SpezDispenser wrote:The question about Cammelleri that has to be answered is: is he elite? Because he's being paid elite level money on an elite level term. 6 million dollars times 5 years is too much IMO. Is he better than Kovalev? Yes, because he isn't past his expiration date, but is he worth that kind of long term risk? Not to me personally. I had an epiphany the other day: for a long time we've thought that 'good enough' was good enough, but it isn't - the teams that win have more than one ELITE player with the exception of Carolina who got lucky.
Would I prefer Cammelleri right now? Yes please. Would I prefer him the next time we attempt to land a big, elite fish? No. I like what I see from the young guys, now it's trying to get someone to take the 12 million dollar we have committed to Kovalev, Cheechoo and Leclaire.
I mean, for gosh sake, look at this:
Wasted:
Kovalev: 5 million
Cheechoo: 3 million
Leclaire: 3.8 million
Too much $$:
Kelly: 2.2 (good player, but the money is astounding)
Kuba: 3.7 (he's okay - but he's just okay, nothing more - and that's a lot of money for someone who's pretty good)
I'll leave out Spezza's 7 million right now, because frankly the jury's still out, but holy Dung, look at how much money is flapping in the breeze for us. 16 million dollars - almost 1/3 of our entire payroll on average players. Diddle me upside down. What the heck are we doing?
i always thought that cam would of been a good idea and to be honest i don't think he was offered 6million by murray. maybe 5. and i think he would of taken a shorter term(say 3-4 years) to come play in ottawa.
everybody knows montreal is a player killer town. gainey must of overpaid by a bundle(years and/or salary) to land him cuz that's how it works in MTL.
so whenever we wonder about what if and cam? i don't think we tried our hardest to get him. and we should of.
is he elite? i think he could of gotten 35-40 goals in ottawa. that's enough for me.
as for kovalev... he was holding out for MTL to offer more money. when they left him he panicked and picked the best $$$ that was close enough to MTL. i'm pretty sure his wife and kid still live here(MTL). i never liked that pick up btw, never.
cheechoo was a necessary evil to get michalek here and ditch heatley cuz THAT would of killed the team. so that was a good move.
i still like the leclaire trade. yes i cringe when he let's a softy in, but goalies have bad spells. he's shown he an do it, just hasn't gotten on a roll. we've gotten another year and half to make up our minds. let's not get crazy to fast and run him out of town.
question, if we can't trade choochoo, ca we waive him and leave him in the minors? if the right deal came along and we could grab an awesome player, melnyk might be alright with that move. we did put gerber down there...
second just thought i'd point out that kelly is on pace for a career year of 38 points.
players that we could move:
phillips(great trade value cuz he's got a year left, personally i think his best years are behind him)could be packaged with another player for a real PMD.
foligno(still young but personally i don't see him become more then a third line player that can add some secondary scoring once in a while, could be a piece ina bigger deal)
Shannon after his 4 goals his value might have been at the highest it was gonna be. again not worth much but could be part of a bigger deal.
Campoli, Lee still has value but only maybe as part of a bigger deal.
Picard more value i think then we are giving him credit for at the moment( i used to think he had none but he's convinced me he has)
choochoo trade or wave
volchenkov i think is #1 priority to re-sign in ottawa, especially if we trade phillips. if nothing happens before the trade deadline then we have to move him.
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