PLAYOFF GAME DAY: Game 6: Pittsburgh Penguins (3) @ Ottawa Senators (2) - 7:00pm ET - Sat. Apr. 24th, 2010

Dash wrote:Ottawa will not get Edmonton's 1st. Souray may want out of Edmonton, but that is far from wanting to go to Ottawa. Edmonton doesn't need to take on salary, with a lot of players to sign. They would also rather have younger, cheaper players. They are rebuilding.

Of course they aren't getting the 1st. Turn on your sarcasm detector please.

I promise you, they will not be getting anything noteworthy for Souray. He wants out and controls his fate. You are correct in that he may not want to go to Ottawa, but this situation is no better than the Heatley situation for the Oilers.

Big Ev wrote:

N4L wrote:Well, either way I think Spezza lands in Atlanta, St.Louis, or Columbus. Filatov, Vacicek, and their 1st for Spezza. Money.

Do you mean Voracek? If so, I don't think they would trade him, he really came on after they fired Hitchcock. Filatov is definitely a possibility, and he would immediately be our top prospect.

St. Louis, I'd ask for one of Berglund, Backes, Oshie, but I don't think they are keen on dealing those 3.

Filatov seems remote for the same reason you mentioned for Voracek. Hitchcock being gone could get La Femme Nikita back in Columbus.

No chance in hell, St. Louis traded any of those 3, much less for Spezza imo.

Big Ev wrote:Souray only wants out of Edmonton because of the poor management, so I don't see why he wouldn't consider going to Ottawa. But the thing is- would we want a guy like him (injury-prone, not as good as he once was, etc.)?

Spezza for Cogliano and MPS!

Apparently, he wants to be closer to his kids, who are on the West Coast. It's not just about the management.

I guess I'll say it:

I really hope this was not Volchenkov's last game as an Ottawa Senator.

I know he's one-dimensional, he probably won't maintain his level of play for many more seasons, and he wasn't at his best this season.

But what a warrior. I would ditch Kuba in a nanosecond if it meant getting the money to re-sign the A-Train.

asq2 wrote:I guess I'll say it:

I really hope this was not Volchenkov's last game as an Ottawa Senator.

I know he's one-dimensional, he probably won't maintain his level of play for many more seasons, and he wasn't at his best this season.

But what a warrior. I would ditch Kuba in a nanosecond if it meant getting the money to re-sign the A-Train.

I completely forgot about Kuba.

There are a lot of players that should be worried about their job and that Ottawa needs to explore trading.

Now, how do they draft Skinner?

Depends where Ottawa drafts. I think Skinner falls somewhere between 15-20 at the lowest.

hemlock wrote:I predict 60 points for each EK and Regin next year.

Not if Jesse Winchester is centring our first powerplay unit.

Seriously, though, I'm not opposed to dealing Spezza, but not regardless of the return. Notice how Regin's production skyrocketed when he started playing with #19?

I'm not going to go through the labour that is arguing with the ideological hegemony on this site, but if ( as Dash suggests) Edmonton offers you Cogliano and Nilsson, you don't accept; you tell them to **** off.

As far as Skinner goes; it's a tough call. I think Andre Petersson is basically Skinner with less grit. Maybe you want both, but I think it'd be nicer to get a bigger forward. It's easy to see Pittsburgh's success (in part, anyway) when you've got Staal 6'4", Malkin 6'3", and Crosby 8'7" bearing down on your defencemen.

Granted, Skinner plays bigger than his size. But it's a question mark, I think. Unless Skinner can pull a Parise post-draft, in which case the team that drafts him will land a huge steal.

Yep, Cogs and Nilsson doesn't cut it. should be Gagner + 2nd rounder to start at least.
Right now we will probably draft around 20th, so if you want Skinner, you probably trade up at least 10 spots. which is gonna be pretty hard considering we don't have any 2nd rounders left.

guys, I'm in vegas, and this is one of the hardest losses to fathom. I can't believe they blew a 3-0 lead. I expect some change big time....I"ve been pissed as hell in vegas, but let's face the truth: as much as we choked, we gave the pens a run for their money and remember the last time we lost a series in OT......what happened next year?

I know its not the same, but we gotta be happy with the way this season went. Imagine how awesome karlsson will be the year after. the sens won't forget this loss.....we'll be back. Sux that we lost this cuz we had this....but we can do this next year. no matter what, and I don't care who's fault is it cuz changes will be made, but go sens go. This is tough for me today in vegas, but we'll get it next year!

Michallica wrote:guys, I'm in vegas, and this is one of the hardest losses to fathom. I can't believe they blew a 3-0 lead. I expect some change big time....I"ve been pissed as hell in vegas, but let's face the truth: as much as we choked, we gave the pens a run for their money and remember the last time we lost a series in OT......what happened next year?

I know its not the same, but we gotta be happy with the way this season went. Imagine how awesome karlsson will be the year after. the sens won't forget this loss.....we'll be back. Sux that we lost this cuz we had this....but we can do this next year. no matter what, and I don't care who's fault is it cuz changes will be made, but go sens go. This is tough for me today in vegas, but we'll get it next year!

Eh...I'm trying to be big picture about this. Obviously you never want to lose, but without Kovalev/Michalek/Kuba, and with Alfredsson obviously only at about 60%, and with Spezza (much as I've been defending him) ineffective on a lot of his shifts, I don't think we were going that far. Although I think Pittsburgh is the best team in the East if Crosby continues to play like this. (Somehow I don't see Mike Green shutting him down when Phillips and Anton couldn't.)

This way we get more of an off-season to heal up, and hopefully some of the young kids can get some experience at the World Championships. I really hope Team Sweden takes Karlsson.

asq2 wrote:I guess I'll say it:

I really hope this was not Volchenkov's last game as an Ottawa Senator.

I know he's one-dimensional, he probably won't maintain his level of play for many more seasons, and he wasn't at his best this season.

But what a warrior. I would ditch Kuba in a nanosecond if it meant getting the money to re-sign the A-Train.

Is Sutton re-signing under this scenario? Having 24, 4, 5, and 39 as part of your top 6 doesn't really scare anyone offensively if you ask me.

asq2 wrote:

Michallica wrote:guys, I'm in vegas, and this is one of the hardest losses to fathom. I can't believe they blew a 3-0 lead. I expect some change big time....I"ve been pissed as hell in vegas, but let's face the truth: as much as we choked, we gave the pens a run for their money and remember the last time we lost a series in OT......what happened next year?

I know its not the same, but we gotta be happy with the way this season went. Imagine how awesome karlsson will be the year after. the sens won't forget this loss.....we'll be back. Sux that we lost this cuz we had this....but we can do this next year. no matter what, and I don't care who's fault is it cuz changes will be made, but go sens go. This is tough for me today in vegas, but we'll get it next year!

Eh...I'm trying to be big picture about this. Obviously you never want to lose, but without Kovalev/Michalek/Kuba, and with Alfredsson obviously only at about 60%, and with Spezza (much as I've been defending him) ineffective on a lot of his shifts, I don't think we were going that far. Although I think Pittsburgh is the best team in the East if Crosby continues to play like this. (Somehow I don't see Mike Green shutting him down when Phillips and Anton couldn't.)

This way we get more of an off-season to heal up, and hopefully some of the young kids can get some experience at the World Championships. I really hope Team Sweden takes Karlsson.

If the Pens can continue playing the kind of puck possession game they played tonight, No one in the East, much less the Capitals with their defense will be stopping them. Plus, the Caps won't be albe to coast for a couple of periods then flick the switch like we've seen against the Habs. Pittsburgh can match them in terms of offensive firepower.

marakh wrote:Yep, Cogs and Nilsson doesn't cut it. should be Gagner + 2nd rounder to start at least.
Right now we will probably draft around 20th, so if you want Skinner, you probably trade up at least 10 spots. which is gonna be pretty hard considering we don't have any 2nd rounders left.

We're drafting 18th unless one of Philly, Montreal or Boston can get to the Eastern Conference Finals, in which case we'd draft 17th. If two make it, we draft 16th (duh).

Last time we had the 18th over-all pick we maneuvred our way to a pretty decent player, though.

Also, I'm glad you added the qualifier "as a start" because I'm unconvinced that Gagner can become a top-line centre-man. Small + slow is not a great combination, although Gagner's improved since the draft, certainly. This is why I think they should take Seguin, although Oil fans are arguing that Hall could play centre for them rather than wing.

We'd have to take some salary, obviously (not Horcoff, though) but I would want at least Gagner and one of MPS or Eberle, if not just those 2.

I'll echo Dash's comment, though, that for better or for worse I don't see Spezza getting dealt barring, say, the 'Canes calling up announcing that Eric Staal wants out.

I'm very concerned that there might be an issue with the coaching. These guys played such a horrible game late in the second and the entire 3rd, that I think we might have an issue.

Clouston needs to learn that you can't just sit back and hope to preserve a lead against the defending SC champs - or basically anyone for that matter.

It was utterly predictable when it hit 3-2 that the Pens were going to tie it and that they were an 80% lock to win it in OT. Why is that?

N4L wrote:Now, how do they draft Skinner?

I know you've been preaching it all year, but Spezza has to go. He was just awful tonight, and I don't think there's a fit for him on this team anymore. He's a negative in the compete level and Ottawa needs to move on without him. I honestly think with the progression of Regin and Karlsson plus one of Wiercioch or Cowen, we're just as good. Smith has earned a spot on this team, and with the addition of Keller or maybe even Hoffman, and Butler we'll be okay. I'd trade Spezza for a top-five pick and a package of players/prospects, use the cap room to sign someone in the off-season, buy-out Cheechoo and we're just as competitive. I'm honestly okay with Volch walking and trading Kuba as well. Sometimes addition is best through subtraction and I think now is the time to give that theory a shot.