Wow! Murray Quote from today's con call.

Heh, no, me neither.

What would you be looking at, though, in terms of a blue-line? Let's say we sign Ohlund for ~$4.5 million. Are we looking at:

Ohlund - Kuba
Phillips - Volchenkov
Campoli - Smith, Picard, Bell, Karlsson, Karlsson, Lee, Schubert?

EDIT: IMO, that's a pretty respectable blue-line, although we're looking to have way too many depth defencemen.

Personally, I'd rather not have Erik in the NHL next season, unless he can really bulk up over the summer.

Granted, the allure for me of signing Ohlund would be that he could mentor a guy like E Karlsson.

Seems to me that the logical ones to move if J-Bo was to come in would be Fisher or Heatley (in that order).

Moving Fisher would simply allow one of our other four centres (not including Spezza) to slide into his spot, and would relieve the team of $4M+ of cap hit. Drafting MPS (or MSP, whichever is proper) would replace the "power-forward" we'd have lost, but would add some (not much) finish. And Martin has a hard-on for Fisher.

Heatley would be the other option, but they don't seem keen to take on salary at that level; we'd be making cap space but it would be harder to replace the point production.

If a sign-and-trade were to occur before July 1st, there is no reason why Ottawa couldn't still be in the running (although Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver seem more likely - the latter two are closer to being contenders).

Can Erik play centre? He's got the wheels and puck control for it.

Edit: you know that Gary Carter came up as a rookie outfielder and finished in the HoF as a catcher. They put him behind the plate because of his tendency to try to run through outfield walls to catch a ball.

wprager wrote:Can Erik play centre? He's got the wheels and puck control for it.

Edit: you know that Gary Carter came up as a rookie outfielder and finished in the HoF as a catcher. They put him behind the plate because of his tendency to try to run through outfield walls to catch a ball.

Is that bad?
More importantly - did it work?

As he is now, EK would be eaten alive at centre - he is too small to forecheck or stand in front of the net. If he is able to put on the 20 lbs of muscle, however...

Take it for what it's worth, but I heard Vermette on SEns french radio a few minutes ago and here's what he said:

" It's quite sad to leave the guys, when you grow up as a player in an organization, you make a lot of friends. But I know we didnt have the beginning of the season we expected, and management need to improve the team. But I am not sure if the team is out of the flunk. At the end of the day, hockey is a team sport, and to win, you need some chemistry"

I don't know about you guys, but IMO, it doesnt smell pretty good in that dressing room...

It's scary how many players have been saying that as they leave.

The problem is - when or how does it change (or is that how we get J-Bo? i.e. Spezza or Heatley?)

Acrobat wrote:

wprager wrote:Can Erik play centre? He's got the wheels and puck control for it.

Edit: you know that Gary Carter came up as a rookie outfielder and finished in the HoF as a catcher. They put him behind the plate because of his tendency to try to run through outfield walls to catch a ball.

Is that bad?
More importantly - did it work?

As he is now, EK would be eaten alive at centre - he is too small to forecheck or stand in front of the net. If he is able to put on the 20 lbs of muscle, however...

The ones in spring training camps are usually not the solid type. Still, 3/4" plywood still leaves quite a mark.

Speaking of standing in front of the net, I don't see Spezza do it too often.

wprager wrote:Can Erik play centre? He's got the wheels and puck control for it.

Edit: you know that Gary Carter came up as a rookie outfielder and finished in the HoF as a catcher. They put him behind the plate because of his tendency to try to run through outfield walls to catch a ball.

I'd much, much rather have him at D. That kind of talent in a defenceman is rare.

Just give him more time to develop.

marakh wrote:Take it for what it's worth, but I heard Vermette on SEns french radio a few minutes ago and here's what he said:

" It's quite sad to leave the guys, when you grow up as a player in an organization, you make a lot of friends. But I know we didnt have the beginning of the season we expected, and management need to improve the team. But I am not sure if the team is out of the flunk. At the end of the day, hockey is a team sport, and to win, you need some chemistry"

I don't know about you guys, but IMO, it doesnt smell pretty good in that dressing room...

then I guess the key is to find who the bad apples are, Management figured they already had them out of there with Redden and Emery gone, but could it be Spezza that's the bad apple? he played like a man possessed last night, but he will probably be a ghost the next 5.

SensFan71 wrote:

marakh wrote:Take it for what it's worth, but I heard Vermette on SEns french radio a few minutes ago and here's what he said:

" It's quite sad to leave the guys, when you grow up as a player in an organization, you make a lot of friends. But I know we didnt have the beginning of the season we expected, and management need to improve the team. But I am not sure if the team is out of the flunk. At the end of the day, hockey is a team sport, and to win, you need some chemistry"

I don't know about you guys, but IMO, it doesnt smell pretty good in that dressing room...

then I guess the key is to find who the bad apples are, Management figured they already had them out of there with Redden and Emery gone, but could it be Spezza that's the bad apple? he played like a man possessed last night, but he will probably be a ghost the next 5.

Ah christ, again with the locker room discord/cancer thing!?

Cronie wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:

marakh wrote:Take it for what it's worth, but I heard Vermette on SEns french radio a few minutes ago and here's what he said:

" It's quite sad to leave the guys, when you grow up as a player in an organization, you make a lot of friends. But I know we didnt have the beginning of the season we expected, and management need to improve the team. But I am not sure if the team is out of the flunk. At the end of the day, hockey is a team sport, and to win, you need some chemistry"

I don't know about you guys, but IMO, it doesnt smell pretty good in that dressing room...

then I guess the key is to find who the bad apples are, Management figured they already had them out of there with Redden and Emery gone, but could it be Spezza that's the bad apple? he played like a man possessed last night, but he will probably be a ghost the next 5.

Ah christ, again with the locker room discord/cancer thing!?

apparently it's never going to go away, or is this all a media fabrication? go back to the buffet garrioch and stop causing Dung lol.

I wouldnt be surprised if Deano came out of nowhere with more fuel to the fire. :geek: I dont know about Media, but I translated Vermette's comments word to word, you can't transform that.

marakh wrote:I wouldnt be surprised if Deano came out of nowhere with more fuel to the fire. :geek: I dont know about Media, but I translated Vermette's comments word to word, you can't transform that.

I guess it just shocks us coming from Vermie, probably the nicest guy on the team, which really makes you think maybe there is something to it? that cloud has been around this team for a long time now.

marakh wrote:I wouldnt be surprised if Deano came out of nowhere with more fuel to the fire. :geek: I dont know about Media, but I translated Vermette's comments word to word, you can't transform that.

The thing is, he never said anything bad about the players. In fact, it sounded like he will really miss playing with them. Nothing was said about a cancer. He said something about chemistry, but given how he liked playing with them, it doesn't sound like he meant it was a personality thing. Just not the right mix of players.

wprager wrote:

marakh wrote:I wouldnt be surprised if Deano came out of nowhere with more fuel to the fire. :geek: I dont know about Media, but I translated Vermette's comments word to word, you can't transform that.

The thing is, he never said anything bad about the players. In fact, it sounded like he will really miss playing with them. Nothing was said about a cancer. He said something about chemistry, but given how he liked playing with them, it doesn't sound like he meant it was a personality thing. Just not the right mix of players.

Spin it how ever you feel the need to. Not one team mate would ever out a player, fact of the matter is when you cannot develope chemistry there is a problem in the dressing room, and there are only a few guys here left. Maybe people in the dressing room get put off with Phillips and Fisher taking out too much time for the kids and the community. That messed up thing is, that wouldnt surprise me!

OK, I went back and re-read it. These are the points he made:
1. sad to leave the guys
2. a lot of friends
3. didnt have the beginning we expected
4. management need to improve the team
5. not sure if the team is out of the flunk
6. to win, you need some chemistry

It could be interpreted that he doesn't exactly agree with management about the move. He concedes that management had to improve the team, but the moves may have, sadly, destroyed the great chemistry he felt when playing here.

marakh wrote:I wouldnt be surprised if Deano came out of nowhere with more fuel to the fire. :geek: I dont know about Media, but I translated Vermette's comments word to word, you can't transform that.

I forgot to mention this before, but then soon after Hartsburg pulls a Paddock and Wing Dang Doodle about the Sens organization and Bryan Murray/Melnyk.