Sens on July 1st, Free Agents, Trades - Interesting storylines to watch.

Sens4thecup wrote:We need a defensive defense man after the loss of Volchie and Sutton.

Kuba and Phillips are both very solid defensivly, Gonchar is too and Campoli is decent as well. Carkner obviously has his short comings but what he does for 82 games is worth that number 6, 7 spot on the blueline. Even Lee isnt bad defensivly, he's just a Front Bum that gets knocked off the puck.

You dont need guys blocking shots with their face, they do have a goaltender and IMO they have two very solid ones. Like Murray said, "you dont need to block the puck when you have it".

We have (lost potentially) 3 good NHL players and replaced those bodies with a 36 year old d-man? Murray cannot be done.

Sens4thecup wrote:We have (lost potentially) 3 good NHL players and replaced those bodies with a 36 year old d-man? Murray cannot be done.

I like all 3 of the guys The Sens had, but Murray is going with a highly offensive lineup which will largely depend on their goaltenders to make saves when things break down.

People in Ottawa want excittment, they got it. Also, A Train is over rated defensivly, he just blocks shots.

if we trade lee we have over 4 million left, why can't we have kept cullen again?

Pittsburgh, Philly, Ottawa with the strongest D in the East?

Probably not actually, I don't know if we're quite there yet.

lydman to ana 3 mil per year

strange the panthers have done nothing

111519 wrote:if we trade lee we have over 4 million left, why can't we have kept cullen again?

We had 7.5 million with 0.7, 1.2, 1.2, 1.1 RFA contracts to Winchester, Regin, Foligno, Campoli (those were my guesses, but I'm confident they're close). Also, Shannon and Lee were off the team (1.5 million dollars).

Murray likes to have a 1.5 million retainer for injuries, callups and trades at the deadline, but he's carried only a million from time to time.

Gonchar was 5.5, that's exactly the money we have left, he's done.

Unless Murray's trading more than Shannon and Lee. Like Kuba, but I doubt it.

I think this signing is a lateral move at best. We may have gotten better offensively, but weaker defensively.

whitney to pheonix 3 mill per for 2 years

Sens4thecup wrote:I think this signing is a lateral move at best. We may have gotten better offensively, but weaker defensively.

How? A Train isnt a good defensive D man and Gonchar actually plays in his own zone with a lot of confidence and inteligence. A Train goes out and blocks shots, awesome, you need that on the PK, even strength he is ok and he gets beaten a lot, Phillips is the guy always covering up for him.

There is a reason Phillips was like 5th in the league in giveaways.

The Sens go into the year having Gonchar instead of A Train... ummm, is it really that hard to see what the better lineup would be? Also, Campoli has impressed the last little bit and could be ready for a bigger role.

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:whitney to pheonix 3 mill per for 2 years

The Wizard!

Another 35+ contract...

Isn't Comrie a UFA....?

Hee hee.

Who are going to shut down top lines (i.e. Crosby, Ovie or even Stall?) Phillips and Clarkner? It didn't help us this past year in the play-offs.

Dash wrote:http://senators.nhl.com/fr/v2/ext/audilo_files/100701_Murray.mp3

Murray speaks about signing Gonchar.

"It's great to block shots, but we'd like the other teamto block shots"

Sens4thecup wrote:Who are going to shut down top lines (i.e. Crosby, Ovie or even Stall?) Phillips and Clarkner? It didn't help us this past year in the play-offs.

You're right, A Train didnt help us in the playoffs. You actually need the puck once in a while too, not just shutting down the other team.

Gonchar is good enough to go against other teams top lines and with Phillips there the puck movement will be very solid. What Ottawa had on the back end wasnt working and Murray has gone out and fixed it.

Our back end is more mobile, that's for sure... we'll miss the shot blocking for sure... but I'll take the added offense and mobility over that.

50 points in 62 games.. .I'm looking forward to this coming season. we paid 1.5M for a much better defencemen.. it's an easy decision. Why pay 4+ for A Train when a player like him is a dime a dozen.