Bryan Murray not pleased... sends message to team

I find that hard to believe Neely. There are a LOT of guys in the room that I think like playing for Ottawa, and care about the franchise.

This includes first and foremost, Daniel Alfredsson.

It seems like anyone who doesn't want to be here are prompty sent packing. I can't believe it would be a friendly place to be if you weren't giving your all.

Neely4Life wrote:Murray talking trades is not a good thing for about 75% of that team. The only guys that are safe are Alfi, Heatley, Fisher, Phillips, Auld, and Gerber.

Winchester, Kuba, Volchenkov, Ruutu are all 100% safe.
Spezza, McAmmond, Donovan, Smith, Foligno, and Picard are all relatively safe.
Vermette, Kelly, Neil, Schubert are the ones who seem to be eternally on the chopping block. If something is to happen, its these 4 players who should be most concerned.

I think I wrote something to that effect a while back cash.

Couldn't agree more. (about if someone going, it's Vermette, Schubert, Neil, Kelly, and in that order).

The only difference I had was that Kuba was only 99% safe. If management evaluates he's a "sell high" candidate, and the return is a better PMD, he could go. But that's a long shot IMO.

RobbyJ wrote:I maintain that it's not a matter of effort with this group, I think it's a lack of foot speed combined with the fact that there are a lot of STUPID (in a hockey sense) players on this team.

How many times do you have to be told that you have to be on the defensive side of a puck battle against the boards. How many times do you see shots directly into opposing shin pads, a disease we call Mezitis. So, so, so stupid.

LOL. Schubert's got the worst case of that EVER.

Neely4Life wrote:Its getting there man, I have lost all my faith in the group of guys in that room to be competitve. I mean, this is actually the last straw for the Sens, if this doesnt work, changes are coming.

After everything last year, the changes made, you would have think that was a strong enough message for the guys in there. It wasnt.

I disagree with you 100% about Spezza... but here, you have a very good, and very disconcerting point.

The thought that some guys might be trying to play *themselves* off the team was not one that had occurred to me before. If that's the case, we're in for one long season of change...

As an aside on Spezza, have we all forgotten how young he is. It seems like he has been around forever (6 years) but that's what happens when you make the NHL at 18. He's barely 25 years old.

If part of his problem is maturity, (and lets face it, work ethic and maturity tend to share at least a little bit of a common bond) then in time it will come.

When I think of Spezza, I always forget/it never occurs to me that Diddle, this guy is younger than me, and if I can't behave like a fully mature adult yet how the hell can I possibly hold the same sort of expectations for Spezza.

Because he has a 7 million dollar a year contract and I don't? Money doesn't buy maturity. It may raise the level of expectations we place on a person, but it can't buy whatever it takes to meet those expectations.

Hearing that he will improve with time may suck, and it may be an annoying as hell wait, but the time will come one day, where this team might just look back and say, damn I'm glad we didn't trade him (or damn I wish we never dealt him).

And even if Spezza doesn't work out this year, wouldn't Hedman on the blue line be an acceptable consolation prize???

I am wondering if we are seeing some of our players through rose-coloured glasses. Year after year people make comments like "He is still young, give him time" or "He will come around he just needs to find his groove". Are some of these players good because we think and hope they will become good? Don't get me wrong because I am a huge Sens fan but I am wondering if we as fans make excuses for their inability to play with this team or at a certain level consistently. I enjoy have Fisher on the team but he continually gets hurt and doesn't produce, yet fans say that we can't possibly trade this guy..that he brings energy to the team. While the energy aspect is nice, I want some goals!! Vermette has done nothing this season or last or for a while for that matter but fans comment on his speed and skill. Well when is he going to finally use these 2 things to get us some goals? I could continue to go on with other players but I am sure you get my point.

Harstburg canceled practice and held 1-on-1 sessions with the team in Long Island before heading to New York.

http://www.ottawasun.com/Sports/Senators/2008/11/17/7433636-sun.html

oooh...1-on-1...who gives a Dung...

these guys just don't care...I think it is going to take more than just meetings to get these guys going...team meetings...Murray's rant...now this...

I am sure all the players involved in the meetings heard...wa wa wa....wa wa...wa wa...(thank you Charlie Brown)

It appears to me that a big shakeup is in order. If you look back, this team has been playing poorly since this time last year with no real end in site. I don't think switching out a couple 3rd and 4th line guys is going to help.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:It appears to me that a big shakeup is in order. If you look back, this team has been playing poorly since this time last year with no real end in site. I don't think switching out a couple 3rd and 4th line guys is going to help.

exactly...enough is enough...

If not a shakeup, at least start putting your money where your mouth is. We can't afford to cut icetime from the top players?? Are you kidding me? What are they doing for us now? I say at least start there.

Depends what was said in these 1-on-1 meetings. I think this team needs to get back to having some fun when playing hockey. Everyone is so tense and it's like a goddamn perfect storm of Dung brewing around this team. I know it sounds weird, but they need to relax a bit, and have some fun so that they can start seeing what it's like for a team to be successful.

I had this discussion last night with Clutch.

Players like Spezza are way too comfortable with the Sens. Spez has been "The Man" on this team based on his stats the past two seasons. But those teams had airtight defense, and as such his defensive gaffes were not highlighted.

Now that the defense is more sieve-like, all of a sudden, he has the spotlight on him. Now we see all the giveaways, and we feel the impact as the other teams take it back the other way and net one.

Spezza needs a coach like Mike Keenan, or a coach of that iron-fisted variety (a la Tortorella) who will reward Spezza for his Diddle-ups with a spot on the 4th line, with like 5-8 mins per game on the ice. That might spark some responsibility for him. I fear nothing Hartsburg threatens will sink in

COLLAR UP wrote:oooh...1-on-1...who gives a Dung...

these guys just don't care...I think it is going to take more than just meetings to get these guys going...team meetings...Murray's rant...now this...

I am sure all the players involved in the meetings heard...wa wa wa....wa wa...wa wa...(thank you Charlie Brown)

At some point, maybe we're there already, the talking/juggling will have no impact and like you said, they'll have to put their money where their mouth is and make some serious changes to address the issue(s).

Perhaps Hartsy had the 1-on-1's to try and get a better read on the guys and figure out what's going on. Often, in team meetings, everyone just goes with the flow... perhaps he could get a better read this way. I don't know.

You can only talk for so long...

Cap'n Clutch wrote:It appears to me that a big shakeup is in order. If you look back, this team has been playing poorly since this time last year with no real end in site. I don't think switching out a couple 3rd and 4th line guys is going to help.

So what does that entail though? People say they want a shake up or want this team to change, so what's it going to take... unless you split up this forever cursed "cash line", i just don't see anything changing. I just feel that the only thing that is cursing us is putting those three up as our last resort. Oh, if everything fails, then we can turn to those three... we can split them up during the game, but when there's 5 minutes left, lets get them together and see if they can produce anything cuz we're losing and we need to get some points up there. But it's just not happening.. my whole point about this rant is that who are we prepared to get rid of.. I don't see any changes happening in this team until a big move is made, meaning one of those 3 gone... which could happen alot of ways.. trade spezza, or even alfie retires, but that's at least 4 years away now and i sure as Dung dont want to trade Heatley...

Cap'n Clutch wrote:If not a shakeup, at least start putting your money where your mouth is. We can't afford to cut icetime from the top players?? Are you kidding me? What are they doing for us now? I say at least start there.

Seriously...I'd bench Spezza and Heater...both in the same game...why not?

Zubov is up...call up Bass...and/or Z.Smith...

Next game...sit Fisher...and Phillips...

Is anyone else finding it weird that D is an issue on this team, and by D I mean defensive play, considering how many defensive minded players we have on the roster.

Alfredsson, Fisher, Vermette, Kelly, McAmmond, Donovan, Phillips, Volchenkov, Smith, Schubert, Ruutu, and even Heatley to an extent 'gets it' on the defensive side of the puck.