Significant Ottawa Rumour

Dawg's Wife wrote:Volchenkov isn't going anywhere.

To trade him and Vermette plus a pick for J Bo is crazy. It's overkill, and you're not really improving your team because you get rid of one shut down d-man for an offensive guy who is a UFA. The only way any deal with J Bo gets done before the deadline is if a team has an oportunity to talk to him about an extension.

Murray isn't an idiot and while vermette is likely the guy going wherever you'll not see Volchenkov going, more likely Schubert.

The guys on the trading block right now.

Vermette, Schubert, McCammond, Neil, Donovan, Gerber

Next bubble guys,

Kelly, Foligno, Fisher, Kuba

Everyone else is pretty much safe. With that said Spezza is gone if the right deal comes along, but Murray has stated that there are very few Centremen in this league capable of 100 pts a season, so any deal for Spezza has to be huge. He admitted yesterday on a Sportsnet Article I read that he has offers for Spezza right now, but trading him doesn't make Ottawa a better team.

I heard the same thing about those Spezza offers, the only problem is none of them have real value coming back. These teams are trying to cash in on a star player by getting him cheap because the team is struggling. From what I know, there seems to be at least 6 or 7 deals on the table (not all of them involve Spezza), but Murray won't make a move until the 20-25 game mark.

How about, Vermette + Gerber for Leopold + _________

DashRiprock wrote:How about, Vermette + Gerber for Leopold + _________

No from Colorado.

They need to upgrade their goaltending. :D

Vermette, Schubert for Leopold, Svatos?

That's interesting enough IMO.

People are over-rating Bouwmeester.

Yeah, Pierre McGuire loves him, and yeah he had a great game against us, but he's still been pretty disappointing in his career thus far.

He's going to command a HUGE salary and we can't afford that.

Plus he's never been on a team that's earned its way into the playoffs. The only time in his career he's been to the post-season, it was in the AHL in the lock-out but he played the vast majority of that season on a different AHL team. And in that post-season run of 18 games, he put up a whopping 0 points.

Volchie has proven to be gold in the post-season and should still be much cheaper than Bouwmeester.

You can't compare Volchenkov and Bouwmeester unless Anton's developing some puck handling and is prepared to score 30+ points, not to mention upgrading his wheels.

Nobody's overating Bouwmeester, we're telling it as it is. The kid was a team Canada medal winning member, was the youngest player named to the U-20 team... he just happens to play on a Dung team.

asq2 wrote:People are over-rating Bouwmeester.

How can you over-rate a guy who's playing an average of 28.45 min/game this season and pretty much for his career?

asq2 wrote:Yeah, Pierre McGuire loves him, and yeah he had a great game against us, but he's still been pretty disappointing in his career thus far.

How has he been disappointing in his career thus far when he's been stuck on the same Dung Donkey team his whole career? A team that couldn't even make the playoffs with Luongo and Jokinen on the team has turned into to a team that has one legitimate scoring threat with pretty much no depth whatsoever.

asq2 wrote:He's going to command a HUGE salary and we can't afford that.

His stats speak for themselves. His skating ability is tops in the league, and at the very minimum top 3. He can play every situation and QB a powerplay. AND he's only 25. Why wouldn't we give him the money considering we have approximately 13 million next year to spend on a defenseman and possibly a goaltender?

asq2 wrote:Plus he's never been on a team that's earned its way into the playoffs. The only time in his career he's been to the post-season, it was in the AHL in the lock-out but he played the vast majority of that season on a different AHL team. And in that post-season run of 18 games, he put up a whopping 0 points.

This is a joke right? You do realize that it takes more than one star defenseman for a team to make the playoffs. They traded away the best goalie in the world, traded away a top 15 center in the league and brought in absolutely no one to put the puck in the net, and you're somehow magically relating that to being Bouwmeester's fault?

asq2 wrote:Volchie has proven to be gold in the post-season and should still be much cheaper than Bouwmeester.

What does that have to do with anything? Volchenkov is much cheaper than Bouwmeester because he's never had a 46 point season. Not to mention on top of all of that, Bouwmeester has never missed a game in his career.

I would trade almost anything away for Bouwmeester and then re-sign him to a 7 year, 6.5 million dollar deal as soon as possible.

PKC wrote:

asq2 wrote:People are over-rating Bouwmeester.

How can you over-rate a guy who's playing an average of 28.45 min/game this season and pretty much for his career?

asq2 wrote:Yeah, Pierre McGuire loves him, and yeah he had a great game against us, but he's still been pretty disappointing in his career thus far.

How has he been disappointing in his career thus far when he's been stuck on the same Dung Donkey team his whole career? A team that couldn't even make the playoffs with Luongo and Jokinen on the team has turned into to a team that has one legitimate scoring threat with pretty much no depth whatsoever.

asq2 wrote:He's going to command a HUGE salary and we can't afford that.

His stats speak for themselves. His skating ability is tops in the league, and at the very minimum top 3. He can play every situation and QB a powerplay. AND he's only 25. Why wouldn't we give him the money considering we have approximately 13 million next year to spend on a defenseman and possibly a goaltender?

asq2 wrote:Plus he's never been on a team that's earned its way into the playoffs. The only time in his career he's been to the post-season, it was in the AHL in the lock-out but he played the vast majority of that season on a different AHL team. And in that post-season run of 18 games, he put up a whopping 0 points.

This is a joke right? You do realize that it takes more than one star defenseman for a team to make the playoffs. They traded away the best goalie in the world, traded away a top 15 center in the league and brought in absolutely no one to put the puck in the net, and you're somehow magically relating that to being Bouwmeester's fault?

asq2 wrote:Volchie has proven to be gold in the post-season and should still be much cheaper than Bouwmeester.

What does that have to do with anything? Volchenkov is much cheaper than Bouwmeester because he's never had a 46 point season. Not to mention on top of all of that, Bouwmeester has never missed a game in his career.

I would trade almost anything away for Bouwmeester and then re-sign him to a 7 year, 6.5 million dollar deal as soon as possible.

I think he's going to want more than $6.5 million.

You're acting like he's Lidstrom. This is my point.

He's not Lidstrom, hes Canadian. He's also younger. Why does he have to compare to Lidstrom? He's not new to the league, people who have followed NHL or International hockey know what he can do, they don't have to convince you.

asq2 wrote:I think he's going to want more than $6.5 million.

You're acting like he's Lidstrom. This is my point.

How could you possibly know that? Maybe he'd be content to give up some money to play on a decent team for once in his career. Besides, even if he wants 7 million, let's say, given that the majority of people would have given that to Brian Campbell why is it such a problem to give it to Bouwmeester.

He might not be Lidstrom, but he'd easily be the best defender on about 85% of teams in the league.

DashRiprock wrote:You can't compare Volchenkov and Bouwmeester unless Anton's developing some puck handling and is prepared to score 30+ points, not to mention upgrading his wheels.

Nobody's overating Bouwmeester, we're telling it as it is. The kid was a team Canada medal winning member, was the youngest player named to the U-20 team... he just happens to play on a Dung team.

on the flip side...you cannot only compare Volch to Bouw in terms of what Bouw does...

does Bouw block over 200 shots a year...NO
does Bouw deliver punishing hits...NO...

so while I agree with you in that you cannot compare the two...you cannot only use Bouw's stats to prove your point...and insist that Volch would need to learn to become a point producer...

COLLAR UP wrote:

DashRiprock wrote:You can't compare Volchenkov and Bouwmeester unless Anton's developing some puck handling and is prepared to score 30+ points, not to mention upgrading his wheels.

Nobody's overating Bouwmeester, we're telling it as it is. The kid was a team Canada medal winning member, was the youngest player named to the U-20 team... he just happens to play on a Dung team.

on the flip side...you cannot only compare Volch to Bouw in terms of what Bouw does...

does Bouw block over 200 shots a year...NO
does Bouw deliver punishing hits...NO...

so while I agree with you in that you cannot compare the two...you cannot only use Bouw's stats to prove your point...and insist that Volch would need to learn to become a point producer...

Just some comparables for you guys (07-08 stats):

Blocked Shots -- Volchenkov: 209 - Bouwmeester: 118
Hits -- Volchenkov: 153 - Bouwmeester: 105
Giveaways -- Volchenkov:32 - Bouwmeester: 65
Takeaways -- Volchenkov: 23 - Bouwmeester: 19
Shots On Goal -- Volchenkov:71 - Bouwmeester: 182
Points -- Volchenkov:15 - Bouwmeester: 37
Goals -- Volchenkov: 1 - Bouwmeester: 15
PowerPlay Points -- Volchenkov: 0 - Bouwmeester: 14

PKC wrote:

Just some comparables for you guys (07-08 stats):

Blocked Shots -- Volchenkov: 209 - Bouwmeester: 118
Hits -- Volchenkov: 153 - Bouwmeester: 105
Giveaways -- Volchenkov:32 - Bouwmeester: 65
Takeaways -- Volchenkov: 23 - Bouwmeester: 19
Shots On Goal -- Volchenkov:71 - Bouwmeester: 182
Points -- Volchenkov:15 - Bouwmeester: 37
Goals -- Volchenkov: 1 - Bouwmeester: 15
PowerPlay Points -- Volchenkov: 0 - Bouwmeester: 14

I think the bottom line to all of this is that this is comparing apples and oranges. They're two very different players.

Volchenkov is a defensive specialist -- a monster shutdown, PK, and shotblocking/hitting machine.

Boumeester is a smooth-skating, puck-handling guy who can quaterback your PP, move the puck smoothly out of the zone, AND perform as a capable shutdown D when called upon. If I'm going to compare Bo's game to anyone, it would be Scott Neidermayer, but without the same kind of superstar offensive potential (right now, anyway -- I think it's coming) and with a bigger frame: both are smooth skaters and puck-movers, both are capable defenders in their own ends even if that's not what they're primarily known for, and both play huge minutes in all situations.

There you go, and my point was that you don't need two Volchenkov's... it's like our Phillips/Volch line, sure they are great defenders, but you aren't going to fear them scoring against you.

DashRiprock wrote:He's not Lidstrom, hes Canadian. He's also younger. Why does he have to compare to Lidstrom? He's not new to the league, people who have followed NHL or International hockey know what he can do, they don't have to convince you.

Jeez, you don't have to be so hostile.

I'm aware that what I say has no impact on goings on in the NHL whatsoever.

I follow the NHL and International Hockey. I just don't think he's as good as you make him out to be.

I agree with asq2 - he's overrated. We need winners - we have enough talent already.

I third that Bow is overated. What i dont understand is why you guys are arguing Volchy vs. Bow when they CLEARLY complement each other perfectly and would form a dominant defensive line....

How is he overrated????????
Someone, for the love of God, present some proof that he's overrated.

I think JB is quite good, but he will be looking for more money than Campbell. JB just turned 25 and is now entering his prime. He will be offered 5 yr. X 7.5 mil. MINIMUM if he hits the open market. The Leafs would definitely open their wallets for him. Campbell is not an elite D-man in my opinion, but rather an elite offensive D-man. It is the offense that brings in the dough.