Ottawa Senators (present and past) TIDBITS & QUICK HITS!

SpezDispensed wrote:He's seen it all, let's not pretend that he's sitting there rocking back and forth insisting this is a playoff team.  Perhaps this should have been a playoff team - if we had gotten a vet scorer and a healthy Methot, but that's that.

What he'll do now is what any GM would do, he'll start quietly letting teams know that the veterans are for sale at any time and to begin offering away, but what do you want him to do at this point?  

Legwand is on the block.  I would pretty much guarantee it.  Michalek might or might not, who knows how he's regarded in the room.  Perhaps they want to keep him as a third liner, who knows.  Methot needs to be re-signed soon.  Phillips should be quietly on the block with the pretense that he's being moved to a contender to take a shot at the Cup (while he just needs to be Old Yellered), Wiercioch is certainly on the block, but who would care?  Smith sucks now and is redundant to 90% of teams out there, so good luck with that.  Neil probably isn't on the block, so you can probably forget about that.

Maybe Anderson is being quietly offered around, maybe.  I doubt it because Lehner's shown nothing really, but perhaps they want to begin the Lehner era here in Ottawa.  Which is funny, because all we've wanted in Ottawa is a solid netminder and now we have one and we can't wait to trade him.

The bottom line is, I think Murray knows what he's doing and I think he's got the feelers out to get rid of the dead weight, but who would care around the league?

Minny is pretty much out of it at this point, with or without Anderson.  They're in a dogfight in the West and their D is porous, and that's one of the few teams I can see really wanting Anderson.   Edmonton?  Probably a chance to get Eberle, but what's the cost?  And on and on we go.  Remember that this league is near impossible to make trades in, especially when you're offering prime pieces like Chris 'take me out back and shoot me' Phillips.

tim1_2 wrote:Yeah, it's tough to expect guys to be traded easily when these are the same guys we're Dung on constantly.

I think can garner a decent return, but we might have to wait for a couple key injuries closer to the deadline.

NEELY wrote:

SpezDispensed wrote:He's seen it all, let's not pretend that he's sitting there rocking back and forth insisting this is a playoff team.  Perhaps this should have been a playoff team - if we had gotten a vet scorer and a healthy Methot, but that's that.

What he'll do now is what any GM would do, he'll start quietly letting teams know that the veterans are for sale at any time and to begin offering away, but what do you want him to do at this point?  

Legwand is on the block.  I would pretty much guarantee it.  Michalek might or might not, who knows how he's regarded in the room.  Perhaps they want to keep him as a third liner, who knows.  Methot needs to be re-signed soon.  Phillips should be quietly on the block with the pretense that he's being moved to a contender to take a shot at the Cup (while he just needs to be Old Yellered), Wiercioch is certainly on the block, but who would care?  Smith sucks now and is redundant to 90% of teams out there, so good luck with that.  Neil probably isn't on the block, so you can probably forget about that.

Maybe Anderson is being quietly offered around, maybe.  I doubt it because Lehner's shown nothing really, but perhaps they want to begin the Lehner era here in Ottawa.  Which is funny, because all we've wanted in Ottawa is a solid netminder and now we have one and we can't wait to trade him.

The bottom line is, I think Murray knows what he's doing and I think he's got the feelers out to get rid of the dead weight, but who would care around the league?

Minny is pretty much out of it at this point, with or without Anderson.  They're in a dogfight in the West and their D is porous, and that's one of the few teams I can see really wanting Anderson.   Edmonton?  Probably a chance to get Eberle, but what's the cost?  And on and on we go.  Remember that this league is near impossible to make trades in, especially when you're offering prime pieces like Chris 'take me out back and shoot me' Phillips.

Everything but a Cup

NEELY wrote:If they want Anderson to be the #1 then trade Lehner. Cups are won with a clear cut #1 guy and leaving Lehner flapping in the wind at this point, stalling any kind of development, and generally forcing him into a backup role he isn't supposed to be in is failing the player. Murray has no idea how to handle this situation IMO and I don't think you can trust him to make the right moves at this point. He's seeing something that isn't there which is concerning.

tim1_2 wrote:

NEELY wrote:If they want Anderson to be the #1 then trade Lehner.  Cups are won with a clear cut #1 guy and leaving Lehner flapping in the wind at this point, stalling any kind of development, and generally forcing him into a backup role he isn't supposed to be in is failing the player.  Murray has no idea how to handle this situation IMO and I don't think you can trust him to make the right moves at this point.  He's seeing something that isn't there which is concerning.

I think the plan was to continually give Lehner more of a share of the net throughout Anderson's contract...and Lehner's inconsistency has lead to him not getting as many starts as they had likely originally intended.  You can't just flip a switch on trading a goalie like Anderson, especially when you've been in playoff contention.  As I said before, this is a move more likely to be made at the deadline or in the off-season.  

SpezDispensed wrote:Did I hear on 1200 that Michalek is last in the league in even strength points? Last in the league? Can that be right?

tim1_2 wrote:

SpezDispensed wrote:Did I hear on 1200 that Michalek is last in the league in even strength points?  Last in the league?  Can that be right?

Nah...must be among guys that have played a certain number of minutes or something....

NEELY wrote:And hell, if there's a year you can afford Lehner to let in some softies and learn it's this year.  Quick was a call-up in a bad year but he needed reps and got them.  Remember the Price vs Halak debate like Ev brought up?  Chicago let Neimi go... Pitt has stuck with Flurry through thick and thin... Boston made Tim Thomas move on with a somewhat unproven Rask... it goes on and on.

2 cooks in the kitchen doesn't work.  Make a choice.  There's a short term choice with very little risk in Anderson and there's a long term choice with some risk to it in Lehner.  What these guys would get back in a trade aside they need to make a call.

NEELY wrote:Lehner has had unreal numbers too but he wasn't given the ball.   Lehner's development has completely stalled, he was ready for the #1 last year and it was yanked from him for absolutely no reason.  I go back to that week where he was 1st start and MacLean f***ed him.  People have short memories, Lehner was the best goaltender in the NHL for a very short period of time and deserved a lot more than he received.  My concern at this point is how much damage has been done if there indeed has been damage done.

You're right, let him play or let him play somewhere else.  Edmonton and Minny would kill for Lehner right now as I am sure a few other teams would.   Again, make a choice because it's going to start to get stupid again in Ottawa with goaltenders.