2014 Ottawa Senators Off Season Talk

sandysensfan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:If Brad Richards gets bought out, that would be an interesting idea for 2C.  He's won it all obviously and looks good right now.

My guess is he would never sign with a Canadian team.  How many elite NHL Cdn born players sign to play in Canada?

Perhaps not, who knows. If he doesn't want to sign here in that hypothetical, then we move on.

Dirty. So very, very dirty. Gonna miss those.

wprager wrote:Dirty.  So very, very dirty.  Gonna miss those.

You can watch him do it for another team....


James Gordon. An Ottawa sportswriter.. has the guts to write about the budget....

http://t.co/p7UfyM3i57

I swear I couldn't care less about Spezza being moved - money or not, but if he starts cheaping out on adding the talent we'll need to be successful in future years, he'll have a fan revolt on his hands.

SpezDispenser wrote:I swear I couldn't care less about Spezza being moved - money or not, but if he starts cheaping out on adding the talent we'll need to be successful in future years, he'll have a fan revolt on his hands.

From his comments -- the Sens are going to develop their players.. rather than UFA -- as I take it. So be prepared for a few years of no playoffs.

SpezDispenser wrote:I swear I couldn't care less about Spezza being moved - money or not, but if he starts cheaping out on adding the talent we'll need to be successful in future years, he'll have a fan revolt on his hands.

That's the point when everyone will start going nuts. He's in bad financial shape so he might be looking for a partner/new owner in that time. Right now the situation just happens to dictate they really aren't in a position to add to a core that still needs to be established with an identity.

sandysensfan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I swear I couldn't care less about Spezza being moved - money or not, but if he starts cheaping out on adding the talent we'll need to be successful in future years, he'll have a fan revolt on his hands.

From his comments -- the Sens are going to develop their players..  rather than UFA -- as I take it.  So be prepared for a few years of no playoffs.

You keep saying crap like that, what's that based on? Is Ottawa a worse team than Montreal, Tampa, and Detroit? No, they aren't. They had a poor year where 1/2 the team and their captain failed to show up until it was too late.

Sens make the playoffs without Spezza, win a playoff round without Spezza, and then the following season add players he would be in Ottawa for the foreseeable future in Ryan and MacArthur as well as guys like Stone and Hoffman showing they belong at the NHL level.

I want to hear your reasoning for saying the Sens will be missing the playoffs year after year. What's the based on besides "the sky is falling if Spezza isn't in Ottawa" mentality. Sens are a better hockey team without the guy and it's been proven.

sandysensfan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I swear I couldn't care less about Spezza being moved - money or not, but if he starts cheaping out on adding the talent we'll need to be successful in future years, he'll have a fan revolt on his hands.

From his comments -- the Sens are going to develop their players..  rather than UFA -- as I take it.  So be prepared for a few years of no playoffs.

May I ask why that would be the case? I realize most people wrote off the lockout shortened season, but it exists - and we made the playoffs without Spezza and Karlsson. I think we come back next year as competitive as ever, with the only thing missing being Spezza's highlight reel plays and pinpoint passing...and his easy to play against, lazy neutral zone/defensive zone play.

And his 55% or better faceoff percentage. Zibby better start practicing.

Yeah, the team is still good without him though IIRC. Turris has become much, much better, Smith is good. Z-Bad needs to work on that this summer and I assume we'll have someone else occupying the 3C if it's not Lazar. And if it's Lazar, I'm sure he's good in the dot.

SpezDispenser wrote:Yeah, the team is still good without him though IIRC.  Turris has become much, much better, Smith is good.  Z-Bad needs to work on that this summer and I assume we'll have someone else occupying the 3C if it's not Lazar.  And if it's Lazar, I'm sure he's good in the dot.

Turris is OK. Smith is good but he's not a 2LC. That's why we need Zibanejad to get much better than he is now. Lazar hasn't had a game in the pros yet.

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Yeah, the team is still good without him though IIRC.  Turris has become much, much better, Smith is good.  Z-Bad needs to work on that this summer and I assume we'll have someone else occupying the 3C if it's not Lazar.  And if it's Lazar, I'm sure he's good in the dot.

Turris is OK.  Smith is good but he's not a 2LC.  That's why we need Zibanejad to get much better than he is now.  Lazar hasn't had a game in the pros yet.

Meh, I doubt it'll take long for Lazar to adapt to the pros.

NEELY wrote:

Sens make the playoffs without Spezza, win a playoff round without Spezza, and then the following season add players he would be in Ottawa for the foreseeable future in Ryan and MacArthur as well as guys like Stone and Hoffman showing they belong at the NHL level.

Lockout shortened season where we only played the East and had the ideal Smurf opponent in Round 1. That season was such a mirage.

Oh BS... they played their system to perfect and they beat the Habs pretty easily in that series. The Sens are just as good as all the mid tier teams in the East like Montreal, Tampa, Detroit, whoever else. Sens had a bad year and a lot of it had to do with Spezza's moping around because he got yelled at by the coach.

Hoags wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Sens make the playoffs without Spezza, win a playoff round without Spezza, and then the following season add players he would be in Ottawa for the foreseeable future in Ryan and MacArthur as well as guys like Stone and Hoffman showing they belong at the NHL level.

Lockout shortened season where we only played the East and had the ideal Smurf opponent in Round 1.  That season was such a mirage.

Still happened though. And the Canadiens are back in the playoffs and we could beat them again.

Remember when Spezza got hurt earlier this year? The team looked like one cohesive unit.

NEELY wrote:Oh BS... they played their system to perfect and they beat the Habs pretty easily in that series.  The Sens are just as good as all the mid tier teams in the East like Montreal, Tampa, Detroit, whoever else.  Sens had a bad year and a lot of it had to do with Spezza's moping around because he got yelled at by the coach.

Neely they barely made the playoffs the past 2 years.  I'm not saying they're a bad team by any means but they're a bubble team.  When they make the Bruins stop thinking that the division title is guaranteed I will think differently.

They are inconsistent and the defense is terrible(beyond Karlsson) and gives up more shots than a bartender on a Saturday night.  Goalie basically needs to have a Vezina season.