Ottawa Senators off-season talk

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Here's the Hockey News mock draft for what it's worth:

1. Edmonton - Taylor Hall
2. Boston - Tyler Seguin
3. Florida - Cam Fowler
4. Columbus - Erik Gudbranson
5. New York Islanders - Brandon Gormley
6. Tampa Bay - Alexander Burmistrov
7. Carolina - Nino Niederreiter
8. Atlanta - Brett Connolly
9. Minnesota - Derek Forbort
10. New York Rangers - Ryan Johansen
11. Dallas - Jon Merrill
12. Anaheim - Mikael Granlund
13. Phoenix - Nick Bjugstad
14. St.Louis - Jack Campbell
15. Boston - Austin Watson
16. Ottawa - Vladimir Tarasenko
17. Colorado - Emerson Etem
18. Nashville - Jeff Skinner
19. Los Angeles - Quinton Howden
20. Pittsburgh - Mark Pysyk
21. Detroit - Evgeni Kuznetsov
22. Phoenix - Jarred Tinordi
23. Buffalo - Riley Sheahan
24. Atlanta - Tyler Pitlick
25. Vancouver - Dylan McIlrath
26. Washington - John McFarland
27. Montreal - Charlie Coyle
28. San Jose - Calle Jarnkrok
29. Anaheim - Jaden Schwartz
30. Chicago - Kirill Kabanov

It's worth a steaming pile of caca, evidently.

N4L wrote:Awesome, then Spezza is a 2nd line center at best by that logic. I know he isnt a 1st line center on a team that has any kind of shot at a cup.

SpezDispenser wrote:Fisher might have the size and strength, but one of the new things of the NHL is to have 2 top line centers and have cheaper (Michalek for example and Regin on his ELC or a long term 3 million dollar contract) wingers in there.

Fisher hit a lot of his points in the first half then faded badly. The Sens need a guy in there that can hit 75 points and backup Spezza in the threat department. That's where we're lacking IMO.

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:Awesome, then Spezza is a 2nd line center at best by that logic. I know he isnt a 1st line center on a team that has any kind of shot at a cup.

I've been saying that in different ways for a while now. It's not that you need to replace Spezza entirely, it's that we need a top line center who can do it all - like a Richards, Towes etc.

Big Ev wrote:I thought everybody was in agreement that Mike Fisher is a 3rd line grinding centre?

SpezDispenser wrote:Fisher might have the size and strength, but one of the new things of the NHL is to have 2 top line centers and have cheaper (Michalek for example and Regin on his ELC or a long term 3 million dollar contract) wingers in there.

Fisher hit a lot of his points in the first half then faded badly. The Sens need a guy in there that can hit 75 points and backup Spezza in the threat department. That's where we're lacking IMO.

N4L wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:Awesome, then Spezza is a 2nd line center at best by that logic. I know he isnt a 1st line center on a team that has any kind of shot at a cup.

I've been saying that in different ways for a while now. It's not that you need to replace Spezza entirely, it's that we need a top line center who can do it all - like a Richards, Towes etc.

Yup and with Spezza making 7 mil for 5 more years that wont be happening.

Big Ev wrote:I thought everybody was in agreement that Mike Fisher is a 3rd line grinding centre?

N4L wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Fisher might have the size and strength, but one of the new things of the NHL is to have 2 top line centers and have cheaper (Michalek for example and Regin on his ELC or a long term 3 million dollar contract) wingers in there.

Fisher hit a lot of his points in the first half then faded badly. The Sens need a guy in there that can hit 75 points and backup Spezza in the threat department. That's where we're lacking IMO.

Wrong. They need someone who can push Spezza out of that spot. If Ottawa has a guy that can only "backup" Spezza, they wont be winning anything of any real importance.

Spezza is not a 1st line center on a good to great team.

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:Awesome, then Spezza is a 2nd line center at best by that logic. I know he isnt a 1st line center on a team that has any kind of shot at a cup.

I've been saying that in different ways for a while now. It's not that you need to replace Spezza entirely, it's that we need a top line center who can do it all - like a Richards, Towes etc.

Yup and with Spezza making 7 mil for 5 more years that wont be happening.

Why not? There's no mystery to this, we need to either promote Regin if he lights it up, move Cullen in there (though that's not optimum), draft a guy, buy a guy on the UFA market. There are a million different things we can do. With Kovalev and Leclaire and Kuba (probably) going next summer, we'll address our need for an interchangeable 1-2 centerman. Believe me.

Or we'll trade Spezza.

Either way, it'll be addressed. It's almost the last remaining thing to do other than letting the kids mature and continuing to draft as well as humanly possible.

Big Ev wrote:

N4L wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Fisher might have the size and strength, but one of the new things of the NHL is to have 2 top line centers and have cheaper (Michalek for example and Regin on his ELC or a long term 3 million dollar contract) wingers in there.

Fisher hit a lot of his points in the first half then faded badly. The Sens need a guy in there that can hit 75 points and backup Spezza in the threat department. That's where we're lacking IMO.

Wrong. They need someone who can push Spezza out of that spot. If Ottawa has a guy that can only "backup" Spezza, they wont be winning anything of any real importance.

Spezza is not a 1st line center on a good to great team.

You don't know he's wrong, you could be wrong.

N4L wrote:
Again, why do you assume The Sens are going to try and get ride of their number 1 goaltender in the organization right now?

Unless Regin becomes the number 1 guy here then The Sens wont be doing anything all that special. He's going to need to carry a few guys including Spezza for that to happen.

N4L wrote:
If someone is backing up Spezza getting 75 points, you can basically garentee they are the number 1 center. That's why it's wrong. Spezza struggles to get to that mark as it is no to mention the fact he isnt all that great in 2 of the 3 zones on the ice. A "2nd line" center will be a lot better in that aspect.

We'll use Kesler as the example as he is the 2nd line center in Vancouver. He's the 1st line center in Ottawa without much if any debate at all.

N4L wrote:

Big Ev wrote:

N4L wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Fisher might have the size and strength, but one of the new things of the NHL is to have 2 top line centers and have cheaper (Michalek for example and Regin on his ELC or a long term 3 million dollar contract) wingers in there.

Fisher hit a lot of his points in the first half then faded badly. The Sens need a guy in there that can hit 75 points and backup Spezza in the threat department. That's where we're lacking IMO.

Wrong. They need someone who can push Spezza out of that spot. If Ottawa has a guy that can only "backup" Spezza, they wont be winning anything of any real importance.

Spezza is not a 1st line center on a good to great team.

You don't know he's wrong, you could be wrong.

If someone is backing up Spezza getting 75 points, you can basically garentee they are the number 1 center. That's why it's wrong. Spezza struggles to get to that mark as it is no to mention the fact he isnt all that great in 2 of the 3 zones on the ice. A "2nd line" center will be a lot better in that aspect.

We'll use Kesler as the example as he is the 2nd line center in Vancouver. He's the 1st line center in Ottawa without much if any debate at all.