504Heater wrote: I would almost go as far as to guarantee the Sens make a major push towards getting back to the Cup Finals - and hopefully winning it - but no one guarantees these things anymore. It's unfair to the rest of the teams - most of whom are very well put together.
In terms of what you've written, I think you're very close to what Murray and Melnyk have in mind. Patience...a couple of years, the maturation process of everyone: Foligno, Shannon, Bass, Winchester, Campoli, Lee, Picard, Wiercioch, Karlsson, Z.Smith, Zubov, Sandin, Petersson, Caporusso, Grant, Greening - and perhaps most importantly Spezza and Heatley.
Well, we all know there are no guarantees in hockey LOL.
IMHO what is necessary for the Senators is to take a good hard look at the roster and the pipeline.
Let's assume the Leclaire trade works out.
Is it really wise to entrust Top 4 defensive responsibilities over the next two years to an aging Chris Phillips and Jason Smith?
How badly hurt is Volchenkov?
Are Alex Picard and Brian Lee NHL caliber?
Will Brendan Bell ever be more than slightly better than AHL quality?
Are Filip Kuba and Chris Campoli consistent enough over the course of a season?
Is, or will Erik Karlsson be physically big enough to make it?
Up front, how long can Alfredsson carry the load? Who is his successor?
Can the Sens afford two luxury sports cars in Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley?
Can Nick Foligno turn into Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler or Johan Franzen?
Are there a half dozen dependable 20 goal scorers with two way ability on this team?
Where is the size and skill at the forward position? Who are the Sens' equivalents of Ben Eager, Adam Burish, Jiri Hudler, Valterri Filpula, Wayne Simmonds, TJ Oshie, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Alexandre Burrows, Claude Giroux, to name but a few?
When you look at the depth charts of the second tier teams in the league, how do they stack up, and how much better will the Sens have to be in order to improve... as these teams improve?
This is but a part of the enormity of the task Bryan Murray has assumed.
I see people are talking about a Cup run...I urge them to step back, take a deep breath, and examine just how difficult it is to build a playoff contender, let alone a Cup contender.
There are 16 teams who started the playoffs, all of them better than the Sens. The eight that remain after the next few days are that much better than the Sens. And the Final Four are yet another level above.
That's a lot of levels before you get to even sniff the Cup.
Being a Blackhawks loyalist for almost 50 years, I've learned to take a deep breath. And NEVER take anything for granted.
Great discussion, everyone.