Now that it's over, what is (realistically) our Ottawa starting lineup in October?

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Not good enough Sandy. No offense in that lineup, we'd lose 50 games.

Plenty of offense. I like the idea of having a Bingo line as your third line. I'm not crazy about the Lee-Karlsson pairing -- both a bit soft, and both righties.

We'll see Prags. I'd love to be wrong, but I don't think a lineup with Leino or Laich or Tanguay or whatever is gonna score, so I'm hard pressed to see where the goals are coming from without signing a UFA.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:I honestly think Michalek and Foligno are the two candidates to move for our forwards; Michalek being the better choice in my opinion.

Foligno is still only 23, Michalek on the other hand, is more injury prone and still a tradable asset.

Michalek could fit in with several teams looking for a top-six forward; Calgary, LA, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, St. Louis all come to mind.

Why are we, a team in the perpetual hunt for "one more top-six forward" looking to trade a legitimate top-six forward? Doesn't make sense to me.

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Not good enough Sandy. No offense in that lineup, we'd lose 50 games.

Plenty of offense. I like the idea of having a Bingo line as your third line. I'm not crazy about the Lee-Karlsson pairing -- both a bit soft, and both righties.

There's no way that posted lineup is gonna bring any ofence to the table, especially when Spezza misses his 10-15 games a season. That lineup would be fine if the organization is tanking, but the Anderson signing shows that even if the team is in a rebuilding phase they will still try and win hockey games.

stempniaksen wrote:

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Not good enough Sandy. No offense in that lineup, we'd lose 50 games.

Plenty of offense. I like the idea of having a Bingo line as your third line. I'm not crazy about the Lee-Karlsson pairing -- both a bit soft, and both righties.

There's no way that posted lineup is gonna bring any ofence to the table, especially when Spezza misses his 10-15 games a season. That lineup would be fine if the organization is tanking, but the Anderson signing shows that even if the team is in a rebuilding phase they will still try and win hockey games.

I think we will be fine. And if we're not, at least it will be fast and exciting. Spezza no-longer floats coming back -- he hustles on the back check; we no-longer have a player doing the "Statue of Liberty" from the center-ice line in; our big, fast, loves-to-hit player is no-longer trying to be a 2nd line center; we have puck movement from the back-end and a goalie that the team trusts to "have their back" so they are not afraid to commit to the rush. If the coach instills a good system that everyone buys into (you can get a "system" from wikipedia, I'm sure; what we need is someone who can communicate it well to the players and get all of the parts committed to do *their* part).

Michalek was coming off major knee surgery last year and we did not see him fully healthy until the latter part of the season. He was a very different player in the last 25-or-so games. Alfredsson is a bit of a question mark, but maybe this back surgery (and the extra time off he had at the end of this season) will rejuvenate him. There's not going to be a floater on this team. Everyone hustles. Kuba will not be side-lined with a broken leg and we'll have the likes of Cowen and Rundblad pushing for ice time; you don't think Kuba knows he'll be playing for his next contract? I expect rebound seasons from Phillips and Gonchar -- if not, their ice time goes to Cowen and Rundblad. I'm not saying either one replaces their counterpart, but they cannot do worse than what we saw last year (league-worst +/-?)

Getting back to the original argument about scoring. Yes, if Spezza gets injured again, we'll be in tough, but that will give an opportunity for other players to step up -- DaCosta, Regin, Couturier, Smith will get a look on the "next" line up; then there are those who are listed as centers or played center before who can slide in on to replace them. Foligno started last year with a bang in pre-season then something happened; by the end, though, he was playing pretty well -- I see no reason why this will not carry over, so look to him to be another improved player.

Who did we lose? Kovalev, Fisher, Kelly and Ruutu. I'm done defending Kovalev, and how he "shielded" his linemates by taking on attention of the opposition forwards. That simply wasn't happening for most of last season. Ruutu just stopped scoring and was taking dumb penalties. There was a reason -- a very good one -- that he lost his ice time. Fisher simply could not do the one thing that made him valuable to the team -- skate hard and initiate contact. Greening can do that better. Will we miss Fisher's 22 goals? Not as much as you may think, because he was always a streaky scorer. Maybe, just maybe, by having a *real* center on the 2nd line (someone who can be creative, and wins draws more often than he loses them) we can get better production out of the second line as a whole. It will hurt the first year, but not by that much, and especially not when comparing to last season. I'll miss Kelly, but certainly not for his offensive output (and, yes, I realize that last season he was one of our more *consistent* scorers). Smith will not replace him, but I don't doubt that he could match his offensive output.

A lot hinges on who replaces Fisher. It *could be* Regin but I am very doubtful because his biggest problem last season was (IMO) strength and conditioning, and he will get less time to work on it this Summer. Back in early March it was said he'll be out 4-6 months Assuming at least 4 months before he can start working out, that means he *could be* hitting the gym in early July, but it could be as late as September. Worst case is he will only have his wheels ready for camp, and his upper body/core strength will be even worse than last year. Best case, he has 2 months to bulk up and get stronger. I have no idea how long it takes -- maybe NEELY can fill in the blanks here. But at this point I'm assuming our 2nd line center will be our first-rounder (maybe we even move up).

In that case I suspect we will be going back to having one top line and two good third lines -- better than the last time we were in this situation (when we went to the SCF, although our top line that year was better than it will be this year).

So, bottom line, we will be better than last year. Will we be as good as the year before? Maybe. I'm not writing this season off in June, that's for sure.

stempniaksen wrote:

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Not good enough Sandy. No offense in that lineup, we'd lose 50 games.

Plenty of offense. I like the idea of having a Bingo line as your third line. I'm not crazy about the Lee-Karlsson pairing -- both a bit soft, and both righties.

There's no way that posted lineup is gonna bring any ofence to the table, especially when Spezza misses his 10-15 games a season. That lineup would be fine if the organization is tanking, but the Anderson signing shows that even if the team is in a rebuilding phase they will still try and win hockey games.

Agreed, waht a terrible offence. But I don't mind.

People are gonna think we're gonnab e awesome after seeing Bingo win the Cup. I am weary of fans overrating every Bingo playnig and expecting the world of them.

Expecting small improvements from players who have a track record better than they showed last season? I'm not expecting Couturier to step in and score 25 goals, replacing Fisher's lost offensive output. However Fisher's output was so streaky that his *real* contribution (affecting game outcomes) could probably be matched by a 15-18 goal scorer. And that is *not* out of the question for a top-6 pick sheltered, a bit, on the 2nd line, playing behind Spezza. Also, Fisher was not very good for his linemates as a center; he simply was not very creative and did not have great vision. A better center would add production to the second line by utilizing his linemates better. I guess we'll see.

The other losses on the forward ranks are not losses in an offensive sense: Kovalev, Kelly, Ruutu: 16 + 14 + 3 = 33 goals. So we need three replacement players to get 11 goals each -- surely, that is not expecting the world, is it?

I think Greening and Condra will score 11 ea. at least.

Drury and Wolski to be bought out.

SpezDispenser wrote:Drury and Wolski to be bought out.

God, Wolski sucks. Drury, well that was an overpay by about $2-3 mil right from the get-go.

wprager wrote:
So, bottom line, we will be better than last year. Will we be as good as the year before? Maybe. I'm not writing this season off in June, that's for sure.

I agree mostly. I still don't want to see this team idle on July 1. There was a time when I would have 100% agreed with not getting anyone on the market, but at this point, I don't see the offense. It might be better than last year (which honestly, wouldn't be hard), but it's not enough to even place this team top 10, let alone a playoff spot. I've said all along that even when we add a proper forward - one of Laich, Leino, Tanguay, Fleichmann, Gagne - whatever, we're still bottom of the league in offense with an old Alfie, a broken Michalek, a rarely healthy Spezza, numb nuts Gochar and Kuba.

Whatever...we're not gonna score a lot no matter what happens. Hopefully we can scrape by an win some games because of Anderson and compete for 8th in the final weeks of the season. I don't see it getting any better than that personally - and as you know, I'm a pretty optimistic fan for the most part.

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Drury and Wolski to be bought out.

God, Wolski sucks. Drury, well that was an overpay by about $2-3 mil right from the get-go.

I was gonna say, Drury for 1.5 million might be something to look into, but A he'd never come here and B he'd likely not accept that little a salary and C...we probably don't need that kind of fragile player.

Drury will be receiving a lump sum buy out so it is likely he will sign for a lot less than he did before. How much less is the question. But it's not inconceivable to think he could sign for $2M or so to play on a good team.

Wolski is still capable of being a good player. I would take a shot on him for a year to see what he and Spezza could to. LW too.

Dash wrote:Drury will be receiving a lump sum buy out so it is likely he will sign for a lot less than he did before. How much less is the question. But it's not inconceivable to think he could sign for $2M or so to play on a good team.

Wolski is still capable of being a good player. I would take a shot on him for a year to see what he and Spezza could to. LW too.

People have tried with Wolski Dash - good teams too, Colorado, Phoenix, NY. It's not working, he's another Patrick O'Sullivan - he's got the talent, but not the desire + work ethic. We MUST pass.

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Drury and Wolski to be bought out.

God, Wolski sucks. Drury, well that was an overpay by about $2-3 mil right from the get-go.

You're giving him way too much credit.

NEELY wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Drury and Wolski to be bought out.

God, Wolski sucks. Drury, well that was an overpay by about $2-3 mil right from the get-go.

You're giving him way too much credit.

Heartless, gutless, ball-less. SD's O'Sullivan comparison is a fair one. Wolski will be ripping up the AHL or KHL for years to come -- once all GMs accept this fact. For now, I can see some adventurous GM trying to find a diamond in the rough with him, but it will probably be yet another abortion.

A team like Pitts comes to mind for a guy like Wolski. There will always be room in Pitts for a offensive winger with big question marks.

I think he might shrivel up and die on the spot with Blysma as his coach.

SpezDispenser wrote:

wprager wrote:
So, bottom line, we will be better than last year. Will we be as good as the year before? Maybe. I'm not writing this season off in June, that's for sure.

I agree mostly. I still don't want to see this team idle on July 1. There was a time when I would have 100% agreed with not getting anyone on the market, but at this point, I don't see the offense. It might be better than last year (which honestly, wouldn't be hard), but it's not enough to even place this team top 10, let alone a playoff spot. I've said all along that even when we add a proper forward - one of Laich, Leino, Tanguay, Fleichmann, Gagne - whatever, we're still bottom of the league in offense with an old Alfie, a broken Michalek, a rarely healthy Spezza, numb nuts Gochar and Kuba.

Whatever...we're not gonna score a lot no matter what happens. Hopefully we can scrape by an win some games because of Anderson and compete for 8th in the final weeks of the season. I don't see it getting any better than that personally - and as you know, I'm a pretty optimistic fan for the most part.

Last year's offense with Anderson in goal may be enough. Remember, as bad as they were, until Spezza went down they were within a medium-length win streak of being in a playoff position. The rest of the East is very spotty. With Winlanta now traveling more they will be even worse than last year. I can easily see Montreal drop way off -- they showed a lot of signs of that in the second half. Can Price continue to be superhuman? Will PK succumb to a sophomore slump? Philly looks to improve in goal but they'll lose depth up front and will be at risk if injuries happen. Boston, well, Thomas is not getting younger and their concussion issues have now only gotten worse. Rangers are a joke if not for Lundqvist. Buffalo is interesting, as they have a new owner -- maybe he's willing to spend to the cap. Florida and Islanders are getting worse. Lighting overachieved this year -- will this continue or will they take a bit of a breather and plateau this year?

Bottom line, I just don't see things changing a lot from last season, except we now have a legit #1 in goal.