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The Citizen's Allen Panzeri lays out his view on the impact that Heatley's demands have had on management's efforts to improve the team in the offseason.
TRADE DEMAND HAS SENS ON HOLD
GM Bryan Murray can't do a whole lot to improve the team until he knows how the Heatley situation is resolved
Allen Panzeri, The Ottawa Citizen, August 5 2009
With Dany Heatley still in limbo, the Ottawa Senators are stuck in neutral.
And that's not good news for fans of the team who hope they'll be better than they were last season, when they missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 seasons.
Heatley's trade demand has put a roadblock in front of the team. Until general manager Bryan Murray trades the disgruntled left-winger and knows what he's getting in return -- in money and players -- he can't make any other moves to improve his team.
Trading a player who makes $1 million a year is one thing, but moving a 50-goal scorer who carries a salary-cap hit of $7.5 million is quite another. When he's moved, it affects every other piece on the chess board.
That's the dilemma Murray finds himself in right now.
Except in goal, where Pascal Leclaire is a decided upgrade over Martin Gerber and Alex Auld, the Senators are no better than they were last year. In fact, it's easy to argue that they're worse off, because the acquisition of Alex Kovalev would, on its own, not compensate for the loss of Heatley.
For Murray, there's a lot at stake, not the least of which is the money the team earns from selling tickets and playing host to playoff games.
Murray needs to acquire players in exchange for Heatley and then make whatever other moves he can in order to present a team that fans can believe is credibly better.
With the hole Heatley has left up front, the Senators are thin offensively. They're still a one-line team, only this time it's Alfredsson, Spezza and Kovalev.
If Heatley hadn't asked for a trade, then Kovalev would have been the top-six forward Murray said he was looking for and the Senators would be better. It would have shuffled the deck and given coach Cory Clouston more offensive combinations.
That was the plus in the package the Oilers offered. Both Andrew Cogliano and Dustin Penner would have added offensive depth, though Penner has hardly impressed in Edmonton after leaving Anaheim.
In fact, when general manager Steve Tambellini announced the Oilers were pulling out of their proposed deal with the Senators, the joke in Edmonton was that it was a doubly bad day for the Oilers: Not only did they not get Heatley, they had to keep Penner.
Unless Murray can get another top-six scorer in return for Heatley, opposing coaches will be able to follow the usual strategy against the Senators: check the first line and take their chances with the other three.
Defensively, the team hasn't changed from last year. Take that any way you want to.
In a couple of years, the team's defence will be pretty good, with Erik Karlsson, Jared Cowan and Patrick Wiercioch leading the way. Murray has done a good job of restocking these shelves.
But those players are still years away from being significant factors. Even if Karlsson is expected to make the team this year, he's still just a 19-year-old kid.
Otherwise, the defence looks like this: Filip Kuba, Chris Phillips, Anton Volchenkov, Brian Lee, Alexandre Picard, Chris Campoli, Jason Smith and Christoph Schubert (depending on where he's used).
While Kuba, Phillips and Volchenkov could play for any team in the league, the jury is out on the 22-year-old Lee, the 23-year-old Picard and the 24-year-old Campoli. Smith is 35 and nearing the end of his career.
The Senators still don't have that puck-moving defenceman they've been looking for since both Wade Redden and Zdeno Chara left.
Fans can't relish the prospect of heading into the season with the same group of defencemen as last year.
In the end, Ottawa's goaltending will be a lot better with Leclaire and Brian Elliott, but they'll have to stop a lot of pucks to put the Senators anywhere near contention.
---
Panzeri's perspectives have provoked some vigourous debate on these forums, so our GM Hockey Members no doubt have plenty to offer in response to this latest opinion piece from The Citizen.
As Dr. Rooney would say, "Discuss!"
TRADE DEMAND HAS SENS ON HOLD
GM Bryan Murray can't do a whole lot to improve the team until he knows how the Heatley situation is resolved
Allen Panzeri, The Ottawa Citizen, August 5 2009
With Dany Heatley still in limbo, the Ottawa Senators are stuck in neutral.
And that's not good news for fans of the team who hope they'll be better than they were last season, when they missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 seasons.
Heatley's trade demand has put a roadblock in front of the team. Until general manager Bryan Murray trades the disgruntled left-winger and knows what he's getting in return -- in money and players -- he can't make any other moves to improve his team.
Trading a player who makes $1 million a year is one thing, but moving a 50-goal scorer who carries a salary-cap hit of $7.5 million is quite another. When he's moved, it affects every other piece on the chess board.
That's the dilemma Murray finds himself in right now.
Except in goal, where Pascal Leclaire is a decided upgrade over Martin Gerber and Alex Auld, the Senators are no better than they were last year. In fact, it's easy to argue that they're worse off, because the acquisition of Alex Kovalev would, on its own, not compensate for the loss of Heatley.
For Murray, there's a lot at stake, not the least of which is the money the team earns from selling tickets and playing host to playoff games.
Murray needs to acquire players in exchange for Heatley and then make whatever other moves he can in order to present a team that fans can believe is credibly better.
With the hole Heatley has left up front, the Senators are thin offensively. They're still a one-line team, only this time it's Alfredsson, Spezza and Kovalev.
If Heatley hadn't asked for a trade, then Kovalev would have been the top-six forward Murray said he was looking for and the Senators would be better. It would have shuffled the deck and given coach Cory Clouston more offensive combinations.
That was the plus in the package the Oilers offered. Both Andrew Cogliano and Dustin Penner would have added offensive depth, though Penner has hardly impressed in Edmonton after leaving Anaheim.
In fact, when general manager Steve Tambellini announced the Oilers were pulling out of their proposed deal with the Senators, the joke in Edmonton was that it was a doubly bad day for the Oilers: Not only did they not get Heatley, they had to keep Penner.
Unless Murray can get another top-six scorer in return for Heatley, opposing coaches will be able to follow the usual strategy against the Senators: check the first line and take their chances with the other three.
Defensively, the team hasn't changed from last year. Take that any way you want to.
In a couple of years, the team's defence will be pretty good, with Erik Karlsson, Jared Cowan and Patrick Wiercioch leading the way. Murray has done a good job of restocking these shelves.
But those players are still years away from being significant factors. Even if Karlsson is expected to make the team this year, he's still just a 19-year-old kid.
Otherwise, the defence looks like this: Filip Kuba, Chris Phillips, Anton Volchenkov, Brian Lee, Alexandre Picard, Chris Campoli, Jason Smith and Christoph Schubert (depending on where he's used).
While Kuba, Phillips and Volchenkov could play for any team in the league, the jury is out on the 22-year-old Lee, the 23-year-old Picard and the 24-year-old Campoli. Smith is 35 and nearing the end of his career.
The Senators still don't have that puck-moving defenceman they've been looking for since both Wade Redden and Zdeno Chara left.
Fans can't relish the prospect of heading into the season with the same group of defencemen as last year.
In the end, Ottawa's goaltending will be a lot better with Leclaire and Brian Elliott, but they'll have to stop a lot of pucks to put the Senators anywhere near contention.
---
Panzeri's perspectives have provoked some vigourous debate on these forums, so our GM Hockey Members no doubt have plenty to offer in response to this latest opinion piece from The Citizen.
As Dr. Rooney would say, "Discuss!"
