Ottawa to sign Ryan Keller?

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=62562

http://www.eliteprospects.com/league.php?leagueid=SM-Liiga&season=2008

http://www.whl.ca/stats/player.php?id=23638

According to sources in Finland, the signing will be announced as early as Friday. Though not a big move, this is a great depth signing by Murray. Keller has had very good numbers throughout his career.

Here's a link in Finnish unfortunately:

http://www.jatkoaika.com/smliiga.php?sivu=uutiset&id=9623

Quite the playoffs this guy just had. Pretty strong depth move by Murray (although, people who know of him seem to think this is definitely an Ottawa deal).

The more decent players they can fill Bingo with and surround the prospects with the better. It would be nice to get the prospects into a winning team and winning culture.

I'm pretty sick of "depth" to be honest.

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm pretty sick of "depth" to be honest.

I'm sure you'd be singing a different tune if you were a Bingo Sens fan. That team is incredibly thin and this season losing guys like Bell, Lee, Elliott and Shannon showed that very clearly.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I'm sure you'd be singing a different tune if you were a Bingo Sens fan. That team is incredibly thin and this season losing guys like Bell, Lee, Elliott and Shannon showed that very clearly.

I don't know a thing about this guy, with the exception that he dominated in Finland (a long way from the NHL, I know) and had an awesome playoffs.

I'm not advocating that this guy get a chance in Ottawa, but why would he leave the Finnish league just to play in the AHL?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm pretty sick of "depth" to be honest.

I'm sure you'd be singing a different tune if you were a Bingo Sens fan. That team is incredibly thin and this season losing guys like Bell, Lee, Elliott and Shannon showed that very clearly.

Yeah, but I'm not. Besides, we've been hearing about "depth" for a long time now and it's a meaning has been misappropriated.

Depth should mean that you have a full roster of proven, can't miss NHLers in your line up and that you have NHL-ready players in the AHL. Not this BS "depth" that we keep hearing about.

He wouldn't. This will be your surprise of training camp right here.

Neely4Life wrote:He wouldn't. This will be your surprise of training camp right here.

Really? I sure hope so. By surprise you mean what exactly? Just that he makes the team? If so um...Yawn. If you mean he's a top six forward kind of surprise who'll put up impressive numbers then woohoo :##:

He might, this is basically like signing a kid right out of college, he just didnt have the luxury of being able to play out of jr.

In college, the boys the begin playing there are allowed to grow into men, jr they go in kids and come out boys basically. Playing over in Europe allowed this guy to grow into his body a bit, learn the game on a different level, and develope at the pace he was ment to develope at. The FEL is nothing to laugh at, Ive seen the game live, its good hockey with solid players.

Keller will have a legit shot at making the team out of camp and now you can basically put the fork into Comrie, because that's who he will replace. Just my 2 cents.

Neely4Life wrote:He might, this is basically like signing a kid right out of college, he just didnt have the luxury of being able to play out of jr.

In college, the boys the begin playing there are allowed to grow into men, jr they go in kids and come out boys basically. Playing over in Europe allowed this guy to grow into his body a bit, learn the game on a different level, and develope at the pace he was ment to develope at. The FEL is nothing to laugh at, Ive seen the game live, its good hockey with solid players.

Keller will have a legit shot at making the team out of camp and now you can basically put the fork into Comrie, because that's who he will replace. Just my 2 cents.

sweet, pack Comrie's bags then, we don't need him, cheaper, younger, and way more upside, plus he will be hungry to try and stick in the bigs.

Yup. This is as good as any kid out of college, probably better for the simple fact he has been playing against MEN, in a pro league, and dominating.

Im not going to pretend I know a lot about the guy, but this signing has the potential to have a decent payoff IMO. If you get a 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st line NHL player for nothing at the league minimum, it's a good signing. He obviously has offensive upside and if he plays well on the other side of the puck he could be a top 9 forward.

Hopefully he will surprise and be that Top 6 we need.

GO MURRAY GO!!!

I wouldn't put too many expectations on this guy just yet. I would expect this guy to be at training camp and be given every chance to make the team, but he would have to outplay a lot of guys to make the team. This really seems like an AHL depth move. He does sound a lot like Shannon though.

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm pretty sick of "depth" to be honest.

We haven't had depth. We've got a 10-meter diving area that's pretty good, and the remaining 40 meters is the shallow end. Personally, if this is a solid 3rd, possibly 2nd liner, why not.

wprager wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm pretty sick of "depth" to be honest.

We haven't had depth. We've got a 10-meter diving area that's pretty good, and the remaining 40 meters is the shallow end. Personally, if this is a solid 3rd, possibly 2nd liner, why not.

Yeah, for sure. IF he can make the team - still a big if - he would be fun to see playing with Chris Kelly and Winchester/Ruutu etc. I have no issues with this signing - especially if it's Forsberg who's telling Murray to do it.