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

If Belleville manages to squeak into the post-season and then get Sanderson, Pinto, Brannstrom (?) joining them they could go on a run.

tim1_2 wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Can't believe that Murray is on the IR *again*!  Pascal Leclaire take 2.

Yeah, we gotta get rid of him.  Can't have a starting goalie that is so unreliable.

What’s the hurry? So far he’s injured. We’re probably going to trade forsberg and have our duo for next year plus call ups. It’s not like we need the cap space.
IMO, the payoff might be better if we hold on to him and he does regain his health. His play has been much better.

Call me crazy, but wouldn't it be cool to keep the good, reliable, cheaper goalie (Forsberg) and just ditch the unreliable, worse, more expensive goalie (Murray)?

I don’t know that Forsberg is a starter tbh. He’s alright. Don’t know that he could handle the full workload. Sell high.

I personally don’t think it’s a terrible idea to have murray in a rotating position with Gus and whoever is ready for some games in Belleville.
Either Gus or soogard will have a good shot to be our starter down the road. If not hit the market.


And who knows, maybe Murray gets healthy and you manage to trade him.

Flo The Action wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Can't believe that Murray is on the IR *again*!  Pascal Leclaire take 2.

Yeah, we gotta get rid of him.  Can't have a starting goalie that is so unreliable.

What’s the hurry? So far he’s injured. We’re probably going to trade forsberg and have our duo for next year plus call ups. It’s not like we need the cap space.
IMO, the payoff might be better if we hold on to him and he does regain his health. His play has been much better.

Call me crazy, but wouldn't it be cool to keep the good, reliable, cheaper goalie (Forsberg) and just ditch the unreliable, worse, more expensive goalie (Murray)?

I don’t know that Forsberg is a starter tbh. He’s alright. Don’t know that he could handle the full workload. Sell high.

I personally don’t think it’s a terrible idea to have murray in a rotating position with Gus and whoever is ready for some games in Belleville.
Either Gus or soogard will have a good shot to be our starter down the road. If not hit the market.


And who knows, maybe Murray gets healthy and you manage to trade him.

I don't think Forsberg is a starter either (although why not), but at least we know that about him. Murray should be the starter, but is totally unreliable, which is terrible. IF Murray were to be healthy for a few MONTHS and play really well, maybe there could be a trade made, but there's just no chance of that when he's injured 75% of the time. Pascal Leclaire 2.0.

tim1_2 wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Can't believe that Murray is on the IR *again*!  Pascal Leclaire take 2.

Yeah, we gotta get rid of him.  Can't have a starting goalie that is so unreliable.

What’s the hurry? So far he’s injured. We’re probably going to trade forsberg and have our duo for next year plus call ups. It’s not like we need the cap space.
IMO, the payoff might be better if we hold on to him and he does regain his health. His play has been much better.

Call me crazy, but wouldn't it be cool to keep the good, reliable, cheaper goalie (Forsberg) and just ditch the unreliable, worse, more expensive goalie (Murray)?

I don’t know that Forsberg is a starter tbh. He’s alright. Don’t know that he could handle the full workload. Sell high.

I personally don’t think it’s a terrible idea to have murray in a rotating position with Gus and whoever is ready for some games in Belleville.
Either Gus or soogard will have a good shot to be our starter down the road. If not hit the market.


And who knows, maybe Murray gets healthy and you manage to trade him.

I don't think Forsberg is a starter either (although why not), but at least we know that about him.  Murray should be the starter, but is totally unreliable, which is terrible.  IF Murray were to be healthy for a few MONTHS and play really well, maybe there could be a trade made, but there's just no chance of that when he's injured 75% of the time.  Pascal Leclaire 2.0.

They're saying that this could be a concussion which would be his third or fourth if I'm not mistaken. Honestly I think it's in everyone's best interests for Murray to go on LTIR for the rest of the year. They can all reevaluate in the summer. There may be taker but Ottawa shouldn't be taking on garbage contracts to get rid of Murray's. Worst case if insurance covers 80% it saves Melnyk a ton of money and Murray gets the remaining money on his contract. The only thing that would suck for Murray is that it may lead to him not getting another NHL contract. He'll be 30 by the time his existing contract is over assuming it's not bought out so there's at least 5 or 6 years of playing time he could be missing out. But given his numbers he probably doesn't get anything more than a back-up role, short-term contract after this one so he's not really leaving too much on the table.

The rumors are the Murray is not happy with either management or even the team (he thinks they don't play as hard for him). I can certainly believe that teams often play harder for one goalie than another but you've got to ask yourself -- "Why?" Maybe it's something you did/do or said/say. If this is true then they've got to get rid of him or forget about unparalleled success.

wprager wrote:The rumors are the Murray is not happy with either management or even the team (he thinks they don't play as hard for him).  I can certainly believe that teams often play harder for one goalie than another but you've got to ask yourself -- "Why?"  Maybe it's something you did/do or said/say.  If this is true then they've got to get rid of him or forget about unparalleled success.

Not that I believe him but Kevin Francis did an oped piece (sourced apparently) that said Murray doesn't want to play games let alone play games in succession. He said it's a coaching and management issue that he has. If I were playing in front of him and this were true I wouldn't be playing hard either. He signed a contract here to play and he needs to stay healthy. He hasn't done either. I think he goes on LTIR like Lupul did and that's the end of him.

wprager wrote:The rumors are the Murray is not happy with either management or even the team (he thinks they don't play as hard for him).  I can certainly believe that teams often play harder for one goalie than another but you've got to ask yourself -- "Why?"  Maybe it's something you did/do or said/say.  If this is true then they've got to get rid of him or forget about unparalleled success.

You spend too much time on social media and forums. None of those rumours have credibility

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:

wprager wrote:The rumors are the Murray is not happy with either management or even the team (he thinks they don't play as hard for him).  I can certainly believe that teams often play harder for one goalie than another but you've got to ask yourself -- "Why?"  Maybe it's something you did/do or said/say.  If this is true then they've got to get rid of him or forget about unparalleled success.

Not that I believe him but Kevin Francis did an oped piece (sourced apparently) that said Murray doesn't want to play games let alone play games in succession. He said it's a coaching and management issue that he has. If I were playing in front of him and this were true I wouldn't be playing hard either. He signed a contract here to play and he needs to stay healthy. He hasn't done either. I think he goes on LTIR like Lupul did and that's the end of him.

Why bother even writing it out if you don’t believe him? That person has no sources and writes pieces of fiction

Who's to say they're wrong ?

I thinks it's hard to *not* believe that the team plays better on front of Forsberg, age it's abundantly clear that Forsberg has outplayed Murray (hell, he's outplayed most of the NHL this calendar year - only Shesterkin and Swayman have a better SV% since Jan 1).


As for the rest, does it really matter?

That's just it. I'd put him on LTIR this off-season and management can figure out what to do this off-season. I'd give him the Lupul treatment and LTIR him for the duration of the contract. Of course Murray would need to be up for it. Otherwise I'd try to move in even if it means sending picks back the other way. But buying him out is not an option.

With the players expected to be moved at the deadline/not retained (Tierney, J. Brown, Sanford, Ennis, Mete, Del Zotto, Paul, Gaudette) the Sens will have about $10M off the books assuming the don't take on salary. That's more than enough money in/out to re-up Norris and Formenton IMO.

Ottawa needs to get Zaitsev out of here especially before his bonus is due freeing up another $4.5M next year. I'd use that money to re-up Gambrell and Forsberg (2/3 year deal). So keeping Murray on LTIR has no cap impact (except start of the year to be cap compliant) and at 80% covered by insurance the Sens come out ahead.

"Robidas Island". Thing is, if Murray doesn't agree to it and gets a second opinion, what then?

Next time they sign a player with injury history they need to seriously look adding performance bonuses based on games/icetime.

wprager wrote:"Robidas Island".  Thing is, if Murray doesn't agree to it and gets a second opinion, what then?  

Next time they sign a player with injury history they need to seriously look adding performance bonuses based on games/icetime.  

That’s not an option. Only if you’re on an ELC, one year deal over 35, or one year deal after serious injury

Exactly. Lupul land makes more sense

Assuming we have a top-five pick this year, who are we drafting? Wright and Cooley will be 1 and 2, but is it wide open after that? Are we going after Savoie, Slafkovsky, Nemel, Kemell or Lambert?

I've resisted the urge to look into the draft but it's mid March and we just lost to Arizona and Chicago back to back so I think I'm green-lighting myself to start doing some research.

Matt Murray has always been a dickhead, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's a grumpy wumpy. Get him out of here ASAP, regardless. He is useless.

tim1_2 wrote:Matt Murray has always been a dickhead, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's a grumpy wumpy.  Get him out of here ASAP, regardless.  He is useless.

I agree - especially with calling him a grumpy wumpy.

Murray may be out for the season