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It’s disgusting and makes being a fan hard.

It is also in my opinion, the only reason Wolanin signed. We are an embarrassing organization right now from top to bottom. But the Sens were able to play him now and burn a year of his 2 year ELC. It is as simple as that. Nothing else enticed Wolanin in my opinion.

Our hestinancy with playing prospects this year indefensible.

Anyone that thinks Wolanin looked at the depth chart and saw an opportunity, is flat-out wrong in my opinion. Players talk to each other and they see what media and we as fans see when it comes to who gets playing time in Ottawa whether it is deserved or not.

What a Dung show.

But if you're Dorion, how do you not have White/whoever up from Belleville and order Boucher to put 'em in the lineup and give them big minutes? I get not doing that earlier in the season, but it's truly garbage time now....

At least Wolanin is playing tonight....

Wolanin is only playing tonight because he wouldn’t sign otherwise. That’s my opinion.

The fact that they have 4 AHL callups post deadline and used one on Jim O’Brien is laughable.

Dorion is a puppet to Melnyk in my opinion and isn’t allowed to make any decisions for himself. He chose that role though so I don’t care that his reputation is getting trashed right now.

Boucher on the other hand is just arrogant and stubborn and the wrong coach for this franchise in its current state.

Lagoon wrote:Wolanin is only playing tonight because he wouldn’t sign otherwise. That’s my opinion.

The fact that they have 4 AHL callups post deadline and used one on Jim O’Brien is laughable.

Dorion is a puppet to Melnyk in my opinion and isn’t allowed to make any decisions for himself. He chose that role though so I don’t care that his reputation is getting trashed right now.

Boucher on the other hand is just arrogant and stubborn and the wrong coach for this franchise in its current state.

Wolanin is 23. He was in the same draft class as Eichel, McDavid, Chabot and White but was an over-ager (2015 entry draft born in 1995 = 20 years old). Jaros, Englund, etc are younger than him and Ceci only 16 or so months older. He put up more points as a d-man than White did as a forward in their final seasons respectively, played an extra year in college over White, led his team in points, and was second in PIM. He also has okay NHL size (slightly smaller than Turris) and had very strong development camps with the Sens.

Analysts on TSN have quoted that he has what it takes offensively to compete at the NHL level. His defence needs works. If this guy looks good over the next 10 games it's more ammo for Ottawa to trade Karlsson and/or evaluate the other d-men under contract, which as it stands Harpur and Claesson have underwhelmed incredibly this season and have limited upside as bottom pairing d-men.

I think getting him into a game is the best way for the organization to evaluate him and see where he is and whether he can compete at the NHL level. It's also good for him to get a sense of what it takes to compete at the NHL level. It is no different than Chabot who will learn faster in the NHL than in the AHL. To repeat, Wolanin is already 23 - it's not like he's 20 or 21 coming straight from junior and needs 2-3 years to develop. To give you context, he's 3 days older than Nick Paul and has over 100 games of college experience.

Don't be so quick to judge this decision. You were quick to panic when you saw the rumour that he may not sign and crapped on the organization for their inability to sign players. He signed almost immediately out of college and is being given an opportunity to show what he can do. Have some faith in the process. He will play limited minutes, but with Karlsson out indefinitely he will get PP time and more minutes than most rookies would get under Boucher.

I know all about Wolanin, thanks. I didn’t jump to any conclusions when reports came out that he was testing the market. I simply said the Sens are a mess (they are) and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him test the market because that is what I would do if it meant having the opportunity to avoid the Sens next year too. Good on the Sens for using their only legitimate angle to get him to sign and that was and is that they could put him on NHL ice sooner than any other team.

People on here tried to pretend our depth chart would have mattered to him. I disagree.

The Sens did what they had to do in signing him. I’m glad they did. I’m the one that said he would be the 3rd best Sens defenceman on the ice tonight, even though some would argue he is better than Ceci too.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:
Don't be so quick to judge this decision. You were quick to panic when you saw the rumour that he may not sign and crapped on the organization for their inability to sign players. He signed almost immediately out of college and is being given an opportunity to show what he can do. Have some faith in the process. He will play limited minutes, but with Karlsson out indefinitely he will get PP time and more minutes than most rookies would get under Boucher.

The entire "Wolanin isn't going to sign" thing was entirely media and internet generated nonsense. It happens, especially when a team's in disarray.

We will soon see if Karlsson getting traded was media driven nonsense as well. I thought it was until Bobby Ryan continued to be refreshingly honest.

Nobody knows if the Wolanin rumour was nonsense as well.

Lagoon wrote:We will soon see if Karlsson getting traded was media driven nonsense as well. I thought it was until Bobby Ryan continued to be refreshingly honest.

Nobody knows if the Wolanin rumour was nonsense as well.

He signed here immediately. There was no indication from him or the Sens that there was any difficulty in getting the deal done. The Wolanin rumour about him not signing originated from an article in The Athletic. Whatever, doesn't matter now.

tim1_2 wrote:

Lagoon wrote:We will soon see if Karlsson getting traded was media driven nonsense as well. I thought it was until Bobby Ryan continued to be refreshingly honest.

Nobody knows if the Wolanin rumour was nonsense as well.

He signed here immediately.  There was no indication from him or the Sens that there was any difficulty in getting the deal done.  The Wolanin rumour about him not signing originated from an article in The Athletic.  Whatever, doesn't matter now.

Exactly. He has signed. Ottawa has also signed three other college/OHL players to contracts this year (Luchuk, Leier, Scarfo) so the stigma of this being a bad place to sign isn't necessarily true. In retrospect, Dorion this season has:

- secured a legitimate goalie prospect
- acquired a legitimate #1 center
- got out of the Phaneuf contract (and probably Gaborik contract by summer)
- will have a top-five pick in a fairly decent draft
- got rid of a few bad vet acquisitions (Dumont, Thompson, Oduya)
- didn't commit to Methot long-term (28 GP this year)
- didn't panic and trade karlsson or hoffman

While this season is a write-off for Ottawa; Chicago, St Louis, NYR, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary all made the playoffs last year and are on the outside looking in this year. Ottawa isn't alone in having a bad season and is in a much better cap situation and have much deeper prospect pools than all the aforementioned teams.

Hand clap to you. Good post.

tim1_2 wrote:

Lagoon wrote:We will soon see if Karlsson getting traded was media driven nonsense as well. I thought it was until Bobby Ryan continued to be refreshingly honest.

Nobody knows if the Wolanin rumour was nonsense as well.

He signed here immediately.  There was no indication from him or the Sens that there was any difficulty in getting the deal done.  The Wolanin rumour about him not signing originated from an article in The Athletic.  Whatever, doesn't matter now.

Just to add to the whole Wolanin conspiracy theory, he even said to the media in the scrum today that he doesn't know where the whole free agency thing came from, as that was never really considered.

After the last two games, I hope Melnyk sees what life is like without his star.

My mistake, Wolanin isn’t the third best Sens defenceman on the ice tonight. He was the best.

Ceci over 30 minutes of ice time it feels like.

dennycrane wrote:After the last two games, I hope Melnyk sees what life is like without his star.

To be fair, we've seen the Sens play much better before without Karlsson. Everyone just looks tuned out right now.

Also, Guy Boucher is a bit of a douchebag. After the game, he said that "this is what you get when you have the young guys in your lineup. They do their best, but they can't keep up yet." He mentioned Chabot specifically, but the implication was also their for Wolanin. This is such a Dung, cop-out statement. Chabot had a bit of a rough game, for sure, but also contributed offensively. The roster is filled with vets...they just suck right now. Watching McDavid skate around Hoffman while Hoffman doesn't even touch him is just embarassing. And then for Boucher to pin this on the "young guys" is such horse Dung. Diddle him, and Diddle that.

Lagoon wrote:Hand clap to you. Good post.

How did Wolanin look last night? I wasn't able to watch the game. But I did hear on the radio that he was quite impressive.

tim1_2 wrote:Also, Guy Boucher is a bit of a douchebag.  After the game, he said that "this is what you get when you have the young guys in your lineup.  They do their best, but they can't keep up yet."   He mentioned Chabot specifically, but the implication was also their for Wolanin.  This is such a Dung, cop-out statement.  Chabot had a bit of a rough game, for sure, but also contributed offensively.  The roster is filled with vets...they just suck right now.  Watching McDavid skate around Hoffman while Hoffman doesn't even touch him is just embarassing.  And then for Boucher to pin this on the "young guys" is such horse Dung.  Diddle him, and Diddle that.

I think I said it yesterday in more polite terms, Boucher has got to go. He isn’t the right coach for our current situation. He’s holding us back and causing resentment and turmoil within.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:

Lagoon wrote:Hand clap to you. Good post.

How did Wolanin look last night? I wasn't able to watch the game. But I did hear on the radio that he was quite impressive.

Confident, quick, smart, high IQ on offence. Basically everything you will have already read. He got burned by McDavid once, but it was purely because of McDavid’s acceleration. He never gave up on the play after getting torched. Duchene called him outstanding and one of the Sens best players last night. I’d love to see a Wideman and Wolanin third pairing next season.

tim1_2 wrote:Also, Guy Boucher is a bit of a douchebag.  After the game, he said that "this is what you get when you have the young guys in your lineup.  They do their best, but they can't keep up yet."   He mentioned Chabot specifically, but the implication was also their for Wolanin.  This is such a Dung, cop-out statement.  Chabot had a bit of a rough game, for sure, but also contributed offensively.  The roster is filled with vets...they just suck right now.  Watching McDavid skate around Hoffman while Hoffman doesn't even touch him is just embarassing.  And then for Boucher to pin this on the "young guys" is such horse Dung.  Diddle him, and Diddle that.

It was the vet with the 'A' that took a bad penalty she made it worse by nothing off and taking two more.