From Russia with love... TSN spotlight on Volchenkov

I don't think we can sign A-Train for less than $4 to be honest. But, it's worth every penny.

Hopefully Carkner keeps up his hard work, he'll be a part of our future if he does. We also have Campoli at the moment, we have to hope he gets better defensively of course. Picard can go, and I don't know if there will be room for Lee anymore either. If he's keeping Karlsson up all year, I think it could pretty much spell the end for Lee and Picard here.

Dash wrote:If it came down to it for you guys here, if you had the say, who would you keep?

Anton Volchenkov or Chris Phillips?

Volchenkov. With no disrespect to Phillips in any way.

Dash wrote:If it came down to it for you guys here, if you had the say, who would you keep?

Anton Volchenkov or Chris Phillips?

Easily Volchenkov.

Wait until teams avoid Volchenkov's side of the ice - only to run right into 6'5", 240 pound Jared Cowen.

I think it's pretty safe to say that Volchie could easily get Komisarek money if he tests free agency, probably more. Getting him to sign for between $3M and $3.5M will be asking him to take a HUGE home town discount and there's no way in hell we can afford to throw Komi-money at him. I hope they're having discussions and that Volchie's loyalty to the Sens can allow a deal that makes sense for everyone to happen. Like everyone has said, he brings something no one else does with his shot blocking, steady play and perfectly timed hits that can change a game. We'll shall see...

I think if you have to choose between Volchie and Phillips you have to go with Phillips. Volchie throws the nice hit and blocks shots like crazy so that will wear him down like it did to Jason Smith. Phillips can be playing his game and mentoring into his late 30s and still be effective.

I agree with Neely regarding Phillips over Volchenkov. Phillips will sign at a discount moreso than Volchenkov -- or at least I think so. Plus the return for Volchenkov would be much higher than for Phillips. In other words, we can help the club more by trading A-Train than we would Big-Rig. Also, Phillips is closer to retirement and we need to make room for Cowen playing big minutes in a couple of years.

Also, I agree with Carkner not being here long-term. The lineup someone suggested included Cowen, Carkner, Phillips and Volchenkov -- while Carkner has had some success in the offense department, I don't think that that is his claim to fame. He's not going to score any more than Phillips or A-Train (IMO). And Cowen is another shutdown, big defensive presence who has not shown an offensive flair (at least not yet).

That said, Lee isn't exactly Danny Boyle either, and the argument about getting a greater return for Lee versus Carkner can be made here as well. Plus Carkner can play 4th line as well. Maybe there's room here for him for a few years, yet.

Prager, the way I look at it is:

Teams will have a conscious game plan to stay away from A-Train's side of the ice, putting tonnes and tonnes of pressure on Phillips. In future when Cowen's next to A-Train, there won't be any where to run, teams will be forced to dump the puck in against Cowen and they'll pay a heavy price. The second unit still features size in Wiercioch, but also some finesse in Karlsson, while the 3rd pairing would ideally be Lee and Phillips, but if we can't afford Phillips, we have some talent to draw on.

Wideman's a nice player, but he's small and might suffer the same issues Karlsson has as a rookie.

If possible - and money permitting, it would be nice to keep Phillips and A-Train and mix and match as you please, but in the short to long term, I like Volchenkov and Cowen as a pairing a lot and I love Wiercioch and Karlsson (and frankly I love Lee and Phillips).

Can we do it? Depends on what Philly and A-Train decide to take $$ wise.

SpezDispenser wrote:Prager, the way I look at it is:

Teams will have a conscious game plan to stay away from A-Train's side of the ice, putting tonnes and tonnes of pressure on Phillips. In future when Cowen's next to A-Train, there won't be any where to run, teams will be forced to dump the puck in against Cowen and they'll pay a heavy price. The second unit still features size in Wiercioch, but also some finesse in Karlsson, while the 3rd pairing would ideally be Lee and Phillips, but if we can't afford Phillips, we have some talent to draw on.

Wideman's a nice player, but he's small and might suffer the same issues Karlsson has as a rookie.

If possible - and money permitting, it would be nice to keep Phillips and A-Train and mix and match as you please, but in the short to long term, I like Volchenkov and Cowen as a pairing a lot and I love Wiercioch and Karlsson (and frankly I love Lee and Phillips).

Can we do it? Depends on what Philly and A-Train decide to take $$ wise.

I say we give Volchenkov Kuba's dollars. We're not going to need him when Wiecioch is here. I really think we should be trading Kuba at the deadline to someone who wants him, assuming that Cowen and Weircioch are making the team next year. Maybe a jump for Weircioch, but Cowen should definitely be here.

...but look at our D without Kuba this year. Do you really think Cowen's gonna step in and play Kuba's minutes just as effectively? I don't. And I also don't think Weircioch will be ready.

shabbs wrote:I think it's pretty safe to say that Volchie could easily get Komisarek money if he tests free agency, probably more. Getting him to sign for between $3M and $3.5M will be asking him to take a HUGE home town discount and there's no way in hell we can afford to throw Komi-money at him. I hope they're having discussions and that Volchie's loyalty to the Sens can allow a deal that makes sense for everyone to happen. Like everyone has said, he brings something no one else does with his shot blocking, steady play and perfectly timed hits that can change a game. We'll shall see...

I really don't think 3-3.5 long term is a HUGE hometown discount. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see him extended to the tune of 5 years, 16-17 million. That's a solid, fair deal for Volchenkov and works out for both parties. Plus it's pretty well known that he likes it here and wants to stay, unlike Komisarek who clearly just wanted to get out of MON as quickly as possible.

beerandsens wrote:...but look at our D without Kuba this year. Do you really think Cowen's gonna step in and play Kuba's minutes just as effectively? I don't. And I also don't think Weircioch will be ready.

The last two games were probably the best we've played, and we've been without Kuba, and also without Weircioch or Cowen.

I don't think we need Kuba to the extent we pay him. That's just my two cents. Saying Kuba is your #1 defenseman is not saying a lot for the team, and if people think he's going to be around for any longer than a stop-gap, they need to wake up.

Kuba @ $3.7 mil is sexy though, nothing wrong with that. If we have a better Dman to replace him then yes get rid of him. He's not a true #1 but I don't think anyone thinks he is. Either way, I don't like the idea of getting rid of the stop gap solution before the real solution arrives. And IMO the rookie version of Cowen isn't that solution.

Let's remember A-Train wants to be here and he has given us the hometown discount on more than one occasion. I think he will sign for us for less than $4M, long term. I am consistently wrong on these things though. Another thing to remember, contracts are awarded on offensive statistics and that is one thing in our favour.

MurderOnIce wrote:Let's remember A-Train wants to be here and he has given us the hometown discount on more than one occasion. I think he will sign for us for less than $4M, long term. I am consistently wrong on these things though. Another thing to remember, contracts are awarded on offensive statistics and that is one thing in our favour.

Komisarek contract says what? They had pretty much the exact same "offensive stats" last season.

shabbs wrote:

MurderOnIce wrote:Let's remember A-Train wants to be here and he has given us the hometown discount on more than one occasion. I think he will sign for us for less than $4M, long term. I am consistently wrong on these things though. Another thing to remember, contracts are awarded on offensive statistics and that is one thing in our favour.

Komisarek contract says what? They had pretty much the exact same "offensive stats" last season.

Regehr, Komisarek, Beauchimen -- all comparables with Volchenkov, all defence-first Dmen, all with low offensive stats (i.e., about 20 points on the year), all signed for in between $3.7-$4.2 mil.

Volchenkov at Kuba money would be ideal, honestly. Someone would pay him more than $4 mil on the open market, 100% for sure. What would, for instance, WAS give up for a guy like him? Half the farm, or the whole thing?

rooneypoo wrote:

shabbs wrote:

MurderOnIce wrote:Let's remember A-Train wants to be here and he has given us the hometown discount on more than one occasion. I think he will sign for us for less than $4M, long term. I am consistently wrong on these things though. Another thing to remember, contracts are awarded on offensive statistics and that is one thing in our favour.

Komisarek contract says what? They had pretty much the exact same "offensive stats" last season.

Regehr, Komisarek, Beauchimen -- all comparables with Volchenkov, all defence-first Dmen, all with low offensive stats (i.e., about 20 points on the year), all signed for in between $3.7-$4.2 mil.

Volchenkov at Kuba money would be ideal, honestly. Someone would pay him more than $4 mil on the open market, 100% for sure. What would, for instance, WAS give up for a guy like him? Half the farm, or the whole thing?

We'll take Brooks Laich and Karl Alzner/John Carlson/Oskar Osala.

PKC wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

shabbs wrote:

MurderOnIce wrote:Let's remember A-Train wants to be here and he has given us the hometown discount on more than one occasion. I think he will sign for us for less than $4M, long term. I am consistently wrong on these things though. Another thing to remember, contracts are awarded on offensive statistics and that is one thing in our favour.

Komisarek contract says what? They had pretty much the exact same "offensive stats" last season.

Regehr, Komisarek, Beauchimen -- all comparables with Volchenkov, all defence-first Dmen, all with low offensive stats (i.e., about 20 points on the year), all signed for in between $3.7-$4.2 mil.

Volchenkov at Kuba money would be ideal, honestly. Someone would pay him more than $4 mil on the open market, 100% for sure. What would, for instance, WAS give up for a guy like him? Half the farm, or the whole thing?

We'll take Brooks Laich and Karl Alzner/John Carlson/Oskar Osala.

If we can't come to terms with Volchenkov, that's a team that will pay through the nose for him. He's precisely what they need. Alzner+ would not be unreasonable -- and our future D would get even more insane.

Not for a rental, they wouldn't give Alzner up. Plus, trying to compete with Washington would be very difficult as well.