Latest Sens/Hawks Rumour: solid or smokescreen?

shabbs wrote:Perhaps Stan doesn't like the optics of waiving a player. Not surprising, it's money down the drain. Waiving will be a last resort if he can't move Sopel (or whoever he needs to) via trade.

Agreed, this week will be Sopel's big chance to continue as an NHLer if I was betting.

anyone get the feeling this deal is going to go down real soon?

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:Barker has played roughly 25-30 more NHL games than Picard.

Barker has tickled 50 points as an NHL D-man, Picard has not.

50 points SSF - that's...more than we've had since, what, Redden when he was good?

EDIT: It's 40 points he got - why did I think he got 50. Extrapolated perhaps? Yeah, maybe, he got those points in 68 games.

More recently Corvo but he doesn't count because nobody liked him.

Kuba had 40 last year too but he isn't good enough in the community to count either.

Whatever, only Scotty Bowman and John McDonough know what they're gonna tell Stan Bowman to do.

Fish12 wrote:anyone get the feeling this deal is going to go down real soon?

Not really.

Fish12 wrote:anyone get the feeling this deal is going to go down real soon?

I dunno...I ask again: why would Chicago do this now? Barker's a nice depth guy to have, he's younger than Sopel, better...why not waive Sopel and keep Barker for the time being.

If it's money they're worried about, they'll make plenty in the post-season.

But...two contracts the Hawks can jettison after this year - or keep for cheap? Maybe it works for them?

Fish12 wrote:anyone get the feeling this deal is going to go down real soon?

I get the feeling that the Hawks would like to do something soon so they can announce the Kane, Toews and Keith extensions...

SeawaySensFan wrote:
More recently Corvo but he doesn't count because nobody liked him.

Kuba had 40 last year too but he isn't good enough in the community to count either.

Whatever, only Scotty Bowman and John McDonough know what they're gonna tell Stan Bowman to do.

Yeah really. Corvo was awesome - even though he sharted in the defensive zone a lot.

Kuba's great, but we need another hammer from the point for now IMO. Respect the point shots - I want teams to be aware of them and leave the forwards open on the PP - even if it's momentarily.

And yeah... your last point is bang on.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:
More recently Corvo but he doesn't count because nobody liked him.

Kuba had 40 last year too but he isn't good enough in the community to count either.

Whatever, only Scotty Bowman and John McDonough know what they're gonna tell Stan Bowman to do.

Yeah really. Corvo was awesome - even though he sharted in the defensive zone a lot.

Kuba's great, but we need another hammer from the point for now IMO. Respect the point shots - I want teams to be aware of them and leave the forwards open on the PP - even if it's momentarily.

And yeah... your last point is bang on.

That's a myth that was perpetuated by CheapShots Brennan and a lot of the media here. The fact is that guy picked himself up when everyone kept sharting on him and he left here well into the "+" column as a Senator... I really gotta let that go!

Anyway, the obsession with having Del Shannon on the point doesn't help either. We had options and we sent one to Bingo. If Chicago bites and Barker is that good (I trust your judgement) I hope it works.

I just liked calling him Uh Oh!

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I just liked calling him Uh Oh!

It was so catchy that CheapShots recycled it to shart on Meszaros. So I see your point there.

SeawaySensFan wrote:
Anyway, the obsession with having Del Shannon on the point doesn't help either. We had options and we sent one to Bingo. If Chicago bites and Barker is that good (I trust your judgement) I hope it works.

You're still okay with Barker if he's less than stellar defensively? I'm still wondering if that's worth it to us, I know it's a nice deal on paper, but how much can Barker help if he's only really good on the PP?

I understand we need that, but is it worth 3.1 million going forward?

It would be neat just to have him hammering pucks from the point for the next 2 years, but it would restrict our budget a bit to be sure.

Hawks fans said they say this as 'done' on the ESPN Rumour Mill - then they say it was pulled. I'm trying to get them to tell me how crappy he is defensively. I'll post it here when they respond.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:
Anyway, the obsession with having Del Shannon on the point doesn't help either. We had options and we sent one to Bingo. If Chicago bites and Barker is that good (I trust your judgement) I hope it works.

You're still okay with Barker if he's less than stellar defensively? I'm still wondering if that's worth it to us, I know it's a nice deal on paper, but how much can Barker help if he's only really good on the PP?

I understand we need that, but is it worth 3.1 million going forward?

It would be neat just to have him hammering pucks from the point for the next 2 years, but it would restrict our budget a bit to be sure.

Barker is a former Cornwall Colt. That's enough of an endorsement for me!

The way I look at it too, sometimes, is better to know that you'll be paying a guy 3.1 million than wonder what a player will cost down the road.

This is from Rumour Central on ESPN.com Posted at 11:21am

Sens, Hawks deal involves Barker

The Ottawa Senators are looking to add a big-time defenseman.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nhl/features/rumors?&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnhl%2ffeatures%2frumors

SeawaySensFan wrote:Barker is a former Cornwall Colt. That's enough of an endorsement for me!

The way I look at it too, sometimes, is better to know that you'll be paying a guy 3.1 million than wonder what a player will cost down the road.

I will say...his 3.1 million cap hit is intriguing enough that we could probably re-trade him in the summer if need be.

I'm sure that I'm not alone when I say we (Sens) should push for Seabrook instead of Barker. Everyone is available for the right price....

Me:How bad is Barker defensively?

Just in case this happens (which I'm almost positive it won't), give me the straight story here! I can take it.


zac:
Pretty bad, really.

He's got a big body that could potentially keep the crease clear for his goalie, but he hasn't learned how to fully utilize it. His defensive awareness is horrible, as he is often out of position and loses players around the net as he is often caught staring at the puck along the boards. In addition, he's not a very smart player in general as he makes ill-advised passes and just doesn't seem to know what to do at times. As we speak, he is our 5th best d-man and is miles behind Seabs, Keith, and Hammer in his own zone, and quite a ways behind Campbell for that matter.

At this juncture, Barker's game is strictly offensive. He's not a bad skater for his size but he looks slow on this team as he and Sopel (as they play together this is magnified) are about the only guys on the team that are (somewhat) slow. He has a good shot from the point and is a lefty to boot. His lack of hockey sense sometimes rears it's head on offense as well as he often makes poor choices with the puck, namely bad passes and horrendous shot selection; he's prone to blast shots with teammates out of position and this leads to the occasional odd-man rush the other way.

To sum it up, Barker can be valuable to a lot of teams. He can be a power play quarterback and still figures to have his best years ahead of him. What you probably have to have though is a good complement that can mask some of his defensive shortcoming. IMO he's one of those guys you sell high on before everyone figures out he'll never reach his full potential. There's a chance he becomes elite, but I just don't think he has a good enough head on his shoulders.

If he had the head of our other 3 top d-men (seabs, Keith, Hjalmarsson) I'd be real reluctant to give him up.

shartmcgart (lol):

He's not horrible defensively... it just seems like he always coughs up the puck at the worst times. I read somewhere about someone nicknaming him "even stevens" for the fact that he'll cough up the puck for a goal but will score you one later. I've never heard that before then but it is sort of fitting. On the bright side though (for whoever ends up with him), he's only 23 and has really developed in the past couple of years. He's got a lot of potential that is untapped and will develop his defensive game more with time along with the already great offensive skills he has right now.

For the hawks, he is a sort of redundant player that plays as the #5 d-man when he could be a top 4 on a lot of other teams. On top of that, he makes $3 mil. He is expendable in the aspect that we can't afford a $3 mil #5 defenseman on a team that already has Campbell and Keith who plays a similar game but more solid defensively. He'll be a really great defenseman one day, though.

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?p=22269630#post22269630

Sound a lot like Picard to me.

Sens4thecup wrote:I'm sure that I'm not alone when I say we (Sens) should push for Seabrook instead of Barker. Everyone is available for the right price....

Volchenkov and a 1st minimum.