Who wins the cup first?

With the news of Alfie leaving and Ryan and MacArthur coming in it really doesn't add up for Alfie to suggest that Detroit has a better chance at a cup and it really seems odd that he'd uproot his family and move them to Detroit when he signs a 1 year deal there. Something set him off and made him want to cut ties with Ottawa IMO.

Lets hear the theories. My personal view is the Murray rejecting the agent's initial proposal was so insulting after spending a career in Ottawa being underpaid that he wants to leave Ottawa and never return.

He called Murray personally last night to let him know. If he was pissed off and insulted he would have let the agent do it.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:
Lets hear the theories.  My personal view is the Murray rejecting the agent's initial proposal was so insulting after spending a career in Ottawa being underpaid that he wants to leave Ottawa and never return.

I think that's pretty much the gist of it, Dreger said we were prepared to pay $4-4.5M and he wanted more. Maybe not only insulting but the realization we can't be a winner if we can't afford him and improvements to the roster.

My wife thinks him and his family are leaving to avoid the negativity and fallout. I imagine his kids would get crap from others in school etc.

well I don't think it matters who wins the Cup first. I don't see either team winning next year.

Ev wrote:well I don't think it matters who wins the Cup first. I don't see either team winning next year.

This.

Hope they play in the first round and Ottawa makes sure the answer to this isn't Detroit.

makes sense to take the kids and wife out, ya would be a bit embarrassing for them around town.

I don't think his time is done in ths town, i'm sure he could be back once he stops playing in the front office. it was a stupid move on his part but how many of us have done stupid things on a kick because for a short time in felt like a good thing? it's stupid and he'll regret it, hopefully we make him regret it.

Hoags wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:
Lets hear the theories.  My personal view is the Murray rejecting the agent's initial proposal was so insulting after spending a career in Ottawa being underpaid that he wants to leave Ottawa and never return.

I think that's pretty much the gist of it, Dreger said we were prepared to pay $4-4.5M and he wanted more.  Maybe not only insulting but the realization we can't be a winner if we can't afford him and improvements to the roster.

My wife thinks him and his family are leaving to avoid the negativity and fallout.  I imagine his kids would get crap from others in school etc.

I think this pretty much sums it up. Alfie knew that if he had the Sens pay him, they wouldn't be able to beef up the roster enough to win THIS year (Ryan trade was made after Alfie left). Alfie maybe wasn't quite as attached to Ottawa as we all thought, so he made the choice to move on. I don't hold it against him. He was here 17 years and gave it everything he had. Eugene isn't willing to spend big bucks to win right now.

Isn't it ironic that he was playing for $4.875 the last few years (that $1M salary in the last year was meant to be cap circumvention to bring his salary up, but he played it out). And now, when -- please, let's face it -- he's slowed down quite a bit from where he was 3-5 years ago, suddenly he signs on for $5.5M. OK, you say he brings intangibles like veteran leadership and experience, except that one of the reasons he said Detroit has a better shot at the Cup is because of that leadership and experience they have. Does Detroit really think Alfie is worth $5.5M at this stage of his career? Does Boston really think Iginla is worth $6M? Does Philly really think Vinny is worth $6M for the next 2 years, and still a $4.5M player when he is 35, when it's been widely speculated the last couple of years that he is done as an elite player?

Can *anyone* explain to me why we had the lockout, again?

wprager wrote:
Can *anyone* explain to me why we had the lockout, again?

It's free agency, a bidding war. Teams offer whatever they can afford and whatever it takes to outbid the other players.

If you just offer "fair value" someone will offer more to land that player, assuming it's a higher end player of course.

tim1_2 wrote:

Hoags wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:
Lets hear the theories.  My personal view is the Murray rejecting the agent's initial proposal was so insulting after spending a career in Ottawa being underpaid that he wants to leave Ottawa and never return.

I think that's pretty much the gist of it, Dreger said we were prepared to pay $4-4.5M and he wanted more.  Maybe not only insulting but the realization we can't be a winner if we can't afford him and improvements to the roster.

My wife thinks him and his family are leaving to avoid the negativity and fallout.  I imagine his kids would get crap from others in school etc.

I think this pretty much sums it up.  Alfie knew that if he had the Sens pay him, they wouldn't be able to beef up the roster enough to win THIS year (Ryan trade was made after Alfie left).  Alfie maybe wasn't quite as attached to Ottawa as we all thought, so he made the choice to move on.  I don't hold it against him.  He was here 17 years and gave it everything he had.  Eugene isn't willing to spend big bucks to win right now.  

Just in case you missed it.

Murray told Alfie about Ryan deal likely happening, and it meant nothing at that point

Hoags wrote:

wprager wrote:
Can *anyone* explain to me why we had the lockout, again?

It's free agency, a bidding war.  Teams offer whatever they can afford and whatever it takes to outbid the other players.

If you just offer "fair value" someone will offer more to land that player, assuming it's a higher end player of course.

Lots of teams overpaid....we got MacArthur at a decent price (probably because we gave him a NMC) and we acquired Ryan. Murray got Friday right. (minus the Alfie debacle)

Hoags wrote:

wprager wrote:
Can *anyone* explain to me why we had the lockout, again?

It's free agency, a bidding war.  Teams offer whatever they can afford and whatever it takes to outbid the other players.

If you just offer "fair value" someone will offer more to land that player, assuming it's a higher end player of course.

The Leafs bought out Grabovski and let MacArthur go UFA. Grabo is 0.256 G/G over his career, MacArthur is 0.231; Clarkson is 0.228.

THey just gave Grabo a 5 year, $5.5M contract a year ago. Now they are giving Clarkson a 7 x $5.25M. The odds of them regretting it a re very, very high.

It's not just the money being thrown at the UFAs it's also the money being thrown at buyouts and the players with good history with the club just being discarded.

M_Christopher wrote:
Just in case you missed it.

Murray told Alfie about Ryan deal likely happening, and it meant nothing at that point

Well, yeah, but you know there is a very, VERY strong possibility that if we kept Alfie (especially for $5.5M) that we would have also hired a hypnotist to convince Silfverberg that he is Bobby Ryan, rather than pony up for the real thing.

wprager wrote:

M_Christopher wrote:
Just in case you missed it.

Murray told Alfie about Ryan deal likely happening, and it meant nothing at that point

Well, yeah, but you know there is a very, VERY strong possibility that if we kept Alfie (especially for $5.5M) that we would have also hired a hypnotist to convince Silfverberg that he is Bobby Ryan, rather than pony up for the real thing.  

And yet the question remains... "Who wins the cup first?"...