2008-09 Ottawa Senators Team

Money Farmer wrote:PKC,

Great post!

I agree with 95% of your thoughts. The more I look at our lineup, th more I realiza that Schubert needs to move to the wing, McA gets shipped out for a box of pucks & Nycholat makes the jump to the show. His moving up does two key things: gives us more offensive flair on the second powerplay & makes a forward position available for Cody Bass (who earned it last season).

rooneypoo wrote:

DashRiprock wrote:I'd say that unfortunately, the likely player to go is McAmmond. Murray honoured Muckler's extension prior to his firing and he's not the same person he was before the cheap shots. It wouldn't be fair to scratch him the entire season or for the majority of it.

As I said, Donovan wouldn't agree to stay here just to sit in the press box.

My likely lines would look like:

Foligno-Spezza-Heatley
Vermette-Fisher-Alfredsson
Winchester*-Kelly-Neil
Ruutu-Bass-Donovan
*McAmmond

Volxhenkov-Philips
Lee-Kuba
Smith-Schubert/Picard*

Gerber
Auld

* Winchester would play if Schubert is dressed on D; if Schubert isn't on D, he'll likely be a FWD/7th D, scratched, or traded in a package with McAmmond + to clear room.

Winchester will NOT be traded anytime soon. He signed with us as a very highly-touted and highly-sought-after prospect back in March, and then re-signed with us on a 1-way deal in May. I'm pretty certain that he's going to get a shot with this team, quite possibly in our top 6, but we can't know that for sure, I grant.

I agree, tho', that it would appear that McAmmond and Nycholat are early favourites to be traded in the very near future. What happens on D -- does Schubert or Picard take that 6th spot? -- will determine whether or not Bass has a spot, I think. If Schubert gets it and we keep Picard around as a 7th D, then Bass should make the line-up; if Picard takes it and Schubert shifts to the wing, I'm not sure I see room for him.

What's really odd in all that is that if we trade McAmmond and fail to make room for Bass, we lose both candidates for 4th line centre... which doesn't seem to make compete sense either. Presumably, then, one or the other will be on our roster come October.

The problem is that we currently have 12 F (counting Schubert) and 6 D on 1-way deals, plus 3 more players on 2-way, entry-level deals (Lee, Foligno, and Bass) who are pushing for roster spots. How many players we have to move will ultimately depend on how many of those rookies we have to accommodate in our line up. If all 3, then I imagine we move at least 2 contracts, and possibly carry Picard as our 7th D. Judging from the criteria on pp.66-67 of the CBA, I don't think Picard can safely pass through waivers anymore (unlike Winchester) because of his age, seasons accrued, and games played, so I imagine we would have to carry him all year if we ever wanted to play him on anything other than an emergency recall basis.

All this to say: if all 3 rookies crack the line-up, I think our roster will look pretty much exactly as you have it listed, but with Picard as our 7th D.

DashRiprock wrote:Nail on the head Cash - it was meant to read exactly how you read it.

Schubert, as versatile as he is, would love some consistency I'm sure. Either play him full time on defence or forward.

McAmmond has become fragile because of the cheap shots and is taking a spot from a younger, healthier player.

Package Schubert + McAmmond, or ship them off seperately, unless Murray's got plans for Christoph.

rooneypoo wrote:

DashRiprock wrote:Nail on the head Cash - it was meant to read exactly how you read it.

Schubert, as versatile as he is, would love some consistency I'm sure. Either play him full time on defence or forward.

McAmmond has become fragile because of the cheap shots and is taking a spot from a younger, healthier player.

Package Schubert + McAmmond, or ship them off seperately, unless Murray's got plans for Christoph.

Whoops, my bad. Apologies.

I'd have a hard time sending Schubert off. He's very useful to us. Nycholat and McAmmond seem like the out-bound players to me, but I grant we would net a much bigger return if it were Schubert instead of Nycholat. It's a tough call. If we don't see Schubert playing D for us anytime in the near future, and that's the position he wants to play all along, then he indeed might be the guy to ship out.

rooneypoo wrote:

DashRiprock wrote:Nail on the head Cash - it was meant to read exactly how you read it.

Schubert, as versatile as he is, would love some consistency I'm sure. Either play him full time on defence or forward.

McAmmond has become fragile because of the cheap shots and is taking a spot from a younger, healthier player.

Package Schubert + McAmmond, or ship them off seperately, unless Murray's got plans for Christoph.

Whoops, my bad. Apologies.

I'd have a hard time sending Schubert off. He's very useful to us. Nycholat and McAmmond seem like the out-bound players to me, but I grant we would net a much bigger return if it were Schubert instead of Nycholat. It's a tough call. If we don't see Schubert playing D for us anytime in the near future, and that's the position he wants to play all along, then he indeed might be the guy to ship out.

504Heater wrote:Nice work PKC, holy crap...lots of work there.

PKC wrote:

504Heater wrote:Nice work PKC, holy crap...lots of work there.

Thanks man, but there is still a bit more work to do. I might do an analysis of each team like this just for the fantasy section I hope goes up soon enough.

PKC wrote: ... but I just can't see Heatley playing the point...

Cap'n' Clutch wrote:

PKC wrote: ... but I just can't see Heatley playing the point...

He played the point in Atlanta and was put on the point at times in Ottawa. He's got a heck of a point shot and I would definitely try him out there on occasion. He's not reliable enough defensively to run the Point full time IMO but he's got a great point shot for sure.