Should the A-Train make a one way trip out of town?

Cap'n Clutch

Cap'n Clutch

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Number of posts : 13873
Registration date : 2008-07-31

We all know the value of Volchenkov and what he brings to the table as Sens fans. What is that worth? Is it worth more to the Senators as a member of our Defense core or as a trade-able asset?

Lets be honest here. Based on the Senators performance so far this season it does not look like a playoff bound team. Sure we currently hold down a playoff spot with games in hand but, based on our winning percentage spread over the full season we can expect to miss the playoffs this year unless there is a bit of a turn around over then next month or two. Even if we make the playoffs does anyone really believe we'll make some noise this season?

I can't tell you what will happen and can only give you my opinion on the situation. I would personally hate to see Volchenkov go but he is a very valuable asset that could bring back pieces that are sorely missed in the prospect cupboard. There is very little in the way of true top end first line forward talent in the Senators system right now and I believe that a playoff team, looking for that last key piece, would be willing to give that up for a shot this year in a trade for Volchenkov.

Assuming we hold onto Volchenkov he will likely be signed for at least 4 years for somewhere around 4 Million per season. That cap hit plus his roster spot will handcuff the Senators somewhat. Our D with Volchenkov.

Phillips - Volchenkov

Kuba - Karlsson

Cowen - Carkner

What do we do with Lee, Campoli & Picard. You can make Lee or Carkner your 7th D but then you still have Campoli and Picard to deal with. Then in a couple years you'll also have Wiercioch looking for a roster spot. You could manage by not re-signing Kuba I suppose.

Now if you move Volchenkov and get that Blue chip forward you save a big chunk on the Cap and you've got a guy that could come in either next season or the season after and step right into the top 6 without missing a beat most likely. Then you have a D that looks more like this or some variation of this.

Kuba - Karlsson

Phillips - Campoli/Picard

Cowen - Lee

7th D - Carkner

In this scenario you only have one D man to decide on whether to trade or walk away from. Will it be Picard or Campoli? You also have a very good and very cheap D core for the next few years. Just enough time to make a real run at the Cup.

Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:45 pm by Guest · Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:45 pm by Guest

asq2 wrote:That talk seems perfectly ridiculous to me.

It's like we're hellbent on spending $50 million on our forwards, all else be damned.

Should the A-Train make a one way trip out of town? - Page 5 853109

Down the line I'd much rather have a $7 million centreman (who we've already got), and a $5-6 million D-man and goaltender (who we could potentially have).

I don't like the idea of taking on a massive contract at any position right now, unless his name is Weber, Kopitar or someone of that stature. I'd much rather grow our own superstars. Every successful team has balance and to do that in todays NHL that means having value contracts. The best way to do that, is to grow your own.

I'm perfectly happy to wait for the 3 horses on D, and Lehner and whomever else. Sure, I'd love to see Alfie win one, but we just don't have the kind of great young players on value contracts to have a championship calibre team....yet.

Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:59 pm by **PTFlea** · Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:59 pm by **PTFlea**

hemlock wrote:

Down the line I'd much rather have a $7 million centreman (who we've already got), and a $5-6 million D-man and goaltender (who we could potentially have).

I don't like the idea of taking on a massive contract at any position right now, unless his name is Weber, Kopitar or someone of that stature. I'd much rather grow our own superstars. Every successful team has balance and to do that in todays NHL that means having value contracts. The best way to do that, is to grow your own.

I'm perfectly happy to wait for the 3 horses on D, and Lehner and whomever else. Sure, I'd love to see Alfie win one, but we just don't have the kind of great young players on value contracts to have a championship calibre team....yet.

Yeah, that sums it up pretty well.

Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:06 pm by **asq2** · Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:06 pm by **asq2**

I don't think we're close to being a contender either. But trying to be one (within reason) is IMO better than tanking when you've got a player who means as much to your franchise as Alfredsson playing out his last few years.

There are other benefits to keeping Volchenkov as well IMO. You can develop more of a culture of winning, and equip both Karlsson and Cowen with experienced partners.

Tue Nov 17, 2009 7:20 am by **Cap'n Clutch** · Tue Nov 17, 2009 7:20 am by **Cap'n Clutch**

Chances are quite good that if A-Train stays he'll be paired with Phillips so in fact if he leaves there is a better chance of Karlsson and Cowen being paired with Kuba and Phillips giving you the experienced partners you want them with.

Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:10 am by Guest · Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:10 am by Guest

Gohan wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:To be perfectly honest if we're not contenders I'd prefer to take the Pittsburgh Penguins route to success by sucking arse for 2 or 3 years and picking up players in the draft that are close to the calibre of Malkin, Crosby and J. Staal. I do realize that will never happen here in Ottawa so lets keep on tinkering and tweaking in hopes of the right mix.

People often overlook or disregard what Murray wants here. It's about the fan base and the owner, too, but the man building the roster is in his twilight and is undoubtedly looking for some immediate success. Asq mentioned doing what's right by Alfie, and that fits quite well with our GM, who is in a very similar situation as the Captain. The remaining timeline for Alfie's playing career likely mirrors the remaining timeline Murray's managerial career.

We all want what's best for the team in the long-term, but a full-scale rebuild will not happen so long as Murray is at the helm. Hopefully they do find that right mix at some point during that timeline. You'd get no objections from me.

In 2011-12 Kovalev, Cheechoo, Ruuttu, Phillips, and Leclaire all come off the books equalling $15.6 million of cap. Ottawa will likely keep Phillips and Leclaire for similar deals that they are making now. Remove those two from the list and we're left with $9.3 million of empty cap space with our top line and Fisher signed.

As for the RFAs for the 2010-11 season, I don't expect anyone to get a significant raise (Foligno, Winnie, Regin, Lee likely being the only ones who get re-signed), while Shannon, and Donovan will go to free agency, and Volcheknov a wildcard with the prospects coming through the system.

Factor that in with the fact that the cap will likely going up for the next two years, and Ottawa to make a few salary dumping moves because of their depth (Picard, Campoli, at the trade deadline, maybe Kelly) and they will most likely have $12-15 to spend on free agents.

I don't think Ottawa ever does a complete re-build but I think this would be their best chance to overhaul the team. The development of their young defencemen should go a long way with Kuba and Phillips mentoring Lee, Karlsson, Wiercioch, Cowen, and Carkner, guys like Smith and O'Brien will likely get their shots to stay up with the team, and Regin and Foligno hit their strides by then. Ottawa can sign two top-six forwards and/or a vet defenceman and I think we're back in contention. Unfortunately it's looking like it might be a bad year UFA-wise with Chara, and Thronton headlining the pack but not much else.

Michalek-Spezza-Alfredsson
Richards-Backes-Fisher
Foligno-Regin-Z.Smith
O'Brien-Winnie-Neil

Phillips-Karlsson
Cowen-Kuba
Wiercioch-Lee
Carkner

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:08 am by **Cap'n Clutch** · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:08 am by **Cap'n Clutch**

Our record is looking pretty nice despite the absence of A-Train. Anyone re-thinking there stance?

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:09 am by Guest · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:09 am by Guest

Nope.

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:09 am by **PTFlea** · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:09 am by **PTFlea**

Not me personally. I think we need him as badly as ever. Nothing like having a team on a roll and adding one of the premiere heart and soul warriors to it. Re-sign him just so I can see him and Cowen take some shifts together. Or him and Wiercioch. Drool

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:17 am by **asq2** · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:17 am by **asq2**

Kovalfie wrote:Phillips-Karlsson
Cowen-Kuba
Wiercioch-Lee
Carkner

OK, so here you've got:

3 rookies, two of whom will have just turned professional
A sophomore in Carkner
A player in Lee who has yet to stay the whole year on an NHL roster.

How on earth do you expect to do anything with a blue-line like that?

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:18 am by **Cap'n Clutch** · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:18 am by **Cap'n Clutch**

asq2 wrote:

Kovalfie wrote:Phillips-Karlsson
Cowen-Kuba
Wiercioch-Lee
Carkner

OK, so here you've got:

3 rookies, two of whom will have just turned professional
A sophomore in Carkner
A player in Lee who has yet to stay the whole year on an NHL roster.

How on earth do you expect to do anything with a blue-line like that?

In 2012/13 or 2013/14 it'll look quite nice though Smile

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:22 am by Guest · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:22 am by Guest

I am not sure we want to solve our problems with Campoli and Picard by losing Volchenkov. It doesn't make sense.

I would much rather hire Tonya Harding and Jeff Goofoolie to take out Picard and Campoli. LTIR and no cap hit. win - win!

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:27 am by Guest · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:27 am by Guest

I want A train resigned in a big way, but I can see it going the other way, that was my only point when this conversation was brought up. IMO the ideal blueline next year will look like this.

A Train/Phillips
Karlsson/Kuba
Carkner/Cowen
Lee

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:30 am by **asq2** · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:30 am by **asq2**

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

asq2 wrote:

Kovalfie wrote:Phillips-Karlsson
Cowen-Kuba
Wiercioch-Lee
Carkner

OK, so here you've got:

3 rookies, two of whom will have just turned professional
A sophomore in Carkner
A player in Lee who has yet to stay the whole year on an NHL roster.

How on earth do you expect to do anything with a blue-line like that?

In 2012/13 or 2013/14 it'll look quite nice though

It'll look better, sure, but Karlsson and Wiercioch will only be 23 and Cowen 22. I think that's probably the absolute earliest we should hope for them to start comprising a top-3.

At that point, Phillips will be 35, Kuba 36 and probably long gone, whereas Volchenkov will only be 31.

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:32 am by Guest · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:32 am by Guest

You need to insolate Karlsson and Cowen next year. I think you really have to keep those vets around but you also cant resgined A Train for 4 mil plus. Phillips money should be good enough for A Train.

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:38 am by **asq2** · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:38 am by **asq2**

Absolutely, I'm not advocating re-signing Volchenkov for $6 million+.

But IMHO, the ideal situation for this team is that Volchie gets re-signed.

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:43 am by Guest · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:43 am by Guest

asq2 wrote:Absolutely, I'm not advocating re-signing Volchenkov for $6 million+.

But IMHO, the ideal situation for this team is that Volchie gets re-signed.

I do too but like I said before, a lot of circumstances and situations can arise. We'll see where The Sens are in a month or two because I think that will be the telling factor.

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:49 am by **Riprock** · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:49 am by **Riprock**

Ottawa's making the playoffs this year, no way he is moved, at least not during the season. They will try to re-sign him, if not by the draft, he might get moved. But he might just walk.

Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:53 am by Guest · Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:53 am by Guest

Dash wrote:Ottawa's making the playoffs this year, no way he is moved, at least not during the season. They will try to re-sign him, if not by the draft, he might get moved. But he might just walk.

Relax, we'll see how the road trip goes, then people can start to talk about the playoffs.

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Should the A-Train make a one way trip out of town?

Should the A-Train make a one way trip out of town?

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