Are the Sens done making moves?

Why would Semin come here ? he'll get a longer term deal elsewhere (Detroit for example).

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Still really want to add Semin if he'll sign a 2 year contract. Can't help but salivate at him and Spezza and the potential for a lot of goals.

Semin in Ottawa? The city that thinks "hard hat and lunchpail" players are stars and that skilled players need to give up offense to back check and battle in the corners?

Paul MacLean.

I'm not sure what that means but I know that if all Semin does is put up points, people are gonna complain.

SpezDispenser wrote:Imagine for 1 second that Nashville put Weber on the trade market and Ottawa acquired him and signed him long term....

That trade would be insane though. Nashville will look to demolish a team in that trade, if Howson's tactics are any clear indication. It'll work too because more teams would go for Weber than Nash.

So I think all indications seem to be that the sens are willing to part with Zibanejad...shame, because I think we legitimately need a big skilled center to work the corners and shut down opposition while scoring

Hoags wrote:Why would Semin come here ? he'll get a longer term deal elsewhere (Detroit for example).

I could see him definitely in Detroit or Pittsburgh for that matter.

Yeah, I think P-Mac and the Seminator could work it out together. I don't think Semin is as lazy as some would lead you to believe. And it would be nice to not have to watch him wire pucks home against us. I do think Semin could be a great fit with Spezza.

Also, per Lebrun:
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It would take a real good offer to pry Yandle out of Phx, but if the Yotes do move him, guessing East Conf where several teams have interest
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NEELY wrote:If the Sens can make the playoffs and avoid the Pens... could be a solid run. They are not far off from going after the Bruins in the division and really making some noise. They are a good team.

One big time winger and the Sens will be ultra tough to play against.

This seems incredibly optimistic to me. Buffalo will be better (and were in the latter part of last season) so it's dismissive to assume that the division is a two-horse race.

Tough to play against and winning enough to make the playoffs aren't mutually exclusive. Despite the fact that NJ will probably be worse, Carolina and TB will be better almost assuredly than they were last year.

The Sens are in tough to make the playoffs even if they overachieve like they did last year. Let's not kid ourselves here.

tim1_2 wrote:Yeah, I think P-Mac and the Seminator could work it out together. I don't think Semin is as lazy as some would lead you to believe. And it would be nice to not have to watch him wire pucks home against us. I do think Semin could be a great fit with Spezza.

Also, per Lebrun:
----
It would take a real good offer to pry Yandle out of Phx, but if the Yotes do move him, guessing East Conf where several teams have interest
----

As much as I love Yandle as a player, I would prefer a scoring forward (one that is a bonafide top 6, without injury questions) more than a defenceman at the moment. I think that's our biggest need. As it stands right now, I think the management is placing too much faith in a young player or two filling scoring needs, which got bigger when Foligno was dealt.

hemlock wrote:
This seems incredibly optimistic to me. Buffalo will be better (and were in the latter part of last season) so it's dismissive to assume that the division is a two-horse race.

Tough to play against and winning enough to make the playoffs aren't mutually exclusive. Despite the fact that NJ will probably be worse, Carolina and TB will be better almost assuredly than they were last year.

The Sens are in tough to make the playoffs even if they overachieve like they did last year. Let's not kid ourselves here.

Not sold on Buffalo, Ennis and Hodgson as their top 2 centres ? LOL
I think Neely has a point, TB isn't that much better, Carle is overrated he's not going to drastically change things there. Except for defence and goaltending they had no depth in scoring last year as well.
I think Carolina needs more than to add J.Staal.
I think it'll still be a tough battle to get into the playoffs but WTF does "overachieve" mean ? Is that because we finished 8th in the East but we should have been a lottery team ? Are we just supposed to be bad ?

hemlock wrote:
The Sens are in tough to make the playoffs even if they overachieve like they did last year. Let's not kid ourselves here.

Absolutely. I am not going to start talking about a "solid run" in the playoffs on July 5th. Ludicrous.

A lot can go right for this team, and a lot can go wrong.

tim1_2 wrote:

hemlock wrote:
The Sens are in tough to make the playoffs even if they overachieve like they did last year. Let's not kid ourselves here.

Absolutely. I am not going to start talking about a "solid run" in the playoffs on July 5th. Ludicrous.

A lot can go right for this team, and a lot can go wrong.

I'd be talking about a "solid run" in the playoffs on July 5th if the team had done enough to improve between July 1st and July 4th...

With the Detroit Red Wings reportedly desperate for a D-Man, I wonder if Gonchar ends up there? Maybe he's stupid enough to believe they're as good as people constantly insist they are and he waives to go to the Motor City?

Hoags wrote:

hemlock wrote:
This seems incredibly optimistic to me. Buffalo will be better (and were in the latter part of last season) so it's dismissive to assume that the division is a two-horse race.

Tough to play against and winning enough to make the playoffs aren't mutually exclusive. Despite the fact that NJ will probably be worse, Carolina and TB will be better almost assuredly than they were last year.

The Sens are in tough to make the playoffs even if they overachieve like they did last year. Let's not kid ourselves here.

Not sold on Buffalo, Ennis and Hodgson as their top 2 centres ? LOL
I think Neely has a point, TB isn't that much better, Carle is overrated he's not going to drastically change things there. Except for defence and goaltending they had no depth in scoring last year as well.
I think Carolina needs more than to add J.Staal.
I think it'll still be a tough battle to get into the playoffs but WTF does "overachieve" mean ? Is that because we finished 8th in the East but we should have been a lottery team ? Are we just supposed to be bad ?

Buffalo, TB and Carolina all had much better second halfs after slow starts. TB and Carolina are appreciably better, with Staal going to Carolina and TB shoring up it's goaltending (which really couldn't get worse). TB has no scoring depth? They had 5 20 goal scorers, and scored the 5th most goals in the East last year. Scoring wasn't their problem last year.

And yes, Ottawa overachieved last year. They scored more than they probably should have based on their talent, which covered up some real shortcomings in their defensive game. Are they supposed to be bad? No, I suppose not. But that question goes both ways. What is it that you see that makes you think that Ottawa will be any better than last year?

No one can logically argue that the Sens, as they stand now, aren't just as big a question mark now as they were heading into last season.

Latendresse. The Alfie. Methot. Prospects. Injuries.

Lots of things can go right or wrong. Last year, lots of things went right for us (ridiculous wins during the season coming from behind, lack of injuries, 9MM lit it up at times, etc).

tim1_2 wrote:No one can logically argue that the Sens, as they stand now, aren't just as big a question mark now as they were heading into last season.

Latendresse. The Alfie. Methot. Prospects. Injuries.

Lots of things can go right or wrong. Last year, lots of things went right for us (ridiculous wins during the season coming from behind, lack of injuries, 9MM lit it up at times, etc).

This.

Let's envision a scenario where The Alfie retires (blasphemy, I know), Spezza gets injured, 9MM gets injured, Latendresse gets injured, Silf doesn't find his groove, and our D struggles.

I think the one thing we know for sure at this point is that will be rock solid. As we saw at the start of last year, though, that can only get you so far if the D in front of you is a mess.

hemlock wrote:

NEELY wrote:If the Sens can make the playoffs and avoid the Pens... could be a solid run. They are not far off from going after the Bruins in the division and really making some noise. They are a good team.

One big time winger and the Sens will be ultra tough to play against.

This seems incredibly optimistic to me. Buffalo will be better (and were in the latter part of last season) so it's dismissive to assume that the division is a two-horse race.

Tough to play against and winning enough to make the playoffs aren't mutually exclusive. Despite the fact that NJ will probably be worse, Carolina and TB will be better almost assuredly than they were last year.

The Sens are in tough to make the playoffs even if they overachieve like they did last year. Let's not kid ourselves here.

Oh yah... Leino is for sure a #1 center. Their defense is "meh". Might be a little grittier but that's about it. Don't see how TB is going to be better... their defense is awful and they have no idea how Lindback is going to perform.

Carolina... marginally better IMO but that's a team that can grow a little. Staal isn't a huge upgrade over Sutter.

Everyone keeps saying "this team will be better, that team will be better" year after year... it's always the same thing. Philly is already worse, NJ is already worse, Tampa did nothing but add big contracts with little value attached to them, Montreal, Toronto, and NYI won't be much better.

The East sucks.

Hoags wrote:Why would Semin come here ? he'll get a longer term deal elsewhere (Detroit for example).

Holland says they have no interest(for what that's worth).

hemlock wrote:
Buffalo, TB and Carolina all had much better second halfs after slow starts. TB and Carolina are appreciably better, with Staal going to Carolina and TB shoring up it's goaltending (which really couldn't get worse). TB has no scoring depth? They had 5 20 goal scorers, and scored the 5th most goals in the East last year. Scoring wasn't their problem last year.

And yes, Ottawa overachieved last year. They scored more than they probably should have based on their talent, which covered up some real shortcomings in their defensive game. Are they supposed to be bad? No, I suppose not. But that question goes both ways. What is it that you see that makes you think that Ottawa will be any better than last year?

Toronto has had hot second half seasons for years, many people keep predicting them for the playoffs. I don't think being good for part of a season is much of an indicator on its own, especially when the pressure is off after you're eliminated.

Pretty much all of TB's scoring comes from Stamkos' line, not much beyond that.

As for Ottawa where's the overachievement ? Spezza was PPG, like he has most of his career, Karlsson had a breakout season and it's unlikely he'll do 78P again, but who knows what his ceiling is, he'll continue to be a major factor. Alfie wasn't finished like people thought after surgery fixed his back issues, the Bingo kids played well as they did in their short stint the season before. Anderson posted a respectable .914 SV%

As for where the improvement will come from, a good chunk of our roster (Bingo kids) hit a wall in the 2nd half and disappeared due to the 82-game schedule. They should be better next year now that they'll be used to it. Who knows if we'll actually be better I don't see why we are worse and need to overpay some FA.

Then there's Bishop (no more guaranteed losses with Auld) and no early season blowouts because the team is still learning MacLean's system.

I'm just saying people are focusing on other teams shiny new toys and are forgetting what we do have here, a pretty solid foundation. It could be better, but that's always the case.

tim1_2 wrote:No one can logically argue that the Sens, as they stand now, aren't just as big a question mark now as they were heading into last season.

Latendresse. The Alfie. Methot. Prospects. Injuries.

Lots of things can go right or wrong. Last year, lots of things went right for us (ridiculous wins during the season coming from behind, lack of injuries, 9MM lit it up at times, etc).

Health was massive for us last year. Spezza was relatively healthy, Michalek had issues, but wasn't lost for huge periods, Alfie wasn't lost for long stretches, Karlsson was a deity.

On the flip side, Turris hadn't really hit his stride, Greening was our top line LW, Foligno was our 2nd line LW, Gilroy sucks.

Anderson didn't find his groove until November or December, can't recall when, but we all know he's a good goalie now.