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I could see Stone being moved as part of a package for a 1st liner. I'm not sure if Conacher is moved what that might bring, we definitely bought high on his value. Maybe he can still develop further but I'd be ready to believe that more if he was a couple years younger.

There certainly has to be some tough decisions this summer.

I think Hoffman stays in Ottawa... he was close to making it this past season.

?-Spezza-Michalek
Hoffman-Turris-Alfie (he's coming back)
Silfverberg-Zibanejad-Conacher
Greening-Smith-Neil

Condra -- he's in the lineup somewhere
Kassian
Pageau

Does Murray go after a legit top 6 winger?

Karlsson-Methot (what a season he had)
Cowen-Weircioch
Phillips-Gryba/Benoit

Does he need to get a top 4 D. Does Gonchar stay or go to the KHL? With all of the young talented D the Pens have coming up ... and with their cap situation.. I just can't see them bringing in Gonchar?

Going to be an interesting off-season.

Picking 17th in the draft... Can Murray use his depth to try to move up into the top 10? Sean Monahan would look great in a Sens jersey...

sandysensfan wrote:There certainly has to be some tough decisions this summer.

I think Hoffman stays in Ottawa... he was close to making it this past season.

?-Spezza-Michalek
Hoffman-Turris-Alfie (he's coming back)
Silfverberg-Zibanejad-Conacher
Greening-Smith-Neil

Condra -- he's in the lineup somewhere
Kassian
Pageau

Does Murray go after a legit top 6 winger?

Karlsson-Methot (what a season he had)
Cowen-Weircioch
Phillips-Gryba/Benoit

Does he need to get a top 4 D. Does Gonchar stay or go to the KHL? With all of the young talented D the Pens have coming up ... and with their cap situation.. I just can't see them bringing in Gonchar?

Going to be an interesting off-season.

Picking 17th in the draft... Can Murray use his depth to try to move up into the top 10? Sean Monahan would look great in a Sens jersey...

I don't see any scenario where Hoffman can make this team unless he outplays Pageau for the spot. We don't have enough spots. Hoffman/Stone etc. will all be callups, Prince too.

I also don't know who gets moved from the lineup, it's a tough decision. Kassian is the 13th forward, so that's taken as well. Someone's getting moved. I personally didn't like the way Conacher kept diving all the time and taking penalties at bad times. Not sure if I'm the only one, but that bugs me. If it bugs Murray too, then we'll see what he does.

This roster is close to set. One HUGE top line forward - by huge I mean uber talented and probably one D-man if Gonchar goes away.

Condra is absolutely on the lineup. No one drives possession as well as he does, IMO. The guy always has the puck and plays a real smart game. He can face the toughest competition. Unless he's packaged in a deal for a top 6 winger, he stays.

spader wrote:Condra is absolutely on the lineup. No one drives possession as well as he does, IMO. The guy always has the puck and plays a real smart game. He can face the toughest competition. Unless he's packaged in a deal for a top 6 winger, he stays.

Agreed. Condra is Kelly in all the good ways, and 7 points in 10 PO games on a team that could not score is not bad. Did he find his scoring touch?

Hoffman? What has he done? Nothing yet.

Stone, not much either, but I like his size, he led the Bingo Sens in +/- when asked to play a more defensive game, still ended up tied for the team lead in points.

Not at all convinced that both Conacher and Pageau are on the roster next season.

And, not to be harsh, but if Silfverberg and Zibanejad don't get stronger/faster in the off-season, I'm not sure we can afford both of them on the roster, either. They both have very valid excuses -- Silfverberg played a lot of games this year, and Zibanejad missed a lot of time and is still very young (both are, really); but I was still not impressed with their performance in the second round. They have the size to be a lot more physical than they were.

There may be other tough decisions, too. Like Smith or Greening? If we're making a trade for a legit top-six a roster player will likely be going back, and it could well be one of them.

The roster could look very different in October.

All the young players will come back stronger and more confident. Especially silfverberg and zibanejad.

SpezDispenser wrote:All the young players will come back stronger and more confident. Especially silfverberg and zibanejad.

I like your confidence, but it's not enough. They'll have to show me and, unfortunately, we won't know until April/May.

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:All the young players will come back stronger and more confident. Especially silfverberg and zibanejad.

I like your confidence, but it's not enough. They'll have to show me and, unfortunately, we won't know until April/May.

Why do you say we'll have to wait? Our situation wasn't different from any other teams. Huberdeau, Yakupov, Tarasenko, Conacher, Zibanejad, Silfverberg - every single rookie hit a brick wall at some point during the season, the fact that Zibanejad and Silfverberg looked outmatched and outclassed against the Pens isn't really a surprise. I would be shocked if MacLean didn't have them start a strength and conditioning program starting very soon. Turris is another guy who needs it, but again, we have a young team and young players always hit bricks walls, so I certainly wouldn't worry at all about Silf or Zibanejad.

These two showed enormous potential this year, they're locks to be starting next season in Ottawa.

SpezDispenser wrote:

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:All the young players will come back stronger and more confident. Especially silfverberg and zibanejad.

I like your confidence, but it's not enough. They'll have to show me and, unfortunately, we won't know until April/May.

These two showed enormous potential this year, they're locks to be starting next season in Ottawa.

Agreed. Z-Bad and Silf will be starting in the fall. No doubt about it.

Coming from the SEL.. neither of Silf or Mika probably played more than 60-70 games. This season is was close to 100 and a much higher pace than the SEL.

With an off-season of recuperation and conditioning.. they will be better next year.

Pitts is loaded up for the Cup.. whether they win it is another thing. I don't think their goaltending will hold up against the other elite teams... so unless they outscore their opponent.. the Cup goes west again...

No shame in losing to a stacked team with 2 of the best players in the NHL..

It's about learning and moving forward.

If I would have come on here in late Feb.. after no Cowen, Spezza, Karlsson, Michalek then Anderson and said the Sens would make the 2nd round of the playoffs.. you would have that I was crazy...

Onto next season.. and to the hockey gods.. when it comes to injuries.. pick on some other team... Sens have had their fill of them..

sandysensfan wrote:Coming from the SEL.. neither of Silf or Mika probably played more than 60-70 games. This season is was close to 100 and a much higher pace than the SEL.

With an off-season of recuperation and conditioning.. they will be better next year.

Pitts is loaded up for the Cup.. whether they win it is another thing. I don't think their goaltending will hold up against the other elite teams... so unless they outscore their opponent.. the Cup goes west again...

No shame in losing to a stacked team with 2 of the best players in the NHL..

It's about learning and moving forward.

If I would have come on here in late Feb.. after no Cowen, Spezza, Karlsson, Michalek then Anderson and said the Sens would make the 2nd round of the playoffs.. you would have that I was crazy...

Onto next season.. and to the hockey gods.. when it comes to injuries.. pick on some other team... Sens have had their fill of them..

Silfverberg played 82 regular season games and 10 in the playoffs. Zibanejad was injured and only played 65+10. It's a lot of games, but not really close to 100.

I agree wholeheartedly that they will train and build up strength and size, and they will improve, for sure. But I don't expect it to be night and day -- I expect something more gradual. They may even light it up in the regular season. Who knows. But to pace yourself and go into beastmode in the playoffs is something you usually don't get until you've been playing in this league a few years.

Also, last season they made the playoffs as an 8th seed and took the Rangers to a 7th game (should have finished it off in G6, but they lacked that killer instinct). This year they went in as a 7th after surviving an injury plagued season, and played 3 more games than the year before. Guess what -- expectations are going to be higher next season.

Without all those injuries they would have challenged for the Division lead and 2nd or 3rd. Expectations next year will be that they finish in the top 4 and get home ice in the first round. But guess what -- that's going to be very, very difficult. Pens/Bruins should repeat in the top-4, Toronto is coming on, Montreal finished 2nd with an average year from Price, and Detroit will be here, too. Finishing top-4, while expected, will be very hard to achieve.

Per Scanlan:

Spezza tore meniscus in knee during back rehab.

tim1_2 wrote:Per Scanlan:

Spezza tore meniscus in knee during back rehab.

So the rumours were true.

He said his back wasn't 100% as well. Good enough to play.

Hopefully he can come back 100% next year and they provide him with a big time winger.

I wonder if Heatbag's available?

tim1_2 wrote:I wonder if Heatbag's available?

He'll be bought out by Minnesota this year so probably yes :lol

Eugene wouldn't let him play for free here though.

What if Heater would agree to PAY Eugene to play here?!

Bruce Garrioch ‏@SunGarrioch
Gonchar looking for two year deal