see what Smith can do under Clouston.