Whitney? What are the trade deadline options?

So there's a lot of talk about Ray Whitney and alot of teams right now, but it seems like the talk regarding Ottawa is gaining some momentum. What does everybody think? He'd definitely add some nice scoring touch on a 2nd line, and it seems like this guy always shows up for the playoffs...

Thoughts?

Any relation to The Wizard?

I'd love to have the guy, I'm just nervous about getting into a bidding war, the last thing we need is to give up a good pick/prospect for a rental.

With that being said, he would look awesome on our second line, and would fit quite well into one of the PP units.

The $$ is still a problem, it will be tough to make it work.

Two things: 1. Ottawa and Carolina have a good relationship, having done business before. 2. Murray likes to go after UFA's (Commodore, Stillman, Comrie x2).

Whitney to Ottawa was my guess, but I am now thinking it is unlikely to happen. Team is playing very well, chemistry is there, how does adding Whitney effect the team? What's the cost? Where does he lineup? Who gets the shaft?

SDH89 wrote:I'd love to have the guy, I'm just nervous about getting into a bidding war, the last thing we need is to give up a good pick/prospect for a rental.

With that being said, he would look awesome on our second line, and would fit quite well into one of the PP units.

The $$ is still a problem, it will be tough to make it work.

I guess you need to decide if you want Kelly on your 3rd or 4th line and Picard in the pressbox or The Wizard on your 2nd or 1st line.

Tough call there.

Whitney will be viewed as the consolation prize to the teams who miss out on / aren't in a position to bid on Kovalchuk. There will be many of them, and the bidding for Whitney will probably be reasonably fierce as a result. A 2nd and Lee -- something like that might be enough, I dunno.

I'd have a hard time giving up a 2nd, tho'. Our last three 2nd round picks are Wiercioch, Lehner, and Silfverberg. There are a lot of good players still lurking around in the 31-60 spots in the draft, and BM has a knack for picking them out. And whatever his issues, Lee is not a throwaway piece either -- he was actually pretty good for us in the dozen or so games he's played this year. If he was on a one-way deal, he may well have pushed Campoli/Picard off of the ice at times this year.

The real question is, are we a Ray Whitney away from a real shot at the Cup this year? I dunno. After WAS, the East is beatable, for sure -- but we definitely weren't world beaters before this month. Is this the real Sens team we're seeing, or a flash in the pan? And how much pressure does BM/Melnyk feel to squeeze as many playoff games out of this team as we can, in order to make up for lost revenue this year? Would we give up a second just to make sure we go 2/3 round deep?

We've got about 10 games before the trade deadline to figure all of that stuff out.

rooneypoo wrote:Whitney will be viewed as the consolation prize to the teams who miss out on / aren't in a position to bid on Kovalchuk. There will be many of them, and the bidding for Whitney will probably be reasonably fierce as a result. A 2nd and Lee -- something like that might be enough, I dunno.

I'd have a hard time giving up a 2nd, tho'. Our last three 2nd round picks are Wiercioch, Lehner, and Silfverberg. There are a lot of good players still lurking around in the 31-60 spots in the draft, and BM has a knack for picking them out. And whatever his issues, Lee is not a throwaway piece either -- he was actually pretty good for us in the dozen or so games he's played this year. If he was on a one-way deal, he may well have pushed Campoli/Picard off of the ice at times this year.

The real question is, are we a Ray Whitney away from a real shot at the Cup this year? I dunno. After WAS, the East is beatable, for sure -- but we definitely weren't world beaters before this month. Is this the real Sens team we're seeing, or a flash in the pan? And how much pressure does BM/Melnyk feel to squeeze as many playoff games out of this team as we can, in order to make up for lost revenue this year? Would we give up a second just to make sure we go 2/3 round deep?

We've got about 10 games before the trade deadline to figure all of that stuff out.

So does Bryan Murray. But we're better at that stuff.

I don't think we're a Ray Whitney away from the Cup/deep playoff run.

Nor do I think we should be trading young players for 37 year olds at this stage in the game.

rooneypoo wrote:Whitney will be viewed as the consolation prize to the teams who miss out on / aren't in a position to bid on Kovalchuk. There will be many of them, and the bidding for Whitney will probably be reasonably fierce as a result. A 2nd and Lee -- something like that might be enough, I dunno.

I'd have a hard time giving up a 2nd, tho'. Our last three 2nd round picks are Wiercioch, Lehner, and Silfverberg. There are a lot of good players still lurking around in the 31-60 spots in the draft, and BM has a knack for picking them out. And whatever his issues, Lee is not a throwaway piece either -- he was actually pretty good for us in the dozen or so games he's played this year. If he was on a one-way deal, he may well have pushed Campoli/Picard off of the ice at times this year.

The real question is, are we a Ray Whitney away from a real shot at the Cup this year? I dunno. After WAS, the East is beatable, for sure -- but we definitely weren't world beaters before this month. Is this the real Sens team we're seeing, or a flash in the pan? And how much pressure does BM/Melnyk feel to squeeze as many playoff games out of this team as we can, in order to make up for lost revenue this year? Would we give up a second just to make sure we go 2/3 round deep?

We've got about 10 games before the trade deadline to figure all of that stuff out.

To go 2 or 3 rounds deep is easily worth a 2nd in revenue alone I'd say. It's quite optimistic though I think. Everything looks great right now with the team rocking, but they've also looked equally bad.

In short to answer your question, I would do that yes.

Hoags wrote:I don't think we're a Ray Whitney away from the Cup/deep playoff run.

Nor do I think we should be trading young players for 37 year olds at this stage in the game.

Let's say we had Whitney would you say that we're a Ryan Shannon or Chris Kelly and a Brian Lee and a pick away from a Cup run?

hemlock wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:Whitney will be viewed as the consolation prize to the teams who miss out on / aren't in a position to bid on Kovalchuk. There will be many of them, and the bidding for Whitney will probably be reasonably fierce as a result. A 2nd and Lee -- something like that might be enough, I dunno.

I'd have a hard time giving up a 2nd, tho'. Our last three 2nd round picks are Wiercioch, Lehner, and Silfverberg. There are a lot of good players still lurking around in the 31-60 spots in the draft, and BM has a knack for picking them out. And whatever his issues, Lee is not a throwaway piece either -- he was actually pretty good for us in the dozen or so games he's played this year. If he was on a one-way deal, he may well have pushed Campoli/Picard off of the ice at times this year.

The real question is, are we a Ray Whitney away from a real shot at the Cup this year? I dunno. After WAS, the East is beatable, for sure -- but we definitely weren't world beaters before this month. Is this the real Sens team we're seeing, or a flash in the pan? And how much pressure does BM/Melnyk feel to squeeze as many playoff games out of this team as we can, in order to make up for lost revenue this year? Would we give up a second just to make sure we go 2/3 round deep?

We've got about 10 games before the trade deadline to figure all of that stuff out.

To go 2 or 3 rounds deep is easily worth a 2nd in revenue alone I'd say. It's quite optimistic though I think. Everything looks great right now with the team rocking, but they've also looked equally bad.

In short to answer your question, I would do that yes.

From a revenue perspective, yes; from a team development perspective, probably not.

Whether or not we decide to be a buyer this March will have as much to do with the bottom line for Melnyk as it does the future development of this team. One smallish move probably wouldn't hurt us too much -- but a 2nd + Lee is not exactly small.

Tough call.

rooneypoo wrote:

hemlock wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:Whitney will be viewed as the consolation prize to the teams who miss out on / aren't in a position to bid on Kovalchuk. There will be many of them, and the bidding for Whitney will probably be reasonably fierce as a result. A 2nd and Lee -- something like that might be enough, I dunno.

I'd have a hard time giving up a 2nd, tho'. Our last three 2nd round picks are Wiercioch, Lehner, and Silfverberg. There are a lot of good players still lurking around in the 31-60 spots in the draft, and BM has a knack for picking them out. And whatever his issues, Lee is not a throwaway piece either -- he was actually pretty good for us in the dozen or so games he's played this year. If he was on a one-way deal, he may well have pushed Campoli/Picard off of the ice at times this year.

The real question is, are we a Ray Whitney away from a real shot at the Cup this year? I dunno. After WAS, the East is beatable, for sure -- but we definitely weren't world beaters before this month. Is this the real Sens team we're seeing, or a flash in the pan? And how much pressure does BM/Melnyk feel to squeeze as many playoff games out of this team as we can, in order to make up for lost revenue this year? Would we give up a second just to make sure we go 2/3 round deep?

We've got about 10 games before the trade deadline to figure all of that stuff out.

To go 2 or 3 rounds deep is easily worth a 2nd in revenue alone I'd say. It's quite optimistic though I think. Everything looks great right now with the team rocking, but they've also looked equally bad.

In short to answer your question, I would do that yes.

From a revenue perspective, yes; from a team development perspective, probably not.

Whether or not we decide to be a buyer this March will have as much to do with the bottom line for Melnyk as it does the future development of this team. One smallish move probably wouldn't hurt us too much -- but a 2nd + Lee is not exactly small.

Tough call.

If it had to be done, I'd prefer to move one of Picard or Campoli because of the one way nature of their deals. All things being equal, I'd much prefer to have a two way deal for flexibility. Melnyk may see this as an oppty to make a run in the playoffs and make some extra dollars although he's never been chincy (sp?) with the chequebook.

I'd have to say it's worth it. Also, making a commitment like that could go a long way to winning back some of the "fans".

Hoags wrote:I don't think we're a Ray Whitney away from the Cup/deep playoff run.

Nor do I think we should be trading young players for 37 year olds at this stage in the game.

That was my thinking, but this recent string of games makes me believe that this team could win a round or two. The revenue would be really nice, as well as getting some former fans back into the SBP.

I'm violently opposed to overpaying for Whitney though. It's practically guaranteed that he's a rental.

I guess the thing to underscore is that all of this things (team chemistry, team development, revenue, getting fans back, etc.) will factor into the decision as to whether or not we become buyers.

No matter what BM does, he will upset some fans. He makes a move, the team chemistry guys and the team development guys will lose their Dung because he's mortgaging the future. He doesn't make a move, and the Sens believers and fans lose their Dung because he isn't doing what it takes to win a cup / win back their love. He can't win.

rooneypoo wrote:I guess the thing to underscore is that all of this things (team chemistry, team development, revenue, getting fans back, etc.) will factor into the decision as to whether or not we become buyers.

No matter what BM does, he will upset some fans. He makes a move, the team chemistry guys and the team development guys will lose their Dung because he's mortgaging the future. He doesn't make a move, and the Sens believers and fans lose their Dung because he isn't doing what it takes to win a cup / win back their love. He can't win.

Sort of like the Heatley saga with less at stake. Perhaps someone will scoop Whitney up before the deadline in a surprise move and Murray has an out. "We just didn't see anyone who we thought could step into our top 6 without giving up one of our prized d prospects."

I really think he'll pull a rabbit out of the hat if he truely believes this team can compete. Someone totally off the Sens radar as of late. I just hope it's not the same sort of deadline blockbuster as Martin Diddling Lapointe.