GAME DAY:Ottawa Senators @ Carolina Hurricanes - 7:00pm ET - Tue. Mar. 22, 2011

I like Carkner as much as the next guy but fact of the matter is The Sens do not miss him in the least and the way of the pure enforcer is going that of the Dodo Bird... There are better players than Carkner in Ottawa that will play in the top 6 next year, IMO.

Like you said, losing a D man for 5 mins at a time is huge (always more than 5 mins btw)... It wears down other guys. At this point I couldn't justify putting in Carkner over Lee and I don't see how it can be justified going into next year either.

Carkner is probably going to be a 13th forward/7th D man next year. That's all I can see him being. Lee has turned himself into a really solid NHL D man.

Next year the blueline will probably look like this. (as it stands)

Phillips/Lee
Kuba/Karlsson
Gonchar/Rundblad
Carkner

If Kuba or Gonchar somehow get moved, just plug Cowen in there and mix it around. Either way, that's probably how it is going to look.

This game was a good measuring stick for the current lineup, IMO. Why? Ever since I can remember, Ottawa has been flat and uninspired v. The Canes.

Kind of like the Devils. This lineup has managed to make games against both the Canes and Devils watchable for the first time in a long time.

NEELY wrote:Carkner is probably going to be a 13th forward/7th D man next year. That's all I can see him being. Lee has turned himself into a really solid NHL D man.

Might as well keep him around though, it's only 700K and we're not spending anywhere near the cap. Might be a really good depth guy to have around when there's the plethora of injuries that always seem to come.

NEELY wrote:Next year the blueline will probably look like this. (as it stands)

Phillips/Lee
Kuba/Karlsson
Gonchar/Rundblad
Carkner

If Kuba or Gonchar somehow get moved, just plug Cowen in there and mix it around. Either way, that's probably how it is going to look.

I assume it's a fight to the death between Cowen and Rundblad for that final spot? I doubt they just give it to Rundblad no matter how awesome he's been this year. A year in the AHL working on D zone coverage would go a long, long way I think. Not that he couldn't make the NHL, he can and probably will immediately, but there will be such horrific mistakes, that I start to wonder if he'd be better suited making them in the A for at least part of the year.

Same applies for Silfverberg as a F prospect. If we can leave him over in the SEL for another year, he could continue to progress as a sniper and as a two-way player. Where if we bring him over immediately, I'm not sure if his confidence would be the same.

NEELY wrote:Carkner is probably going to be a 13th forward/7th D man next year. That's all I can see him being. Lee has turned himself into a really solid NHL D man.

yeah I was just going to say this. Carkner can still play forward and hate to say it, but I don't see us re-signing Ryan Shannon despite his late season surge. My guess is they wanna give the ball now to the condras and greenings in the organization and you need to make space. carkner is the perfect 13th forward who still provides the toughness and if needed can play a sound defensive game whenever injuries happen. If you told carkner this would be his fate 3 years ago, he would have jumped at it

Michallica wrote:
yeah I was just going to say this. Carkner can still play forward and hate to say it, but I don't see us re-signing Ryan Shannon despite his late season surge. My guess is they wanna give the ball now to the condras and greenings in the organization and you need to make space. carkner is the perfect 13th forward who still provides the toughness and if needed can play a sound defensive game whenever injuries happen. If you told carkner this would be his fate 3 years ago, he would have jumped at it

I think it's poor asset management not to at least offer Shannon a 1 year, 600,000 extension. He's a big part of Condra playing well - those two have terrific jump and seem to read off each other. Sign Shannon!

Michallica wrote:

NEELY wrote:Carkner is probably going to be a 13th forward/7th D man next year. That's all I can see him being. Lee has turned himself into a really solid NHL D man.

yeah I was just going to say this. Carkner can still play forward and hate to say it, but I don't see us re-signing Ryan Shannon despite his late season surge. My guess is they wanna give the ball now to the condras and greenings in the organization and you need to make space. carkner is the perfect 13th forward who still provides the toughness and if needed can play a sound defensive game whenever injuries happen. If you told carkner this would be his fate 3 years ago, he would have jumped at it

At this point, I don't see how we can not re-sign Shannon for next year. He brings too much for too cheap. No brainer, if you ask me.

I think Carkner is a good "locker-room guy", and he's also very nice to have in the lineup against some of the bigger/nastier teams. He's a useful player at a tiny cap hit. That said, he'll have to battle hard in training camp next year just like the young guys.

SpezDispenser wrote:
I think it's poor asset management not to at least offer Shannon a 1 year, 600,000 extension. He's a big part of Condra playing well - those two have terrific jump and seem to read off each other. Sign Shannon!

Where are we going to play him ?

Shannon always seems to have these late season surges.

rooneypoo wrote:At this point, I don't see how we can [b]not[b] re-sign Shannon for next year. He brings too much for too cheap. No brainer, if you ask me.

The only problem is Shannon and Clouston don't mix. He just has Shannon out there too much for my liking.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:At this point, I don't see how we can [b]not[b] re-sign Shannon for next year. He brings too much for too cheap. No brainer, if you ask me.

The only problem is Shannon and Clouston don't mix. He just has Shannon out there too much for my liking.

This is more irony, right? Because Shannon is playing literally every position, and in all situations, right now: top-6 minutes, C and wing and point (on the PP), PP and PK. He's basically taken over the role Vermette vacated 2 years ago.

Yeah, Shannon's a useful guy to have around, too (like Carkner). He can play in all situations and doesn't normally look out-of-place. He's quite the useful "plug" to have for the next couple of years.

Hoags wrote:
Where are we going to play him ?

Shannon always seems to have these late season surges.

3rd line with Condra and Z.Smith, something line that.

SpezDispenser wrote:
3rd line with Condra and Z.Smith, something line that.

We still got Regin, could sign him and figure out which one to keep but they've been trying to do that for a while.

If they draft Strome, Coutourier or RNH and want him in the lineup next year though ...

(I still don't get why they'd announce their 1st round pick will play next year -- odd and uncharacteristic thing to say)

I would take Shannon over Regin in a heart beat at this point. Regin hasn't done anything that would put him above Shannon in anyway.

Hoags wrote:
We still got Regin, could sign him and figure out which one to keep but they've been trying to do that for a while.

If they draft Strome, Coutourier or RNH and want him in the lineup next year though ...

(I still don't get why they'd announce their 1st round pick will play next year -- odd and uncharacteristic thing to say)

I had no issue with them saying that, it was the time they said it - how did they know we'd stay in the bottom 3, even now it's touch and go. If we get one of the top 3 picks, I would say that player will play in the NHL, if it's 4 on, who knows. They would have been better off to say that in the off-season when we've cemented our position.

As for Regin, he'll come back next year strong I'm sure, there's a lot of work for him to do and unfortunately he can't do weight training in that shoulder/arm until well into July (maybe sooner, but I doubt it), but still, the hope is he'll be bigger and more effective.

It's really hard to think about the lineups right now, but I assume we'll be drafting a forward:

Michalek - Spezza - Butler
Foligno (?) - draft pick - Alfredsson
Greening - Regin - Neil/Condra
Z.Smith - Winchester - Shannon/Condra

I'm not sure what variation of these lineups will make the most sense, but I would strongly doubt someone like Condra will displace Regin - even though he had a crap year - I could also see Condra benefiting from one final year in the AHL - and being the first call-up (read: he'll be up anyway most of the time).

If anyone gets pushed out, it'll be Shannon in favour of Condra, but again, I really like what Shannon brings, so I hope that doesn't happen.

I put red in there for Foligno being in the top six, because I think that's a HUGE question mark and for the draft pick because who knows if he even makes it.

EDIT: I fully realize that this lineup may not score very often, but that's life in a rebuild/re-tool.