Murray speaks out about Heatley trade request

If Comrie cant beat a guy like Jason Smith in a foot race, who is going to win that battle?

Comrie cant be an effective player in the NHL at this point and anything more than 1 mil, 1 year contract for that guy is a waste of time and money.

Neely4Life wrote:He isnt a good skater, isnt physical, isnt big, doesnt have much of a shot. He has shoulder problems, hip problems, and things are only going to get worse for a guy his size with those problems.

Comrie isnt a good enough skater for a guy his size to be effective. One of the slowest guys out there.

He definitely isn't big and he definitely isn't physical, but with a healthy hip I think he is an above-average skater with good speed. The Comrie we had last year was one with a bum hip that avoided physical play at all costs. If, and I stress that 'if', he can get healthy this summer and gets his skating back, he is a very effective playmaker with some of the best hands and best vision on the team. I'm not usually one that only cares about goals, but with 50 of them leaving the roster next week, someone has to put the biscuit in the basket - Comrie can do that.

I think the x factor here is if his hip problems were a result of last year's surgery or if they are permanent.

He has never been a great skater, he was good enough to serperate himself at times and play a pretty well rounded offensive game, but that kind of hip injury forces a lot of guys to retire from all kinds of different sports.

That hip wont ever be the same and neither will Comrie. It's a crappy deal but thats the reality of it. Comrie cant be the player he was 3, 4, even 5 years ago.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

And Alex Picard at Boston Pizza. I think it would be worth attending either one to be there for the inevitable reaction... :****:

Why the heck would these guys risk standing there when they have a chance of being traded? I don't understand the logic behind that at all. It's funny though ( :^^^^: ), but dumb at the same time.

If it was Alfie, I could see it, or Phillips, or Fisher.

Although, I've read a lot about Picard being the hardest worker this off-season (since his started early due to injury). He's running marathons, getting his endurance up, starting to practice positioning, getting stronger upper body as well.

It really sounds like he wants to take it all to the next level. And I love to hear that from young(ish) guys.

duffyforever wrote:He's 28 years old, still has a long career ahead of him. If you don't think he's a 50pt player, then there isn't much point in continuing this discussion.

My thought is if Comrie can get to 50 pts, play on the 2nd pp, and backchecks, then that is without a doubt worth $2M to me.

But if you think he is "awful, useless, and brings nothing to the table", then we're probably not going to bridge this gap in thought.

Melanie has to keep reminding me that he's only 28. I always think he's 33-35 - in that range.

Plays like it.

Neely4Life wrote:Plays like it.

Well yeah, the last two years he's been awful.

I understand that he wanted to try to show Murray that he's still the same player that played on the Finals team, but he only hurt his value by forcing it.

Before we re-sign him - if we even need to - I would have his hip examined extensively.

But, I agree with most people, if he can get back to 90% of what he was before, he's good for 50 points easily.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

And Alex Picard at Boston Pizza. I think it would be worth attending either one to be there for the inevitable reaction... :****:

Why the heck would these guys risk standing there when they have a chance of being traded? I don't understand the logic behind that at all. It's funny though ( :^^^^: ), but dumb at the same time.

If it was Alfie, I could see it, or Phillips, or Fisher.

Although, I've read a lot about Picard being the hardest worker this off-season (since his started early due to injury). He's running marathons, getting his endurance up, starting to practice positioning, getting stronger upper body as well.

It really sounds like he wants to take it all to the next level. And I love to hear that from young(ish) guys.

That's encouraging, because as most of us know he was the real apple of Murray's eye in the Meszaros deal.

My understanding was that he was looked upon to make others, currently in the organization, expendable shortly. He's shown flashes already, but his buttery softness was troubling (and he ain't small).

SeawaySensFan wrote:That's encouraging, because as most of us know he was the real apple of Murray's eye in the Meszaros deal.

My understanding was that he was looked upon to make others, currently in the organization, expendable shortly. He's shown flashes already, but his buttery softness was troubling (and he ain't small).

I diddling slow today for some reason, but that's quite true. I bet Murray gave him a nice, long list of things to do to prepare for next season in order to make the Sens and not be moved or waived.

Murray has pretty high expectations for him, so I wouldn't doubt it for one second.

Was he buttery soft last year? Or was he beaten off pucks by forwards causing major cluster-diddles in our own zone?

SpezDispenser wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:Plays like it.

Well yeah, the last two years he's been awful.

I understand that he wanted to try to show Murray that he's still the same player that played on the Finals team, but he only hurt his value by forcing it.

Before we re-sign him - if we even need to - I would have his hip examined extensively.

But, I agree with most people, if he can get back to 90% of what he was before, he's good for 50 points easily.

If he ever did get to 50 points, he would be -20 while trying to do it. Wouldnt give that guy anything more than a 1 year deal.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:That's encouraging, because as most of us know he was the real apple of Murray's eye in the Meszaros deal.

My understanding was that he was looked upon to make others, currently in the organization, expendable shortly. He's shown flashes already, but his buttery softness was troubling (and he ain't small).

I diddling slow today for some reason, but that's quite true. I bet Murray gave him a nice, long list of things to do to prepare for next season in order to make the Sens and not be moved or waived.

Murray has pretty high expectations for him, so I wouldn't doubt it for one second.

Was he buttery soft last year? Or was he beaten off pucks by forwards causing major cluster-diddles in our own zone?

To me, that's the "new buttery soft" since the old definition of soft is gone with rules preventing the old physical battles which were part of the game. You have to be prepared to battle for pucks now rather than just obliterate guys and pick the puck out of the pile of teeth, equipment and blood...

SeawaySensFan wrote:
To me, that's the "new buttery soft" since the old definition of soft is gone with rules preventing the old physical battles which were part of the game. You have to be prepared to battle for pucks now rather than just obliterate guys and pick the puck out of the pile of teeth, equipment and blood...

Yeah...positioning is a huge thing as well.

And using his shot more (he has a good one)....

MurderOnIce wrote:And using his shot more (he has a good one)....

Someone was saying that they thought his shot was the best on the team from the backend. That's pretty cool. I hope he puts it all together and gets some nice opportunities.

SpezDispenser wrote:

MurderOnIce wrote:And using his shot more (he has a good one)....

Someone was saying that they thought his shot was the best on the team from the backend. That's pretty cool. I hope he puts it all together and gets some nice opportunities.

It is hard an accurate, but only good if you get in the right position on the powerplay and have a nice setup guy... He needs a Markov to his Souray... (Obviously he doesn't have Souray's shot but you know what I mean...) Plus he needs to play well enough 5-on-5 to get a regular spot in the top 6.

MurderOnIce wrote:
It is hard an accurate, but only good if you get in the right position on the powerplay and have a nice setup guy... He needs a Markov to his Souray... (Obviously he doesn't have Souray's shot but you know what I mean...) Plus he needs to play well enough 5-on-5 to get a regular spot in the top 6.

If there's one thing that Kuba rocks at, it's passing on the PP. So, he might have his guy to get passes from. He'll have to work like a fiend to get the 5 on 5 time and crack the top 6, but I'm feeling better and better about him.

Neely4Life wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:Plays like it.

Well yeah, the last two years he's been awful.

I understand that he wanted to try to show Murray that he's still the same player that played on the Finals team, but he only hurt his value by forcing it.

Before we re-sign him - if we even need to - I would have his hip examined extensively.

But, I agree with most people, if he can get back to 90% of what he was before, he's good for 50 points easily.

If he ever did get to 50 points, he would be -20 while trying to do it. Wouldnt give that guy anything more than a 1 year deal.

He's no Chris Kelly, but he's a hell of a lot more defensively sound than you're giving him credit for. You might be letting his play from this past season colour your opinion of him too much. I'm not saying you're entirely wrong or that he'll ever put up 50 points again, but I'm not as convinced as you that his career in the NHL is virtually over.

Also, I would have to believe that any deal with Comrie is going to be a 1 year deal, regardless of the dollar amount. Murray won't want to sign him past the 2010 off-season when the team already has multiple FA's and is assured to see some turnover; while Comrie won't want a long-term deal at what will be an inevitable discount. If Comrie signs, its a 1 year at no more than 2.5M (which would be an exceedingly generous offer)

so TSN was reporting that Murray may have some trouble trading Heatley, which is completely contradictory to how we are thinking here, is that mainly because TSN supports the Leafs so much they have to say that Dung about Ottawa or is there any truth to that?