Final answer: Do the Sens make another move?

I definitely don't think so personally, I think the roster is looking nice and deep - and I think now's the time to let these guys battle it out in training camp. More and more I feel Brian Lee should stay as the 7th D-man in case of injuries so Wiercioch can focus almost solely on the AHL. Gryba might see some time, but again, we don't need these guys to play NHL hockey when they're less than a year removed from playing NCAA.

Ryan Shannon might be the most interesting of all the cases. There's legitimate depth around him now too. To the point where if there's an opening because of injuries, a lot of people would probably sooner see Wick or Butler in there (I would, and I've always really liked Shannon).

So what'll happen? Are we done, or is there something else coming?

Also, there's still the open book on one Marc Savard...

I think we need to make another move. I really believe that we need to have a little more toughness on D. I realize we have Carkner, but he's in his sophomore year this year and I'm not convinced that he will be as consistent as he was last year...why you ask? I can't really answer that, just a gut feeling I have. I really wish we could've signed Sutton or someone of that ilk. Not too expensive but damned intimidating. We do not have that intimidation factor at all anymore (physically) on D. We have the insane intimidation factor of being able to move the puck like we never have before...but not the in your face D-man that will stand you up at the line. I think we need that to get further in the playoffs. We would be very close to being the best D in the league if we had that.

I also think we need to add a sniper on one of our top 2 lines. Where is there room for one? Not sure...we're bakclogged on forwards as well as D this year, so we can't add without subtracting. We would need to move Shannon, Lee, one of our many 4th liners ie: Smith, Winchester, Kelly, Ruutu, Shannon, Wick, Butler. Of course there are names in there that I do not want to move, but others we can do without. We need to open up a spot for someone with skill that can help with scoring like Wick and/or Butler. I'm curious to see what those guys will bring this year.

If Michalek, Kovalev, Fisher, Foligno, Alfie & Spezza can stay healthy this year, there may not be much we need to do. If one of them goes down, we'll need to have someone that isn't a 4th liner help out with the offense. That's where another forward would come in handy.

I voted 'No' although I think there will be a move since either our 7th defenseman or 13th forward will be pushed out by someone at camp. To translate what I just said, either Lee or Shannon (more so Shannon) are likely to be moved. That said, I don't see us *adding* a roster player until March, which is why I voted 'No'.

tuff question to answer now. i think we might have to wait till after training camp to see. i'll say yes because IMO i don't think this team has all the components it needs to be a top contender. i agree with sensgirl, we do not have a bouncer on the blueline. the departure of both volchie and sutton leave us without a nice open ice hitter on the back end. so we are left without the "fear of god" factor.
a cheap option like sutton would of been great. we might see a bit of gryba in that respect if injuries happen.

i'd rather not see weichoch up here(he needs to gain weight) and i could wait the extra year on cowen personally.

as for wick and butler, i think butler could benefit from a year in the AHl playing around men, while Wick has been playing with men in europe and could be given a chance(if waranted at camp).

there's a number of players i could see being traded including prospects in order to shore up the attack.
and i'd be surprised if kuba is still around a year from now.

and yes spezz, we can still dream about savard

SensGirl11 wrote:I think we need to make another move. I really believe that we need to have a little more toughness on D. I realize we have Carkner, but he's in his sophomore year this year and I'm not convinced that he will be as consistent as he was last year...why you ask? I can't really answer that, just a gut feeling I have. I really wish we could've signed Sutton or someone of that ilk. Not too expensive but damned intimidating. We do not have that intimidation factor at all anymore (physically) on D. We have the insane intimidation factor of being able to move the puck like we never have before...but not the in your face D-man that will stand you up at the line. I think we need that to get further in the playoffs. We would be very close to being the best D in the league if we had that.

I also think we need to add a sniper on one of our top 2 lines. Where is there room for one? Not sure...we're bakclogged on forwards as well as D this year, so we can't add without subtracting. We would need to move Shannon, Lee, one of our many 4th liners ie: Smith, Winchester, Kelly, Ruutu, Shannon, Wick, Butler. Of course there are names in there that I do not want to move, but others we can do without. We need to open up a spot for someone with skill that can help with scoring like Wick and/or Butler. I'm curious to see what those guys will bring this year.

If Michalek, Kovalev, Fisher, Foligno, Alfie & Spezza can stay healthy this year, there may not be much we need to do. If one of them goes down, we'll need to have someone that isn't a 4th liner help out with the offense. That's where another forward would come in handy.

Really nice post actually.

We've talked about this (in person) and for sure we'll miss A-Train and Sutton's physicality. I wish we had been able to keep Sutton, but re-watching a few games from last year (on the PVR) really opens your eyes to what Campoli *might* be capable of if he's healthy. I think Carkner's gonna be fine, but I admit to us lacking some brute strength back there. Still...it worked for Detroit and Chicago and so on...so hopefully it'll work for us.

I maintain that Wick and Butler are NOT 4th line players, they're top 6 forwards if anything. They might not work - or they might shock us, but they're not bottom six forwards, so if you're to turn to someone in case of injuries, they were born to play that role for us. Especially with Michalek being able to play both wings, we can shift things around to accommodate them.

Don't you wish this was a year from now and Kovalev and Leclaire were gone? Perhaps we'd be adding a sniper extraordinaire - perhaps even Kovalchuk.

Flo The Action wrote:tuff question to answer now. i think we might have to wait till after training camp to see. i'll say yes because IMO i don't think this team has all the components it needs to be a top contender. i agree with sensgirl, we do not have a bouncer on the blueline. the departure of both volchie and sutton leave us without a nice open ice hitter on the back end. so we are left without the "fear of god" factor.
a cheap option like sutton would of been great. we might see a bit of gryba in that respect if injuries happen.

i'd rather not see weichoch up here(he needs to gain weight) and i could wait the extra year on cowen personally.

as for wick and butler, i think butler could benefit from a year in the AHl playing around men, while Wick has been playing with men in europe and could be given a chance(if waranted at camp).

there's a number of players i could see being traded including prospects in order to shore up the attack.
and i'd be surprised if kuba is still around a year from now.

and yes spezz, we can still dream about savard

Another nice post. Butler and Wick *could* use some seasoning in the AHL, but when the chips are down Butler won the scoring title for the NCAA and might be on par with Kunitz and Penner in terms of raw talent - and Wick plays in a men's league, played in the Olympics and is primed to make the NHL - like Regin version 2.0 IMO.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:tuff question to answer now. i think we might have to wait till after training camp to see. i'll say yes because IMO i don't think this team has all the components it needs to be a top contender. i agree with sensgirl, we do not have a bouncer on the blueline. the departure of both volchie and sutton leave us without a nice open ice hitter on the back end. so we are left without the "fear of god" factor.
a cheap option like sutton would of been great. we might see a bit of gryba in that respect if injuries happen.

i'd rather not see weichoch up here(he needs to gain weight) and i could wait the extra year on cowen personally.

as for wick and butler, i think butler could benefit from a year in the AHl playing around men, while Wick has been playing with men in europe and could be given a chance(if waranted at camp).

there's a number of players i could see being traded including prospects in order to shore up the attack.
and i'd be surprised if kuba is still around a year from now.

and yes spezz, we can still dream about savard

Another nice post. Butler and Wick *could* use some seasoning in the AHL, but when the chips are down Butler won the scoring title for the NCAA and might be on par with Kunitz and Penner in terms of raw talent - and Wick plays in a men's league, played in the Olympics and is primed to make the NHL - like Regin version 2.0 IMO.

raw talent exactly. give butler a year in the AHL, call him up if we need to and if he's showing he's ready. but IMO wick is ready now, and if he isn't then farewell, he's old enough that if he can't stick to the NHL then i doubt he will 2 years from now.

we pick up a guy like sutton at the trade deadline if Murray thinks the team is going to make a run in the playoffs. Remember after this year, we are going to have some money to spend with kovalev and leclaire coming off the books.

Well, I think will be re-signed, plus we have Phillips also to take care of.

Here's a complete list of Sens FA's for 2011:

Kovalev, Alexei
Leclaire, Pascal
Phillips, Chris
Campoli, Chris
Ruutu, Jarkko
Butler, Bobby
Elliott, Brian
Greening, Colin
Condra, Erik
Hale, David
Shannon, Ryan
Wick, Roman
Brodeur, Mike
Smith, Zack
Smith, Derek
Lessard, Francis
Kinrade, Geoff
Benoit, Andre
Daugavins, Kaspars
Keller, Ryan
Bailey, Jason
Bass, Cody

The ones I bolded are important guys to keep/trade. Guys like Ruutu, Kovalev, and maybe Campoli might be trade bait at the deadline for teams looking for help, should Ottawa go that route.

2011 has some good RFAs too:

Weber, Doughty, Stamkos, Carter, Seabrook, Bogosian, Parise, Schenn, Bailey, Okposo, Voracek, Oshie, Berglund, Tikhonov, Mason...

I see one REALLY important guy on that list - and one possibly important guy (Campoli). The rest can walk - or for the young guns, be re-signed.

No. Final answer.

SpezDispenser wrote:I see one REALLY important guy on that list - and one possibly important guy (Campoli). The rest can walk - or for the young guns, be re-signed.

i see no love for leclaire...

seriously we might be whistling a different tune at the end of next season.
elliott has shown he can be good, but he hasn't proven he can take the team into the playoffs.
leclaire has still lots to prove but he's shown lots too. if only he can remain injury free this season

Flo The Action wrote:
i see no love for leclaire...

seriously we might be whistling a different tune at the end of next season.
elliott has shown he can be good, but he hasn't proven he can take the team into the playoffs.
leclaire has still lots to prove but he's shown lots too. if only he can remain injury free this season

Until Pascal Leclaire steps up and plays consistently lights out, I will continue to have reservations about him. I know he got injured a lot - and that it mostly wasn't his fault etc. etc. etc., but he still wasn't good enough before the injuries. He had some nice runs where I thought maybe he was gonna be 'the guy', but then he let in back-breaking goals that sunk games for the Sens almost single-handedly.

I'm not even sure Leclaire has the talent to bring his level up to one that's upper echelon. I want to be wrong so badly, but I find his positioning very questionable in terms of rebounds and in terms of him flopping around and getting himself out of position.

What Wamsley was saying is pretty accurate. Leclaire needs to focus on making the routine saves and try to pick his spots to go gumby in there and get himself out of position.

Anything less than a 2.40 and a .915 and I'm disappointed in Leclaire for the amount of money he got and what he cost (Vermette had value for sure). This is it - and I'm scared crapless for him and for the team.

I want badly to be surprised though, maybe I will be.

I hope this season we don't waste draft picks on free agents who walk after the season is over. I would have rather had those second rounders, as a lot of good talent dropped to the second round this year.

I am not at all sold on Leclaire-flashes of brilliance and then duds dosen't cut it. I want solid, not spectacular, just solid. The cup can be won with solid goaltending if recent history is any indication. As well, I would love to see Brodeur get a few more chances with the big team this year. Is it at all possible Lehrner gets a game or two?