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

Flo The Action wrote:So apparently karlsson fired back at Melnyk comments saying he's got to step it up a bit also. So karlsson isn't very happy about melnyk's cheapness. That's a few comments now.

Do you have a link? I'd like to read that.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:So apparently karlsson fired back at Melnyk comments saying he's got to step it up a bit also. So karlsson isn't very happy about melnyk's cheapness. That's a few comments now.

He'll be joining the ranks of The Heater and Statzpadzza with a trade demand.

Well if Melnyk doesn't contribute he might not be completely enthusiastic about resigning at the end of his contract and could you blame him? You wanna play for a team that you know will do all it takes to win the cup.
If we lose karlsson because of Melnyk there will be hellfire!

Gino Reda had this promo for his show:



When @Huge_Sensfan asked when Karlsson called out Melnyk, Reda tweeted back:

Gino Reda ‏@GinoRedaTSN · Mar 23

@Huge_Sensfan @TimHortons @DarrenDreger @jamiemclennan29 @markhmasters @TSNHockey we'll have the sound bite on the show

The clip is here:

http://www2.tsn.ca/shows/thatshockey/

At the bottom of the page click to the second page of videos, then play the one entitled "Another coaching change the answer for the Sens?" with the summary:

That's Hockey weighs in on Erik Karlsson's comments after he said that owner Eugene Melnyk needs to 'step it up' as well and discuss if another coaching change would be a good idea for the Senators, considering they've had six coaches over the last nine years.

wprager wrote:The clip is here:

http://www2.tsn.ca/shows/thatshockey/

At the bottom of the page click to the second page of videos, then play the one entitled "Another coaching change the answer for the Sens?" with the summary:

That's Hockey weighs in on Erik Karlsson's comments after he said that owner Eugene Melnyk needs to 'step it up' as well and discuss if another coaching change would be a good idea for the Senators, considering they've had six coaches over the last nine years.

I really hope karlsson isn't part of the overall problem. Although there's been a few red flags over the years. This team desperately needs more leadership. Hate that Ladd isn't the same player he once was but that's the type of player we need.

I hope whoever they hire as coach he has experience behind the bench for a prolonged period of time in the NHL. Hopefully a cup ring also.

I think Karlsson was just being coy.

wprager wrote:I think  Karlsson was just being coy.

It's a few times that karlsson takes the opportunity to be "coy" at the expense of the owner. Biting that hand that feeds sometimes means you don't like the feeder or his methods.

He's not wrong, but he's also not 100% right. The Sens have an internal budget which, I believe, is around $68M. You can argue this and that and how not team has won the Cup (in recent memory) without spending to the cap. There are way more examples of teams spending to the cap that don't win the Cup, of course (only 1 team wins and many spend to the cap).

All that said, the Sens had a lot of money tied up in Greening, Michalek and Phillips -- three players that, for one reason or another, did not contribute to the team's success. Michalek did, a bit, but certainly nowhere near what you would expect for his salary. Cowen and Wiercioch are in the same boat. Then there's Chiasson, who simply did not contribute to the level of his compensation.

Take all those salaries away and replace them with the likes of Phaneuf, Puempel, Dzingle and then you're under the internal cap by a good $5-6M. And then consider that we played pretty much the whole season without MacArthur, so that's another $4M+.

And until Turris got injured this team was good enough to be a point out of 2nd in the Atlantic with a game in hand.

So imagine that team, ad Phaneuf, add MacArthur and you still have $5-6M to spend at the deadline.

Yeah, that's not gonna he good enough. You need to spend the money this summer imo. Need a big time center or a big time winger, enough Cussing around.

SpezDispensed wrote:Yeah, that's not gonna he good enough.  You need to spend the money this summer imo.  Need a big time center or a big time winger, enough Cussing around.

Over the last few years there were a lot of financially bad decisions made with big contracts to Phillips, Michalek, Cowen, Greening (in no particular order). You could even argue that MacArthur, who has been a good third liner player and an occasional 2nd liner, was given a big long contract that I don't believe he lived up to (last year); but it was still better than the others listed.

Those contracts are gone next year and, even though we did take on Phaneuf's contract, the removal of the others more than makes up for it. According to generalfanager.com we have 10F/5D/2G at just over $53M. So we have about $16M on the internal budget left to fill out the roster.

Notable RFAs:
Hoffman: currently making $2M, will get $4M or more.
Chiasson: currently making $1.2M, can be qualified for that or simply replaced with an even cheaper callup (e.g. White could be a huge upgrade).
Puempel: currently making $863K, QO will be 105% of that, so still under $1M. Don't know if he's eligible for arbitration but he really hasn't shown much to get anything.
Dzingel: currently making $715M, QO will be 105% of that. He's shown a bit more than Puempel, IMO, but still nothing huge.
Wiercioch: currently making $2.0M, QO would have to be $2M and, frankly, with Claesson and Englund and Boro all fighting for that 6/7 spot (with Cameron gone I don't think Boro is guaranteed a spot) I don't think they need to qualify him.
Ceci: currently making $894K and due for a big raise, probably around $3M would be my guess.
Claesson: currently making $600K, won't take more than the 10% minimum QO raise.

I'm not going to look at players in Bingo besides the ones already in Ottawa. I don't think any of those pending FAs are a lock to make the team or a lock to be re-signed.

So $53M plus $4M for Hoffman, $3M for Ceci and around $2M for two of Chiasson/Puempel/Dzingel/White. That's $62M which leaves $6 to reach the internal budget of $68M.

So the $6M dollar question is how they will spend that $6M.

Yeah, but you can also float around trading zbad and Hoffman and even our first for an upgrade, so that 6 might prove to be more like 10

SpezDispensed wrote:Yeah, but you can also float around trading zbad and Hoffman and even our first for an upgrade,  so that 6 might prove to be more like 10

I was going to continue and explore how that $6M could be spent (including trades) but ran out of time. Now that the Easter Dinner is safely in the oven (Estimated Time of Gorging 1.5 hours) I've got time.

Zibanejad + Hoffman = $6.6M, give or take, assuming Hoffman will make $4M. Matt Duchene is $6M, so trade ZBad+Hoff for Duchene means we actually *save* $0.6M, leaving $6.6M to spend on a winger. Duchene is a legit 1LC and he shoots left, which we absolutely must have (currently all our centers are RHS as are most of our top six wingers and our top puck-movers, which makes it easier to defend our powerplay).

Looking at free agents, Lucic ($6M), Ladd ($4.4M but was reportedly asking for $41M over 6 years -- that's a bit over our budget), Eriksson (right winger but he shoots left -- $4.25M, wants a 4 year deal), Boedker ($3.75M, -30 is a concern).

I think Lucic will want to stay in LA. And I'm pretty sure we do not want him here, anyway.

Ladd would be the cat's meow as he would bring veteran leadership with Cup rings and he shoots left. His "ask" is too much given his age and wear-and-tear (not exactly a big guy) but since it's not my money, yeah, I'd give him $6Mx6 since playing with Karlsson and Duchene should make up for the shortfall. Eriksson would be great as well but Boston has space to re-sign him. Boedker is almost certain to be a UFA. Will there be a bidding war? His best season was 19 goals, 51 points so let's call him a 20-goal/50-point winger. He is -29 on the year but only -1 in 11 games with Colorado. He won't replace Hoffman's offense but assuming he's playing in the top six with either Turris or Duchene as his center I think he could be pretty close. He's also 211 lbs.

duchene is a pipe dream if you ask me, especially since they will want a good D for whatever trade they make. that's the area they are trying to adress.

but i agree with the general idea that we need to address the C postion. it might be the one we don't address though. with BM still at the helm he continues to believe in ZIb and likely so will dorion.
it's pretty clear hoffman will get moved. management doesn't seem to have much love for him.
my guess is they will again make a move for drouin and somehow hoffman will be moved. that's likely going to be the extend of trades.
they might take a run at a FA and Loui sounds like a good bet but so could ladd as he sounds like a murray guy.
appart from that i wouldn't expect any moves on the blueline unless ceci is moved in the drouin trade but i don't see that happening either, murr loves ceci.

Karlsson is obviously not a great leader. He's very cocky and egotistical. I hear countless stories of how he acts like he's better than everybody else when he's out at the bars and whatnot. I'm not saying to get rid of him but we need another veteran star who can take charge. Actually I think we're fine with Phaneuf and Ryan and Turris there

Karlsson needs to mature a little, for sure. His divorce and subsequent dating of a girl who looks like a high-priced escort didn't exactly make it look like he was growing up.

wprager wrote:Karlsson needs to mature a little, for sure.  His divorce and subsequent dating of a girl who looks like a high-priced escort didn't exactly make it look like he was growing up.  

That's a pretty Cussed up comment. You're judging her based on looks but she actually works and does a lot of community stuff.

Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:Karlsson needs to mature a little, for sure.  His divorce and subsequent dating of a girl who looks like a high-priced escort didn't exactly make it look like he was growing up.  

That's a pretty Cussed up comment. You're judging her based on looks but she actually works and does a lot of community stuff.  

Whether she does that stuff or not, judging her on her looks is stupid. Even worse is judging him based on her looks.

Also, judging someone's maturity based on the fact that he has a divorce (especially when you don't actually know any of the details that led to divorce) is stupid.

You're making stupid judgements like these and he's the one who needs to grow up?

You're right, I'm being judgmental. But Karlsson made a commitment to his long-time girlfriend when he married her "for better or for worse" and then he broke that commitment by screwing around. She did not leave him, he cheated on her. And I'm sorry, but Melinda does not have to show off her cleavage, it's not necessary. She looks every bit the "trophy wife". Did what happened in Karlsson's personal life affect his ability on the ice? No, of course not. But (IMO) it is a bit of an indictment on his character.