GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators vs Montreal Canadiens - 7:30pmET - FRI Jan. 21 2011

wprager wrote:
True, we don't have 2-3 years' worth of top 5 picks but consider this:

Cowen was projected top-five, if not top-three before he got hurt. This year we could very well get a top-three pick. Some careful deadline trading should give us a couple of 2-3 round picks, and assuming we don't do much better (in the W column) next year, we could parlay our own 1st rounder (which should be top-ten) and the other picks for a top-five. There's your 2-3 years' worth of top 5 picks.

Karlsson was drafted at #15 but he's still a top-end talent, and he's already contributing while learning on the job (he did not spend a full year in the AHL, remember). Rundblad is tearing it up in the SEL. I still have not given up on Wiercioch but I expect him to have another full season in Bingo next year, but to do much better on his second time around. Butler is playing like a top-six guy right now. Smith is an excellent third liner and a pretty exciting player to watch.

Goalie prospects are nearly impossible to gauge but by all accounts Lehner is an elite-level prospect and after a full year in the AHL he should be ready for at least tandem with a steady veteran.

So that's my rebuild plan. Top-five draft picks this year and the next, both used to acquire top-end forwards. Next year we start to regain excitement with removal of players like Kovalev, Kuba, Ruutu, Leclaire (and possibly others). They would be replaced by the likes of Butler, Cowen/Rundblad, O'Brien and a goalie (could be Nabokov on a 3 year deal, no NTC in the third year). There are other forwards who could make waves at camp in Greening, Condra, Caporusso, the Swedes -- but I don't expect them to make the team except as call-ups.

The following year Lehner is the backup or tandem from day one. Karlsson, Cowen and Rundblad on the back-end, at least one of the top-five forwards playing alongside the likes of Spezza, Michalek, Fisher, Foligno, Butler, Regin. For a team in a re-build year, that's not a bad top-six. The year after that we start making some hay.

20013-14 we should be contenders.

shabbs wrote:

hemlock wrote:

shabbs wrote:It seems like after every loss, the media asks "Is this Clouston's last game..."

What else can they say? If the team is staying the course, there is nothing to write about. The media has to talk about something.

IMO, the smartest thing this team can do, is stay the course, dump some salary at the deadline and retool in the offseason.

BooBoo's article today is pretty clear... Clouston Has To Go.

http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2011/01/21/16987746.html

hemlock wrote:

shabbs wrote:

hemlock wrote:

shabbs wrote:It seems like after every loss, the media asks "Is this Clouston's last game..."

What else can they say? If the team is staying the course, there is nothing to write about. The media has to talk about something.

IMO, the smartest thing this team can do, is stay the course, dump some salary at the deadline and retool in the offseason.

BooBoo's article today is pretty clear... Clouston Has To Go.

http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2011/01/21/16987746.html

Another misdirected piece of Dung article from this gearbox. The players should shoulder most of the blame for this debacle. Clouston is a dead man walking anyway, so Garrioch can take his sensationalism and pound it straight up his fat Donkey.

rooneypoo wrote:

hemlock wrote:

shabbs wrote:

hemlock wrote:

shabbs wrote:It seems like after every loss, the media asks "Is this Clouston's last game..."

What else can they say? If the team is staying the course, there is nothing to write about. The media has to talk about something.

IMO, the smartest thing this team can do, is stay the course, dump some salary at the deadline and retool in the offseason.

BooBoo's article today is pretty clear... Clouston Has To Go.

http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2011/01/21/16987746.html

Another misdirected piece of Dung article from this gearbox. The players should shoulder most of the blame for this debacle. Clouston is a dead man walking anyway, so Garrioch can take his sensationalism and pound it straight up his fat Donkey.

I'm having a hard time squaring the substance of this post with your avatar.

shabbs wrote:But you're talking about change for the sake of change... no trade or firing right now is going to make any real difference. With our coach and GM's contracts expiring after this season, we're in a bit of a bind... a downward spiral towards a lottery pick and most likely a new GM and coach next season... any moves at this point are pretty useless unless we're off-loading and accumulating picks, which is easier said than done.

Otherwise it's just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

It really sucks to watch this happen, but if we want to rebuild and be better in the long run, we're going to have to go through this pain.

hemlock wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

hemlock wrote:

shabbs wrote:

hemlock wrote:

shabbs wrote:It seems like after every loss, the media asks "Is this Clouston's last game..."

What else can they say? If the team is staying the course, there is nothing to write about. The media has to talk about something.

IMO, the smartest thing this team can do, is stay the course, dump some salary at the deadline and retool in the offseason.

BooBoo's article today is pretty clear... Clouston Has To Go.

http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2011/01/21/16987746.html

Another misdirected piece of Dung article from this gearbox. The players should shoulder most of the blame for this debacle. Clouston is a dead man walking anyway, so Garrioch can take his sensationalism and pound it straight up his fat Donkey.

I'm having a hard time squaring the substance of this post with your avatar.

Haha. Clearly the avatar is a joke. I've already had a PM request to change it as it's creeping someone out.

22_4_ever wrote:

shabbs wrote:But you're talking about change for the sake of change... no trade or firing right now is going to make any real difference. With our coach and GM's contracts expiring after this season, we're in a bit of a bind... a downward spiral towards a lottery pick and most likely a new GM and coach next season... any moves at this point are pretty useless unless we're off-loading and accumulating picks, which is easier said than done.

Otherwise it's just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

It really sucks to watch this happen, but if we want to rebuild and be better in the long run, we're going to have to go through this pain.

I guess I'm old school. I agree that change for the sake of change isn't good. Looking at my feelings a little closer I guess what I'm really saying is to Melnyk. Do you want Murray back, if yes, then make him commit to a 2 or 3 year contract, lock it down and sign it now..let the fans know that's the plan. If he or Murray doesn't want it to continue then move along now and bring in a guy who at the trade deadline and into the summer can start "his" plan to rebuild this team.

Further to that the same applies to the coach. If you don't want Clouston back, then bring in the next guy. From my vantage point a new coach isn't going to fix anything, but I see it as bringing in the guy who will be the guy next year and have him spend 10,15, 20 however many games he has when he's hired to implement the system he wants the players to use next year.

They get a taste of what to expect under the coach next year and can spend the summer preparing for it. I just don't understand the need to have a new coach wait until next years training camp to try to get the players to figure out/buy into his system while at the same time he tries to evaluate line pairings, and new young talent. Put it in place now, see what he has and then he too has the summer to plan for next year.

But you're right..change for the sake of change is stupid and not needed...still...I hate losing that badly to the Leafs or Habs without something coming from it.

I guess on the bright side it wasn't a 3-2 shootout loss where we'd kid ourselves into thinking things aren't as bad as they are...at least with the blowouts it's blatantly apparent how bad things are.

Dash wrote:Isn't anyone all the bit concerned that a new coach coming may only be replaced at the end of the year (when a new GM could be named) or sometime next season if and when the time comes to blame the coach (yet again)?

SpezDispenser wrote:

Dash wrote:Isn't anyone all the bit concerned that a new coach coming may only be replaced at the end of the year (when a new GM could be named) or sometime next season if and when the time comes to blame the coach (yet again)?

Definitely. Time to trade a boatload of players and let Clouston run with the team until the end of the year, what the heck else can we do?

wprager wrote:
The only coaching change that makes sense is Murray replacing Clouston for the remainder of the season. We've seen this before. Didn't work then, either.

SpezDispenser wrote:Definitely. Time to trade a boatload of players and let Clouston run with the team until the end of the year, what the heck else can we do?

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Definitely. Time to trade a boatload of players and let Clouston run with the team until the end of the year, what the heck else can we do?

I saw an awful lot of good shifts last night from Ottawa, actually. Split-second mistakes by individuals are hurting this team more than anything. I have a real tough time blaming the coach except for the fact that he scratches the wrong players.

By the way, a lot of giveaways and turnovers DO NOT result in goals against. Imagine. As I said, "Smelliott" has to face at least one breakaway per game plus all the giveaways in front of his net, plus all the odd-man rushes. Signing Nabokov would be a nice audition for next season but he won't make the players in front of him any better.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Definitely. Time to trade a boatload of players and let Clouston run with the team until the end of the year, what the heck else can we do?

I saw an awful lot of good shifts last night from Ottawa, actually. Split-second mistakes by individuals are hurting this team more than anything. I have a real tough time blaming the coach except for the fact that he scratches the wrong players.

By the way, a lot of giveaways and turnovers DO NOT result in goals against. Imagine. As I said, "Smelliott" has to face at least one breakaway per game plus all the giveaways in front of his net, plus all the odd-man rushes. Signing Nabokov would be a nice audition for next season but he won't make the players in front of him any better.

We all know how sharp a hockey mind he is. This is a disaster of Titanic proportions, maybe he's not at all to blame.

Big Ev wrote:
Since when? What has he done to show he's such a sharp hockey mind?

SpezDispenser wrote:

Big Ev wrote:
Since when? What has he done to show he's such a sharp hockey mind?

Dude, he took this exact roster to 5th in the East last year without their top sniper who was traded for an injured soldier and a defect.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Big Ev wrote:
Since when? What has he done to show he's such a sharp hockey mind?

Dude, he took this exact roster to 5th in the East last year without their top sniper who was traded for an injured soldier and a defect.