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In the ongoing discussions about trading superstars and the 'Race for the Tavares Cup', there's been actually very little talk about the blueprint Bryan Murray announced last summer after the Senators were swept in four games following their end-of-season tailspin.
When Murray came out and said the Senators were going to be 'an accountable, defensively responsible team' that would be 'difficult to play against', did anyone--including the players--know what he really meant?
Halfway into the 2008-09 season, Ottawa fans are still looking for that meaning and a positive on-ice result.
The understandable anger at seeing a team just 18 months removed from a Stanley Cup Final spinning its wheels near the bottom of the league has led to calls for Bryan Murray's firing and a controversy over whether or not the club should 'blown up'.
In fact, Bryan Murray may have been quietly dismantling the team from the time he took over as GM.
Ray Emery's meltdown, however, may have thrown a monkey wrench into his plans.
Consider this: no significant personnel changes were made after the defeat to the Ducks. Given the lessons learned from that series as to the inadequacy of the Ottawa squad against a bigger, tougher opponent, one would have thought Bryan Murray would begin to tinker with the Sens.
Ray Emery represented the toughness and youthful hunger Murray was looking for. However, Emery's decision to have surgery forced the GM and coach to hand the reins to Martin Gerber, who performed quite well as Ottawa got off to a rocket start.
But, if the reports are reliable, Emery's return created chaos. The team apparently took sides in the dispute over who should start in goal and the team imploded.
Paddock was bounced. An apparently highly emotional Joe Corvo was shipped out; Team 1200 commentator and former Senator Jason York recounted today how Corvo's dressing room dramatics had become too much for the team to bear.
The Stillman-Commodore trade was a band-aid that failed to stop the bleeding, and the Senators slid down the slippery slope, reaching the playoffs with a thud.
In retrospect, Wade Redden's reported refusal to waive his NTC may turn out to have been a key factor in the Senators' current struggles. Had he allowed himself to be moved for 'team' players, Ottawa might have been able to begin the 2008-09 season with the elements of Murray's 'new look' Sens in place.
The contentious contract discussions with Meszaros and Vermette only served to further undermine Murray's timetable. He had been trying to trade Vermette throughout the 2007-08 season, and Vermette himself had come out in his RDS blog claiming his play had been 'unaffected' by the trade rumours.
The talk of trading Jason Spezza had been going on for several seasons. The noted hockey analyst from CJRC Corus Sports Ottawa, Alain Sanscartier, has reported that a deal of Spezza for Marty Turco had been in place as far back as the June 2006 draft.
http://www.corussports.com/hockey/spezza_failli_etre_echange-20081111-1273193.html
We can deduce the following interpretation of events:
Perhaps knowing he had to secure his enigmatic superstar as a contracted asset rather than risk losing him to free agency, Bryan Murray put a deal together that locked up young Mr Spezza through 2012/13, just as he had with his atomic powered sniper Dany Heatley.
This did not, however, anticipate the current economic collapse that is now threatening business, and to which pro sports is not immune.
Knowing that a conservative strategy might serve him best, Murray kept a low profile as other teams spent megadollars on players like Bryan Campbell.
He brought in Jason Smith to stabilize the dressing room, and Jarkko Ruutu to light a fire under Chris Neil.
Craig Hartsburg, not just a veteran elite defenseman in his time but also hardened veteran of the NHL coaching wars, offered a tough but low-key, methodical personality that converged with Murray's vision.
He counted on Hartsburg instituting a defence-first system that would mitigate Ottawa's lack of offensive depth, poor transition game and weakness in goal.
Murray could not have foreseen that players like Fisher would go into a slump; Antoine Vermette, however, could not have felt comfortable even with his new deal.
As the season has gone on, the fans have been brought around to the reality that the Senators, slipping in the standings for the past four seasons, are now in need of a makeover.
The players are simply playing to save their jobs.
Bryan Murray will succeed in reducing his salary cap by up to 9 million at the end of this year and up to 11 million at the end of next year.
An experienced draft-oriented GM, Bryan Murray will look to replace the mid-level players he has now with younger, hungrier, cheaper talent.
What Bryan Murray may also be counting on, is the impact that young defensemen are having in the NHL.
This article from Sportsnet is a pretty good summary:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/h...2/nhl_teenage_defencemen/
Frankly speaking, if I were Bryan Murray, I would see Victor Hedman and not John Tavares as the prize in the draft. Shut down the other team, and you can build an attack around a balanced 'no-name' offence.
It's been proven in Detroit, and to a lesser extent in Anaheim (Selanne notwithstanding) as they won the Cup.
Would Ottawa miss one of its so-called 'Big Three'? So far, no one has been able to mount an objective, convincing case.
On the other hand, if a Jason Spezza or Dany Heatley fetches three or four two-way players, prospects and/or picks in return, that can change the equation of Ottawa's rebuilding process.
Columbus seems to be making excellent progress with just Rick Nash; Chicago with Kane and Toews; and Philadelphia with Richards and Carter.
Meanwhile, Ottawa has four, count 'em four, high priced forwards.
Do the math.
Strangely, the Ottawa hockey media doesn't discuss any of these aspects in depth. They rattle on about 'what's wrong with the Senators', revving up the fan base so that the blogs are filled and the telephone lines heat up, driving page hits and making the radio time more valuable for advertisers.
But pro hockey is, first and foremost an entertainment business, as the venerable coach 'Hitch' has said. The fans, by and large, are intelligent enough to understand that.
The question could be, is the ownership of the Ottawa Senators, and the mainstream media, ready to give the fans credit for their intelligence?
Thanks for the opportunity to post here, and looking forward to the discussion.
When Murray came out and said the Senators were going to be 'an accountable, defensively responsible team' that would be 'difficult to play against', did anyone--including the players--know what he really meant?
Halfway into the 2008-09 season, Ottawa fans are still looking for that meaning and a positive on-ice result.
The understandable anger at seeing a team just 18 months removed from a Stanley Cup Final spinning its wheels near the bottom of the league has led to calls for Bryan Murray's firing and a controversy over whether or not the club should 'blown up'.
In fact, Bryan Murray may have been quietly dismantling the team from the time he took over as GM.
Ray Emery's meltdown, however, may have thrown a monkey wrench into his plans.
Consider this: no significant personnel changes were made after the defeat to the Ducks. Given the lessons learned from that series as to the inadequacy of the Ottawa squad against a bigger, tougher opponent, one would have thought Bryan Murray would begin to tinker with the Sens.
Ray Emery represented the toughness and youthful hunger Murray was looking for. However, Emery's decision to have surgery forced the GM and coach to hand the reins to Martin Gerber, who performed quite well as Ottawa got off to a rocket start.
But, if the reports are reliable, Emery's return created chaos. The team apparently took sides in the dispute over who should start in goal and the team imploded.
Paddock was bounced. An apparently highly emotional Joe Corvo was shipped out; Team 1200 commentator and former Senator Jason York recounted today how Corvo's dressing room dramatics had become too much for the team to bear.
The Stillman-Commodore trade was a band-aid that failed to stop the bleeding, and the Senators slid down the slippery slope, reaching the playoffs with a thud.
In retrospect, Wade Redden's reported refusal to waive his NTC may turn out to have been a key factor in the Senators' current struggles. Had he allowed himself to be moved for 'team' players, Ottawa might have been able to begin the 2008-09 season with the elements of Murray's 'new look' Sens in place.
The contentious contract discussions with Meszaros and Vermette only served to further undermine Murray's timetable. He had been trying to trade Vermette throughout the 2007-08 season, and Vermette himself had come out in his RDS blog claiming his play had been 'unaffected' by the trade rumours.
The talk of trading Jason Spezza had been going on for several seasons. The noted hockey analyst from CJRC Corus Sports Ottawa, Alain Sanscartier, has reported that a deal of Spezza for Marty Turco had been in place as far back as the June 2006 draft.
http://www.corussports.com/hockey/spezza_failli_etre_echange-20081111-1273193.html
We can deduce the following interpretation of events:
Perhaps knowing he had to secure his enigmatic superstar as a contracted asset rather than risk losing him to free agency, Bryan Murray put a deal together that locked up young Mr Spezza through 2012/13, just as he had with his atomic powered sniper Dany Heatley.
This did not, however, anticipate the current economic collapse that is now threatening business, and to which pro sports is not immune.
Knowing that a conservative strategy might serve him best, Murray kept a low profile as other teams spent megadollars on players like Bryan Campbell.
He brought in Jason Smith to stabilize the dressing room, and Jarkko Ruutu to light a fire under Chris Neil.
Craig Hartsburg, not just a veteran elite defenseman in his time but also hardened veteran of the NHL coaching wars, offered a tough but low-key, methodical personality that converged with Murray's vision.
He counted on Hartsburg instituting a defence-first system that would mitigate Ottawa's lack of offensive depth, poor transition game and weakness in goal.
Murray could not have foreseen that players like Fisher would go into a slump; Antoine Vermette, however, could not have felt comfortable even with his new deal.
As the season has gone on, the fans have been brought around to the reality that the Senators, slipping in the standings for the past four seasons, are now in need of a makeover.
The players are simply playing to save their jobs.
Bryan Murray will succeed in reducing his salary cap by up to 9 million at the end of this year and up to 11 million at the end of next year.
An experienced draft-oriented GM, Bryan Murray will look to replace the mid-level players he has now with younger, hungrier, cheaper talent.
What Bryan Murray may also be counting on, is the impact that young defensemen are having in the NHL.
This article from Sportsnet is a pretty good summary:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/h...2/nhl_teenage_defencemen/
Frankly speaking, if I were Bryan Murray, I would see Victor Hedman and not John Tavares as the prize in the draft. Shut down the other team, and you can build an attack around a balanced 'no-name' offence.
It's been proven in Detroit, and to a lesser extent in Anaheim (Selanne notwithstanding) as they won the Cup.
Would Ottawa miss one of its so-called 'Big Three'? So far, no one has been able to mount an objective, convincing case.
On the other hand, if a Jason Spezza or Dany Heatley fetches three or four two-way players, prospects and/or picks in return, that can change the equation of Ottawa's rebuilding process.
Columbus seems to be making excellent progress with just Rick Nash; Chicago with Kane and Toews; and Philadelphia with Richards and Carter.
Meanwhile, Ottawa has four, count 'em four, high priced forwards.
Do the math.
Strangely, the Ottawa hockey media doesn't discuss any of these aspects in depth. They rattle on about 'what's wrong with the Senators', revving up the fan base so that the blogs are filled and the telephone lines heat up, driving page hits and making the radio time more valuable for advertisers.
But pro hockey is, first and foremost an entertainment business, as the venerable coach 'Hitch' has said. The fans, by and large, are intelligent enough to understand that.
The question could be, is the ownership of the Ottawa Senators, and the mainstream media, ready to give the fans credit for their intelligence?
Thanks for the opportunity to post here, and looking forward to the discussion.
Last edited by davetherave on Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:31 am; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : corrections)
