THN: Sens risk alienating Karlsson

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/28907-THNcom-Blog-Sens-risk-alienating-Karlsson-with-demotion.html

Otay. Whatever.


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Defenseman Erik Karlsson is apparently not a happy camper right now.
The Ottawa Senators prospect, who has three assists through nine games
this season, is heading to Binghamton
to play with the American League’s Sens; not exactly the destination he
was hoping for when he came over from Sweden this summer.

Dropping rookies back to junior (or in the case of most Europeans, the minors)
is a common practice these days and with that famous nine-game window –
the point at which a year comes off their entry level contract –
closing on most players right now, it’s interesting to see who stays
and who goes.

Luca Sbisa has already been sent back to the
Western League by Anaheim, while Colorado’s dynamic teen duo of Matt
Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly have been given the green light to find
houses in Denver. John Tavares, Dmitry Kulikov and Tyler Myers can also
feel safe.

But for those who go, such as Karlsson, the demotion
is a tough one. After all, the Sens were in desperate need of a true
offensive defenseman to quarterback the power play and that’s the young
Swede’s game. Three points in nine games isn’t setting the world on
fire, but it’s not bad, either.

The Sens need to tread lightly here. I have to imagine Karlsson’s mindset right now is, if they didn’t want me this year, why didn’t I just stay in Sweden?
After all, the B-Sens aren’t off to much of a start in the AHL this
season and Karlsson would probably feel more comfortable in his native
country.

At this point I must acknowledge that learning North
American culture, putting in your dues by riding buses up and down the
I-90 and playing 80 games plus playoffs is a great way to get prepared
for the NHL grind; it’s just tough to appreciate when you’ve had a
taste of charter planes and beautiful hotels.

Patient Zero? Ilya Zubov, former leading scorer on the B-Sens and now a much happier member of Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the Kontinental League. Zubov, who
played 11 games over two seasons for Ottawa, never seemed to be happy
in Binghamton and when he didn’t make the big squad this year (reports
said he was out of shape when he showed up), the writing was on the
wall.

First-rounder Brian Lee (ninth overall in 2005) is also
suiting up for Bingo this year after spending the majority of last
season in Ottawa. Think he’s getting a bit squirrelly after leaving the
University of North Dakota after his sophomore season in 2007?

Maybe Ottawa’s cool with the slow burn. After all, the Sens are sitting
second in the Northeast Division right now, so why mess with a good
thing? Some of the franchise’s best prospects are college kids (Louie
Caporusso at Michigan and Patrick Wiercioch with Denver) with several
more years on the clock before graduation, so there’s no rush. But they
may be playing with fire when it comes to some of the other kids.

Alienating Karlsson right now when he’s already been touted as a future building
block doesn’t bode well for a Sens team that has had trouble churning
out and keeping its own elite talent since the turn of the century when
Jason Spezza, Ray Emery and Anton Volchenkov all made their way through
the development process and into the NHL (Andrej Meszaros could be
included, but the Sens traded him after just three NHL seasons).

The Ottawa brass may not be in the wrong here, but if the end result is
another unhappy prospect, it doesn’t really matter who has the moral
high ground, does it?

It is a legitimate concern though... but I think a lot of it rests in Karlsson's attitude and him taking this as an oppty to get back in the NHL lineup.

shabbs wrote:It is a legitimate concern though... but I think a lot of it rests in Karlsson's attitude and him taking this as an oppty to get back in the NHL lineup.

I don't think it is personally - just because this isn't some dude like Brian Lee, this is a member of the Ottawa Senators next year without question. All he's being asked to do is go to the AHL and perform well, learn some things, bulk up and play for Sweden if he wants. He's got his ticked punched to play in the NHL next year. It's not the same situation as some other players. Plus...the kid's 19. 19 years old, you'll get your chance young man!

Pretty much. Like it or not, Karlsson got screwed over in Ottawa this year. Such as life as a teenager in The NHL.

SpezDispenser wrote:

shabbs wrote:It is a legitimate concern though... but I think a lot of it rests in Karlsson's attitude and him taking this as an oppty to get back in the NHL lineup.

I don't think it is personally - just because this isn't some dude like Brian Lee, this is a member of the Ottawa Senators next year without question. All he's being asked to do is go to the AHL and perform well, learn some things, bulk up and play for Sweden if he wants. He's got his ticked punched to play in the NHL next year. It's not the same situation as some other players. Plus...the kid's 19. 19 years old, you'll get your chance young man!

If you're basically promised something, have it taken away along with no friends really, no home, no family, and in a forigne country, I would be steamed and defently would consider going home.

N4L wrote:
If you're basically promised something, have it taken away along with no friends really, no home, no family, and in a forigne country, I would be steamed and defently would consider going home.

I understand it's a tough thing to take, but again, this is not someone who's not playing NHL hockey next year. He's 100% a LOCK, all he needs to do is show up in Bingo and play. He's an NHLer next year, he has a lot of great things to look forward too.

If he were a Russian or a Schubert we'd already be piling on him with responses of STFU punk and go play in the KHL!!!

Doesnt matter, man. The kid literally has nothign at this point, in another country once again, in a city where there's nothing to do, so on and on. Karlsson got screwed in a large way. It was the right move for the current Sens, but very well could have been a very wrong move for Karlsson.

N4L wrote:Doesnt matter, man. The kid literally has nothign at this point, in another country once again, in a city where there's nothing to do, so on and on. Karlsson got screwed in a large way. It was the right move for the current Sens, but very well could have been a very wrong move for Karlsson.

HAve you ever been to Bingo? It's quite the party town actually. Good shopping and golf too.

Definitely it sucks for him, but you know what, he's not the first promising rookie to be sent down to the minors. He's definitely not the first foreigner to be sent down either.

Sure, it blows, he got a nice taste of the big show, now he's got to ride the bus, but if anything, it should influence him into playing his butt off in order to get back up as soon as possible.

I admit, I will be horribly dissapointed in Karlsson if he ends up returning to Sweden in a snit. I hope his sense of entitlement doesn't take him over. He is not the most prolific rookie ever to play in the NHL, by a long shot.

I'm not kidding when I say I'd think about calling Karlsson right back up to the bigs now that Volchenkov appears to be out long term.

I think TSN is just trying to generate a story for some web traffic. He's an undersized, underaged rookie defenseman. Take a look at what Del Zotto has done to keep himself in the lineup. Other rookie defensemen (Demers, Myers, Hedman) have all out produced Karlsson. I'm not knocking Eric, but he did not knock anyone's socks off, and with the Sens shaping up to be a middle-of-the-pack team, why burn a year of his ELC?

Karlsson will create a lot of bad will if he goes back to Sweden. Why would he do that when his career is all in front of him? This is going to be just 6 months and then he'll be done. Plus he'll definitely get to play in the WJHC -- not sure the Sens would have let him go if he was on the active roster.

He'll be fine and will come back stronger and with more desire.

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:
If you're basically promised something, have it taken away along with no friends really, no home, no family, and in a forigne country, I would be steamed and defently would consider going home.

I understand it's a tough thing to take, but again, this is not someone who's not playing NHL hockey next year. He's 100% a LOCK, all he needs to do is show up in Bingo and play. He's an NHLer next year, he has a lot of great things to look forward too.

Valid points. My concern is whether or not Murray took the time to go over this with him before calling him into the office and laying it on him. I didn't see it coming because of what Murray had said in the media earlier on. We can only speculate as to whether or not Murray kept the lines of communication going on a regular basis with him. You're right, Karlsson needs to be a professional about this and go about his business, getting ready for next year. But, if I put myself in his shoes and go through the same process, if Murray calls me into his office out of nowhere and throws that on me- "pack your bags kid, your time is up"- ya, I'm pissed and it's not something I can just let slide within a bus ride to bingo. He seems to be a motivated and level headed kid so I hope he bounces back and makes the right moves but, Murray most certainly hurt his development (at least temporarily) if it went down the way it looks in the media.

Exactly Prages. The young rookie D men that are hanging around are ones that produced and showed they can be impact players where Karlsson did not.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Exactly Prages. The young rookie D men that are hanging around are ones that produced and showed they can be impact players where Karlsson did not.

Again, I don't think anyone can argue that point (although, who knows where he would've been stats wise with a full season beside Kuba). I take issue with how Murray handled this. We don't really know one way or the other. It just seems off to me that Murray tells the media one day that he's staying and the next he's gone.