Ottawa Senators (present and past) TIDBITS & QUICK HITS!

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:Korpisalo could be a Sens UFA signing. Seems like he'll fit the cap structure and need here. Not sure LA looks to extend him with Copley and Petersen in the mix.

LA also seems like a good potential landing spot for DeBrincat if we look to move him. Lots of depth at the forward ranks and Kopitar comes off the books after next season. They also have Brandt Clarke who has to be #1 on the Sens prospect list. Give me Vilardi and Brandt for DeBrincat and I'll be a super happy guy (I know it's not going to happen). I'd be happy with Fagemo or Turcotte and Clarke

I thought of Korpisalo, although I don't know that he's a great goalie. he's ok

I'm not sure if LA is looking for a high priced winger. if anything it seems like they'd want to enjoy the low salary contracts they have.

Hard to decide which ownership group I like more. There are obvious gains with Ryan Reynolds but the Sparks group hits differently and caters to a huge market of Canadians and Americans and speaks to the growth of the league and the game. Not to mention Sparks' ties to the entertainment industry, which is something this city needs. I wish there was a way for Remington and Sparks groups to work together so we got the best of both worlds but competing mandates and ideologies (and too many hands in the pot) may make things difficult to manage.

I think Reynold's heart and passion is in it whereas it's an investment opportunity for Sparks who probably has zero commitment to keep the team in the city. As a fan that part is concerning but Spark's reach into under-represented markets would be amazing both for BIPOC Canadians and Americans and the growth of the game.

Welcome to the Sens Jiri!

Looks like he could turn into a decent 3rd line scorer.
Let’s see how he fares in Belleville.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/159844/jiri-smejkal

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:Hard to decide which ownership group I like more. There are obvious gains with Ryan Reynolds but the Sparks group hits differently and caters to a huge market of Canadians and Americans and speaks to the growth of the league and the game. Not to mention Sparks' ties to the entertainment industry, which is something this city needs. I wish there was a way for Remington and Sparks groups to work together so we got the best of both worlds but competing mandates and ideologies (and too many hands in the pot) may make things difficult to manage.

I think Reynold's heart and passion is in it whereas it's an investment opportunity for Sparks who probably has zero commitment to keep the team in the city. As a fan that part is concerning but Spark's reach into under-represented markets would be amazing both for BIPOC Canadians and Americans and the growth of the game.

As much as I want to support the growth of the sport outside of traditional hockey market, I agree that the sparks ownership group doesn’t seem as Ottawa centric as the Remington group.
They also don’t seem (so far) to have a clear vision for the team. It just feels like snoop was tagged onto the group and he’s along for the ride.
I’d prefer dedicated owners with focus in mind.
Ryan Reynolds did tremendous things for his soccer team. He lifted them up in divisions within a year I think. He also has a clear idea on how to broaden the appeal for the fan base outside of Ottawa which frankly, is important if we wish to monetarily compete with the big boys.
In all my travels in Europe and Asia, I’ve always admired how certain sports club have managed to breach outside of their fan base to reach out to new fans. And it’s not just the Yankees, or Manchester United.
It can be done as the sport grows.
I get all my news from aljezera in the morning and they regularly report on the NHL playoff races with highlights of games.
There is interests but it’s also a game that stands to grow a lot more if done right.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:

wprager wrote:The Leafs blew up the Bolts 5-0 in game 1 last year.  You'd think the fans would remember that and realize that game-1 results rarely predict the way the rest of the series will go.

Since it's the home team that was the loser this time around there are differences.  7 goals is worse than 5 especially since option-B is a rookie.  And Tampa played most of the game without Hedman (he was on the bench. briefly, for the 2nd but never took a shift before leaving for good).  Toronto might be playing their next game without Bunting.

This series (and Dubas' job) might come down to Matt Murray

I'm wondering if we are going to see Murray in this series. Down 0-2 after two home games -- is it desperation time or will they try one more game? Frankly I don't even know Murray's injury timeline. Assuming it was a concussion you can never tell.

We all knew it would come down to this. I don't think Samsonov played bad but at some point you bring in the $7M a year goalie to try to give your team a shot

I dont completely agree. The Leafs went out and got him a 2-goal lead. While it's true that there were glaring mistakes/giveaways at least one of those goals was a no-no for an NHL goalie. Bobrovsky was definitely the difference last night. In the two games Samsonov has stopped 45 of 52 shots -- .865 SV%. That's not what you need/expect in a playoff performance. It's only 2 games, true, but even going back to rounds 1, where he had a couple of superb games, his SV% is .895. Sub-900 is not going to cut it in the regular season, let alone the playoffs.

Apparently the Remington group is out on buying the Sens.

That’s too bad, they seemed like one of the more promising group.

Could still be playing hard-ball. But I always thought Andlauer had the inside track because he's a known entity to the other owners/governors. Also all the headlines saying Reynolds will not put forward a bid -- it was never his bid, he would have been a minority owner and, as far as I know, there's nothing preventing him from aligning with a different "sugar daddy". In fact I would be *shocked* if his contract with Remington didn't have at least this situation (Remington pulling out of the bidding process) explicitly listed as an out clause.

Personally I want(ed) a Canadian owner with roots in Ottawa, or at least in Ontario. The Neko Sparks bid has zero ties to Ottawa and way too many people involved. I can't see the ownership group being sustainable with so many hands in the pie

I gave some thought to how I want the roster to look next year. Assuming there's no major trades or movements and we sign Formenton to a one or two year deal.

Tkachuk-Stutzle-Giroux
DeBrincat-Norris-Batherson
Formenton-Greig-Pinto
Joseph-Kastelic-Reeves

Chabot-Chych
Sanderson-JBD
Brann-Zub

I'm not crazy about the chances against we'll get on that 2nd line so I can see a Giroux/Batherson swap maybe, but that 3rd line would be a pain to play against. I like that our 4th line would be elite PKers / grinders that would literally torture other teams.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:Personally I want(ed) a Canadian owner with roots in Ottawa, or at least in Ontario. The Neko Sparks bid has zero ties to Ottawa and way too many people involved. I can't see the ownership group being sustainable with so many hands in the pie

Totally agree

So apparently the Sens are being linked to Hellybuyck (amongst 3 other teams).

Surprise surprise, I called it weeks ago.

Flo The Action wrote:So apparently the Sens are being linked to Hellybuyck (amongst 3 other teams).

Surprise surprise, I called it weeks ago.

So, bye-bye Cat?

wprager wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:So apparently the Sens are being linked to Hellybuyck (amongst 3 other teams).

Surprise surprise, I called it weeks ago.

So, bye-bye Cat?

I would imagine so

I don't think so. Qualify him and move him in-year if needed. Hellybuck is going to cost the Sens Sogaard, Greig and something else at a minimum

I was strictly talking about the cap situation. With Norris and Forsberg off IR and with DeBrincat's $9M QO, assuming $1.5M for Pinto and Brannstrom and $1.2M for Hamonic the total cap (including buyouts and Murray) is just about $80M (cap is expected to be $83.5M). And that still requires at least 2F and 1G (more likely 3F + 1D + 1G). If that 1G is Hellybuyck we will need to move a large contract out.

If we move Batherson, instead, we would have $2.3M cap space left (after DeBrincat and Hellybuyck) and would still need a minimum of 3F and 1D.

Situation will be a lot better the following year as the cap is expected to go up significantly ($88M?) and we'll be done with Murray and the buyouts (White's buyout will actually be a net positive in 24-25 before it goes back up to $875K for 3 more seasons).

I'd 100% keep Bath over DeBrincat. I think Bath is the better player and he's half the price.

I can see Chabot being the odd man out. Weird take I know but he's arguably our 4th best dman. If Chych were ore reliable injury wise I'd really consider doing it.

I can also see Joseph being moved. Guy is dead cap space