GAME DAY: Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators -- Saturday, October 23rd, 2010 -- 7pm ET (CBC)

first we have quite a few young guys coming up that will want the spots we can open-up for them.
so players i suggest we try and part with at the deadline or at the end of the year if things stay the same: Lee, Foligno, Winchester(not a bad guy but i think Z smith can take his job), Kuba, campoli and shannon.

some of these guys could turn it around during the year but at best they are average.
with kovalev and leclaire gone(frankly i like leclaire and if he stays healthy from now on wouldn't mind offering him a smaller contract) that totals 8 open spots on our line-up.
(and yes i'd opt to offer ruutu a 1 mill contract)
8 spots we could fill thru our youth and FA. that might mean we suck even more the following year or not. but at least we give our youth a shot.

Winchester, Campoli, Lee, Foligno... These guys are young, why get rid of the best young talent we have in order to figure out just how good the less developed youth we have are? Sure, any one of those guys could be a piece in a deal or two, but unloading any and all seems excessive.

wprager wrote:I take it you didn't actually watch the game? Lack of trying was not the reason they lost last night.

It was Alfie's fault -- he should have missed the empty netter in Buffalo and left the 1,000th point (and the celebration that followed) to Saturday night.

I did watch the game. I've watched all of the games so far this year and they've been outshot in all but one game I believe.

They're just being outworked on a regular basis. Teams must love playing us because we're so easy to play against. You get the first goal on the Sens and they fold up like a tent.

Urkie wrote:

I did watch the game. I've watched all of the games so far this year and they've been outshot in all but one game I believe.

They're just being outworked on a regular basis. Teams must love playing us because we're so easy to play against. You get the first goal on the Sens and they fold up like a tent.

Out-worked, out-talented, out-hustled, out-hit, out-everything. It's been embarrassing and it won't be allowed to go on much longer IMO. Let the Murray death watch begin.

hemlock wrote:

marakh wrote:

asq2 wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I'm not sure where we go from here. I'm really not...

I want to see what the entire healthy roster can do before considering giving up on the season.

EDIT: But if Murray trades our first round pick I will freak out, man.

I keep reading this all the time, most often on HFBoards. But when exactly did Murray ever trade his team's 1st rounder?

At this past draft, for Rundblad. I am with asq2 though, he cannot trade our upcoming first. I have a sinking feeling that it's going to be higher than we'd all like.

And FFS Murray, take a MFing forward please. I fear for the future of this team without a quality sniper(s) on the wings....

The saving grace is that Rundblad was a first round choice by the Blues (17th overall in the 2009 draft) and is a year closer to the NHL than anything we would have acquired with our pick.

And I agree... time to start choosing forwards.

No way that this is being blown out of proportion. We just don't have enough skilled players to seriously compete in this league, plus 3 of the 4 highest payed players on this team are 36 or older. Like really, I just laughed at whoever thought we could win the division. We were a 6-10 team if we played at our best.

A small rebuild is needed, IMO. We have already started drafting/trading for some serious prospects on the back-end, now we just need to start getting some potentially elite forwards. That starts at the draft.

Here are my untouchable players: Alfredsson, Spezza (would trade him only for great return), Regin, Karlsson, Phillips, Gonchar, Rundblad, Cowen, Wiercioch, Lehner, +most of our forward prospects.

Get on the phones Murray.

What a fiasco! Time to blow this Dung up!!!

Big Ev wrote:No way that this is being blown out of proportion. We just don't have enough skilled players to seriously compete in this league, plus 3 of the 4 highest payed players on this team are 36 or older. Like really, I just laughed at whoever thought we could win the division. We were a 6-10 team if we played at our best.

A small rebuild is needed, IMO. We have already started drafting/trading for some serious prospects on the back-end, now we just need to start getting some potentially elite forwards. That starts at the draft.

Here are my untouchable players: Alfredsson, Spezza (would trade him only for great return), Regin, Karlsson, Phillips, Gonchar, Rundblad, Cowen, Wiercioch, Lehner, +most of our forward prospects.

Get on the phones Murray.

Our forward prospects are untouchable? Surely you jest. If someone offered up a legit top 6 forward, and needed Jim Cussing O'Brien as part of the package, you wouldn't part with him?

Ok well not O'Brien and guys like that. I'd like to keep Petersson, Hoffman, Butler, and Silfverberg.

If you enter into a semi-rebuild, you need some young guys to step in. But, as you said, if there was a great offer on the table with some of our prospects involved then I would not be against trading them, because they are not elite.

Big Ev wrote:Ok well not O'Brien and guys like that. I'd like to keep Petersson, Hoffman, Butler, and Silfverberg.

If you enter into a semi-rebuild, you need some young guys to step in. But, as you said, if there was a great offer on the table with some of our prospects involved then I would not be against trading them, because they are not elite.

Certainly every team needs solid prospects, even if they aren't top line guys. It just doesn't look very likely right now that any of our current crop will develop into a 1st line sniper.

Imo, that's what we need to target, especially since we are seemingly set for the future at both goal and defence.

Yep, game 8 on the season, we've definitely seen enough to know that this team is going to play .300 hockey from here on out.



You guys are hilarious.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Urkie wrote:

I did watch the game. I've watched all of the games so far this year and they've been outshot in all but one game I believe.

They're just being outworked on a regular basis. Teams must love playing us because we're so easy to play against. You get the first goal on the Sens and they fold up like a tent.

Out-worked, out-talented, out-hustled, out-hit, out-everything. It's been embarrassing and it won't be allowed to go on much longer IMO. Let the Murray death watch begin.

Not out hit last night. Not out shot-blocked, either. They're still doing it in face offs.

rooneypoo wrote:Yep, game 8 on the season, we've definitely seen enough to know that this team is going to play .300 hockey from here on out.



You guys are hilarious.

No one said that. Certainly not me anyway. All I've said is that there are some disturbing trends going on...

hemlock wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:Yep, game 8 on the season, we've definitely seen enough to know that this team is going to play .300 hockey from here on out.



You guys are hilarious.

No one said that. Certainly not me anyway. All I've said is that there are some disturbing trends going on...

8 games in, and I'm reading everything from 'trade everyone' to 'rebuilt' to 'tank.' Some serious overreaction here. It's embarrassing: the confidence of Sens fans is worse than that of the team on its worst nights.

Yeah, maybe BM and CC became idiots, and an entire playoff roster forgot how to play hockey, overnight -- but I seriously doubt it. Our true colours will show soon enough. We're not world-beaters, for sure, but we're a .600-hockey kind of team, and that fact is going to surface soon enough.

wprager wrote:Not out hit last night. Not out shot-blocked, either. They're still doing it in face offs.

Well then the clear answer is that we just don't have the talent anymore.

Years of bad drafting is finally starting to really show and once more holes open up, which they soon will, then we won't have anybody to replace them.

A rebuild is coming whether anyone wants to admit it or not. The fact is that our forward prospect depth is probably the worst in the league.

We had a 1st line sniper. His name was Dany Heatley. He's been sorely missed.

rooneypoo wrote:

hemlock wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:Yep, game 8 on the season, we've definitely seen enough to know that this team is going to play .300 hockey from here on out.



You guys are hilarious.

No one said that. Certainly not me anyway. All I've said is that there are some disturbing trends going on...

8 games in, and I'm reading everything from 'trade everyone' to 'rebuilt' to 'tank.' Some serious overreaction here. It's embarrassing: the confidence of Sens fans is worse than that of the team on its worst nights.

Yeah, maybe BM and CC became idiots, and an entire playoff roster forgot how to play hockey, overnight -- but I seriously doubt it. Our true colours will show soon enough. We're not world-beaters, for sure, but we're a .600-hockey kind of team, and that fact is going to surface soon enough.

Maybe, maybe not. What seems apparent to me from what I have seen, is that we are already sorely missing a defensive stud back on the blueline, and perhaps some more consistent secondary scoring.

Right now, I am not convinced we are a .500 team, let alone a .600 team. Having said that, you are right, it's early in the season, but making the playoffs would be a much easier task if we were able to bank a few more points early on.

Big Ev wrote:We had a 1st line sniper. His name was Dany Heatley. He's been sorely missed.

Only on the scoresheet. I think the fact that we don't have a sniper waiting in the wings makes it tougher to handle the fact that we don't have a great sniper right now.

Urkie wrote:

wprager wrote:Not out hit last night. Not out shot-blocked, either. They're still doing it in face offs.

Well then the clear answer is that we just don't have the talent anymore.

Years of bad drafting is finally starting to really show and once more holes open up, which they soon will, then we won't have anybody to replace them.

A rebuild is coming whether anyone wants to admit it or not. The fact is that our forward prospect depth is probably the worst in the league.

As critical as I have been of Murray for his trade and coaching hire record, I will say he's drafted extremely well. Granted, I'd love a stud forward prospect to drool over, but I think he's gotten the BPA with his draft picks. Hard to argue that kind of success.

I like our forward depth in terms of Silfverberg, Petersson, and the like. They may not pan out to superstars, but if they project out to being solid top 9's we'll be in good shape. The thing we are missing is a true stud forward prospect.