2014 Ottawa Senators Off Season Talk

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.

When Spezza was out for 4, 5 game or whatever it was earlier in the year the Sens were not giving up the scoring chances they were with Spezza in the lineup and never do.

As for the Bruins being the best, yah they are. Takes years to get there but the Sens have all the tools to. Either way, making the playoffs were not a fluke last year, they were a good team.

NEELY wrote:When Spezza was out for 4, 5 game or whatever it was earlier in the year the Sens were not giving up the scoring chances they were with Spezza in the lineup and never do.

As for the Bruins being the best, yah they are.  Takes years to get there but the Sens have all the tools to.  Either way, making the playoffs were not a fluke last year, they were a good team.

Yeah I don't disagree one bit they'll be better defensively with Spezza. Still need to do it though.

Ottawa reaching the level of Boston still depends on a bunch of prospects reaching or exceeding their projections. That or Murray swinging some shrewd trades but that would require Melnyk to spend more than a standard ELC.

We'll see, long time away (couple years) until we are talking about the Sens and contenders. They are on the right track though.

Everyone's gonna get better, this is about to be an all put war with every team on the same tier except the best of the best.  

IMO, we're not a worse team than Tampa bay, Detroit or Montreal, but Toronto is close to that pack, Florida is a real threat in the coming years depending on their ownership, buffalo will be really strong in a few years.  

People wanted parity and they're seeing it now.  There's no room for anyone to falter like we abd Toronto did, but we're also in a group of 5 or 6 that will get 2 playoff spots, maybe 3.

Then there's Columbus who's looking pretty tough.  

Point is this team needs to be deep and strong to survive.  Obviously a huge summer.

Hoags wrote:

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.

You've got to think Rask is a Vezina candidate every year. It's not like Boston is winning with a so-so goalie

Again all the pieces are there to be a Boston type team, maybe some red wings mixed in there too. Ottawa will forge their own identity but they can`t do that with a guy like Spezza leading the charge.

We're certainly not as bad a team as we showed this year.  Once Spezza's gone, and everyone is on the same page with the coach, we're a playoff team.  Add a couple higher priced pieces, and we're a contender. 

The main problem?  Melnyk.  It's abundantly clear we're not going to win a Cup with him keeping the budget in place.

tim1_2 wrote:We're certainly not as bad a team as we showed this year.  Once Spezza's gone, and everyone is on the same page with the coach, we're a playoff team.  Add a couple higher priced pieces, and we're a contender. 

The main problem?  Melnyk.  It's abundantly clear we're not going to win a Cup with him keeping the budget in place.

Hasn't the budget myth been discredited by various experts (Big Ev, NELLY)?

tim1_2 wrote:We're certainly not as bad a team as we showed this year.  Once Spezza's gone, and everyone is on the same page with the coach, we're a playoff team.  Add a couple higher priced pieces, and we're a contender. 

The main problem?  Melnyk.  It's abundantly clear we're not going to win a Cup with him keeping the budget in place.

Sens have been a budget team their entire existence.

Ev wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:We're certainly not as bad a team as we showed this year.  Once Spezza's gone, and everyone is on the same page with the coach, we're a playoff team.  Add a couple higher priced pieces, and we're a contender. 

The main problem?  Melnyk.  It's abundantly clear we're not going to win a Cup with him keeping the budget in place.

Sens have been a budget team their entire existence.

not really so. but should that be all we aspire to be?(hey thank god we have a team!) is it all we can hope for? i think the recent tv deal should say otherwise.

if melnyk would sell the team i think they'd be buyers interested in investing more and keeping the franchise in ottawa.

There is not a single reason why Melnyk would sell the Sens at this moment.

LeKing wrote:There is not a single reason why Melnyk would sell the Sens at this moment.

to make a profit on the sale?
but you're right, i don't see it happening.

Melnyk is content to hang on to the team, use it to finance his other failing endeavours, and hold the city hostage.

tim1_2 wrote:Melnyk is content to hang on to the team, use it to finance his other failing endeavours, and hold the city hostage.

This year isn't the time to Wing Dang Doodle about Melnyk. What's happened so far? We lost Alfie -- that was bad. We also made a big splash with the Ryan trade (not a move done by someone trying to keep to the floor), and in the past we've given out big $$ to Heatley/Spezza, Kovalev, Gonchar. If you ignore what Melnyk has been saying (which you should) and concentrate on what the team has actually been doing, then what does the situation look like?

And next year they've got $51M and 18 players. Lehner is the only "must-sign" free agent and he will get around $2.5M. Lazar and Boro added to the roster will be at worst a cap-neutral move as they'd be replacing someone making more. Hoffman will re-sign under $1M. They'd be roughly $2M from the internal cap, and that's with Spezza's $7M still on the roster.

If Spezza is moved we will need to add $9M or more to reach the internal cap. That's could be a heck of a upgrade, or re-signing Michalek and upgrading the top-pairing. And I don't think anyone is dreaming of competing for the Cup next season, so spending on rentals is out.

But among everything Melnyk said he also said that of course he'll spend when it's will make a difference, which will be in 2 years or more.

Now, if we don't extend Ryan and lose out best young prospects, replacing them with overpaid 4th liners and tweeners, that's a different story, for a different time. Right now is not the time.

Flo The Action wrote:
not really so. but should that be all we aspire to be?(hey thank god we have a team!) is it all we can hope for? i think the recent tv deal should say otherwise.

if melnyk would sell the team i think they'd be buyers interested in investing more and keeping the franchise in ottawa.

Yeah we have been a budget team for pretty much the entire existence. Melnyk spent to the cap a few times. We faced Leafs teams with twice our payroll in the playoffs before the cap. We're a small market team, those kind of teams in every pro sports league have a disadvantage against big market teams (financially speaking).

It's correct, he has no reason to sell the team(unless someone makes him an offer he can't refuse).

After SensChirp's meltdown I am sick of the whining and budget talk, the budget has increased from the year before and I think they will spend when they're a top contender, or close to it.

We're not the Islanders (now that is cheap).