Ottawa Senators TIDBITS & QUICK HITS!

tim1_2 wrote:
I agree that signing big-name UFAs doesn't always end up being a good thing, but what big name free agent have we signed recently?  Although we do have it on the record that at least one big name superstar wouldn't waive his NTC to come here.

Seeing the stupid contracts being handed out in July I am glad we don't participate. Who wants to be commit to guys like Horton or Clarkson for 7 years???

Most of these big signings turn out to be disasters down the road.

tim1_2 wrote:
Cheering for the team and blindly believing that management and ownership are doing everything they can to win a Stanley Cup are two different things.  

I love the team, which is why I find it incredibly frustrating that it is poorly run from a business standpoint, and now the owner has said (and made it clear with actions) that he is unwilling to spend dough on it.

We're a smaller market team. There's only so much we can do, especially if the owner isn't as rich as he used to be.

tim1_2 wrote:

Ev wrote:
Just stop cheering for the Sens Tim. Save yourself the trouble.

Cheering for the team and blindly believing that management and ownership are doing everything they can to win a Stanley Cup are two different things.  

I love the team, which is why I find it incredibly frustrating that it is poorly run from a business standpoint, and now the owner has said (and made it clear with actions) that he is unwilling to spend dough on it.  

Maybe in a couple years this all changes, but if you listen to Melnyk lately, it's pretty clear we're a cap-floor team.

Any business would love to achieve success/profits while spending the lowest cost. Our current formula is working, so why would he change it at the moment?

Go look at the San Antonio Spurs and their success over the years. Low cost, high success team.

Ev wrote:
Any business would love to achieve success/profits while spending the lowest cost. Our current formula is working, so why would he change it at the moment?

Go look at the San Antonio Spurs and their success over the years. Low cost, high success team.

He will be forced to change it when the current budget prevents keeping the roster we already have. No team has made the Cup final at the cap floor.

Hoags wrote:

Ev wrote:
Any business would love to achieve success/profits while spending the lowest cost. Our current formula is working, so why would he change it at the moment?

Go look at the San Antonio Spurs and their success over the years. Low cost, high success team.

He will be forced to change it when the current budget prevents keeping the roster we already have.  No team has made the Cup final at the cap floor.

Yeah, when necessary.

People are beating a dead horse.

tim1_2 wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Yeah.  Apparently we're now considered an attractive place to sign.  Murray mentioned it several times and we were on the short list firbonevof the top UFAs.  What is this guy basing his opinion on?   I mean...what a bloody waste of time for Sportsnet to even carry an article written by 'some dude'.  

Relax.  

Also, you're buying in to the Murray PR-spin machine a little too much.  

I agree that signing big-name UFAs doesn't always end up being a good thing, but what big name free agent have we signed recently?  Although we do have it on the record that at least one big name superstar wouldn't waive his NTC to come here.

There's also Dan Boyle who wanted to come here but didn't get to because they thought the price was too high.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Yeah.  Apparently we're now considered an attractive place to sign.  Murray mentioned it several times and we were on the short list firbonevof the top UFAs.  What is this guy basing his opinion on?   I mean...what a bloody waste of time for Sportsnet to even carry an article written by 'some dude'.  

Relax.  

Also, you're buying in to the Murray PR-spin machine a little too much.  

I agree that signing big-name UFAs doesn't always end up being a good thing, but what big name free agent have we signed recently?  Although we do have it on the record that at least one big name superstar wouldn't waive his NTC to come here.

There's also Dan Boyle who wanted to come here but didn't get to because they thought the price was too high.

The budget may have been a factor there.

Ev wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

Ev wrote:
Just stop cheering for the Sens Tim. Save yourself the trouble.

Cheering for the team and blindly believing that management and ownership are doing everything they can to win a Stanley Cup are two different things.  

I love the team, which is why I find it incredibly frustrating that it is poorly run from a business standpoint, and now the owner has said (and made it clear with actions) that he is unwilling to spend dough on it.  

Maybe in a couple years this all changes, but if you listen to Melnyk lately, it's pretty clear we're a cap-floor team.

Any business would love to achieve success/profits while spending the lowest cost. Our current formula is working, so why would he change it at the moment?

Go look at the San Antonio Spurs and their success over the years. Low cost, high success team.

When you say our current formula is working, what do you mean? Yes, the on-ice product has exceeded expectations; however, according to the owner, we've been bleeding money, despite making the second round of the playoffs. So from a business perspective it's apparently a flaming failure.

The current formula will only continue to work if Melnyk is willing to continually up the payroll every year as more and more of our players earn bigger contracts. The jury is still out as to whether or not he will do this. Nothing in any of his recent comments indicates that he is willing to spend more money.

Oh, I looked up NBA payrolls. The Spurs were the 8th highest spending team last year, when they made the finals. In 07/08, they were the 12th highest. So, not low cost. Middle of the pack at best.

tim1_2 wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Yeah.  Apparently we're now considered an attractive place to sign.  Murray mentioned it several times and we were on the short list firbonevof the top UFAs.  What is this guy basing his opinion on?   I mean...what a bloody waste of time for Sportsnet to even carry an article written by 'some dude'.  

Relax.  

Also, you're buying in to the Murray PR-spin machine a little too much.  

I agree that signing big-name UFAs doesn't always end up being a good thing, but what big name free agent have we signed recently?  Although we do have it on the record that at least one big name superstar wouldn't waive his NTC to come here.

Literally the only negative things I can think of about Ottawa are:

1.Taxes higher than the US

2.The amount of press can be annoying

This is a team with a core of players like Spezza, Karlsson, Michalek, Turris, Cowen, Anderson/Lehner, Methot, Ryan etc. that is up and coming and exciting. That's one thing, perhaps the bigger thing is we have a player friendly coach that not only is good to his players, but also knows exactly how to win and has proven it here already (albeit not a Cup yet).

The city is nice, particularly if you have young kids or are about to start a family, the nightlife is average, but it certainly isn't a black hole. There's nice places to hike and walk, nice museums.

I think Ottawa's very attractive right now - we've changed it a lot from a few years ago. And as for Nash, that's life, he likely had a couple of destinations in mind and Ottawa wasn't one of them. He probably would have had a much better time here than he did in NY playing hockey, but who knows.

SpezDispenser wrote:
Literally the only negative things I can think of about Ottawa are:

1.Taxes higher than the US

2.The amount of press can be annoying

This is a team with a core of players like Spezza, Karlsson, Michalek, Turris, Cowen, Anderson/Lehner, Methot, Ryan etc. that is up and coming and exciting. That's one thing, perhaps the bigger thing is we have a player friendly coach that not only is good to his players, but also knows exactly how to win and has proven it here already (albeit not a Cup yet).

The city is nice, particularly if you have young kids or are about to start a family, the nightlife is average, but it certainly isn't a black hole. There's nice places to hike and walk, nice museums.

I think Ottawa's very attractive right now - we've changed it a lot from a few years ago. And as for Nash, that's life, he likely had a couple of destinations in mind and Ottawa wasn't one of them. He probably would have had a much better time here than he did in NY playing hockey, but who knows.

Hey, you don't have to sell me. I think Ottawa's one of the best cities on the planet to live in.

From a hockey perspective, pretty much the only thing we're lacking is an owner willing to pay you top dollar to play here.

tim1_2 wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:
Literally the only negative things I can think of about Ottawa are:

1.Taxes higher than the US

2.The amount of press can be annoying

This is a team with a core of players like Spezza, Karlsson, Michalek, Turris, Cowen, Anderson/Lehner, Methot, Ryan etc. that is up and coming and exciting.  That's one thing, perhaps the bigger thing is we have a player friendly coach that not only is good to his players, but also knows exactly how to win and has proven it here already (albeit not a Cup yet).

The city is nice, particularly if you have young kids or are about to start a family, the nightlife is average, but it certainly isn't a black hole.  There's nice places to hike and walk, nice museums.

I think Ottawa's very attractive right now - we've changed it a lot from a few years ago.  And as for Nash, that's life, he likely had a couple of destinations in mind and Ottawa wasn't one of them.  He probably would have had a much better time here than he did in NY playing hockey, but who knows.

Hey, you don't have to sell me.  I think Ottawa's one of the best cities on the planet to live in.  

From a hockey perspective, pretty much the only thing we're lacking is an owner willing to pay you top dollar to play here.

I'll admit that it's possible he's out of money and if so, I hope he has the decency to sell half the team to someone with money so we can spend to the cap when we need to. Which isn't now.

Hey, SpezD:

firbonevof

???

wprager wrote:Hey, SpezD:

firbonevof

???

I was on the IPhone. I meant to say on the shortlist of one of the most desirable UFAs - Clarkson.

tim1_2 wrote:
When you say our current formula is working, what do you mean?  Yes, the on-ice product has exceeded expectations; however, according to the owner, we've been bleeding money, despite making the second round of the playoffs.  So from a business perspective it's apparently a flaming failure.

The current formula will only continue to work if Melnyk is willing to continually up the payroll every year as more and more of our players earn bigger contracts.  The jury is still out as to whether or not he will do this.  Nothing in any of his recent comments indicates that he is willing to spend more money.

Before the lockout Melnyk was saying the team is profitable at the current level of spending without making the playoffs. The team is only bleeding money during a lockout or when Melnyk is trying to get a casino at City Hall.

If the team was really bleeding money it would be up for sale and it's not.

Whether the team can or will spend more, it's hard to say. Probably not much more at the current ticket pricing.

Apparently Hoffman signed a 1 year 2-way deal.

tim1_2 wrote:

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:Poll on the score.ca has Ottawa as one of the top 5 least desirable places for UFA's to sign.

http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2013/07/16/ranking-the-desirability-of-all-30-nhl-destinations-to-unrestricted-free-agents/

It's not a poll, it's Justin Bourne's blog.  He lives in Toronto.

Well that says it all.. doesn't it..

SpezDispenser wrote:Yeah.  Apparently we're now considered an attractive place to sign.  Murray mentioned it several times and we were on the short list firbonevof the top UFAs.  What is this guy basing his opinion on?   I mean...what a bloody waste of time for Sportsnet to even carry an article written by 'some dude'.  

Well Pierre MacGuire (I know a lot of you don't like him) says that Ottawa is the most underappreciated City in North America...

I like Pierre. Especially his "compete level" and "off the charts" passion for the game.