The Talk

Two different writers, two different perspectives on what Bryan Murray will talk about with Jason Spezza.

Take resident shit-disturber Booboo Garrioch: His article today discusses Spezza's unhappiness with being booed and the speculation that he requested a trade. Of course, nobody else in hockey has mentioned this mysterious trade request. Furthermore, Garrioch penned a random piece last week that said there is simply no trade market for Spezza, even though Murray has shown no indication of shopping him. There is no trade market for Alfie or Phillips, either, if you are using the logic of availability.

Then the slightly more sensible Stevenson throws down an article today about how the conversation that Murray wants to have has nothing to do with trading him, but rather about including him in the veteran panel on how to shape the team next year. Murray says that Spezza is now in that group that takes on leadership responsibilities and Murray wants to talk with him about what they need, who is leaving, and how the team will look in the Fall. Quite a different angle than his colleague at the Sun, no?

I don't mind journalists uncovering player unhappiness and printing it. In fact, it is usually Murray that tells them about the player's emotions - Corvo requesting a trade, Schaeffer requesting a trade, etc. But to randomly print that Kovalev is untradeable, Spezza is untradeable, that is just amateur hour stuff that is best suited for half-witted blogs. It still shocks me that some of those guys get paid to travel with the team to write smut like that.

As for Spezza, of course he isn't going to be traded. I'll admit, when I read the comments from Murray in Garrioch's rendition (I know, I should have known better), it sounded like the possibility was opened that he'd be available at the draft. Now after seeing the entire set of comments, it is clear that we still have our #1 centre locked and loaded and probably a bit pissed off. Would anybody be upset if Spezza came back with a chip on his shoulder in the Fall? Not a Yashin chip, but just a bit of surliness to get back to the 90 point mark?

It is clear that this team is in a holding pattern for one more year, too. We just have so many big contracts on this team right now that our hands will be tied when it comes to UFA day. We'll hopefully have a competitive year in the Fall with Pascal playing well and Karlsson and Regin continuing to improve. After next season, we lose the Kovalev, Cheechoo, and Pascal contracts and can really start to shape this thing out properly. In the meantime, Murray will need to get Cullen back in the fold and somebody, anybody, to pair up with Phillips on the blue line.

And Garrioch - I'm not asking you to be a superfan and just blow smoke up their ass, but don't get lazy out there. You get these awards for breaking the Hasek signing and covering the Heatley saga, but don't just sit back and think you're work is done. Go find a real Sens story this summer.

the Pascal Leclaire trade. Would you do it again, Part 2

First off, congrats to the Habs and Jacques for taking down two really good teams. Really neat to see what Jacques can do with proper goaltending. He's won two Game 7s now after not winning one in 9 years in Ottawa.

Now, on to Snoopy. You came, you saw, you got belted in the head twice (neither occasion being in a game, either). Outside of Hasek, no goalie has come to Ottawa with as much fanfare as Pascal. After his first full season, he's at least surpassed Hasek in terms of freak injuries that tainted his year.

At the trade deadline in 2009, BM sent longtime underachiever Antoine Vermette over to Columbus for injured goalie Pascal Leclaire (and his $3.8M contract) and a 2nd round draft pick. Vermette went on to sign a 4-year extension for $3.75M and set career highs in goals (27) and points (65). Pascal nursed his injury last year and went on to just find new injuries this year, including a broken jaw and a concussion. It is safe to say that this season was an unmitigated disaster for Pascal. When he wasn't sitting in the trainer's room or eating through a straw, he was shitting the bed in the Sens crease. It wasn't until his last two games in the playoff loss that he fared well. The silver lining is that he might be on to a new start, and we MUST mention that the second round pick nabbed Robin Lehner, our future goaltender of the future...after Elliott, who is the current goaltender of the future.

A few more points - we couldn't afford to have a goalie AND have Vermette on that kind of contract. Sure, we probably could have signed him for something just over $3M, but would we have paid that much money for a guy that just always left you wanting more. So fast, good hands, but always struggled to hit that 50 point mark. Vermette also received FAR more icetime playing with Nash in Columbus than he did here, where he was a third liner and on the second PP unit. Could he have pushed for 30 goals in Ottawa? I doubt it. I'll also give Kovalev some credit here because Vermette never had an effect on the Fish that Kovie did. Or am I now giving Floatalev too much credit here? In hindsight, $3.75M for 65 points is a great deal. He also killed penalties.

The biggest challenge to evaluating this trade is that we still don't know what we have in Snoopy. Is he the goalie that gets concussed stopping shots with his head (aren't goalies supposed to stop shots anyway?)? Or is he the goalie that stole saves and made the first round playoff series semi-exciting? I hate to say that our sample of good games is FAR less than our sample of brutal games. Add to the fact that a guy like Turco is now available as a UFA this summer and you start to wonder how this deal worked out for everyone.

Vermette with more icetime in Columbus puts up 65pts. His $3.75M is more reasonable than the $5M we put up for Kovalev to replace his points. Lehner is supposed to be a stud, and Pascal might have a decent year in his sights.

Sens Fans - Would you do the Pascal trade again?

Would you do it again? Part 1 - Alex Kovalev

Boredom, sadness, anger. These are the continued emotions I have at dealing with the Sens loss and watching players like Heatley, Crosby, Thornton, etc having success in this year's playoffs. So I'm going to keep busy with a new series that gives us a chance to play hockey's version of armchair quarterback.

First - the Alex Kovalev signing.

It is a very safe argument that when Kovalev was on his game this year, he helped Mike Fisher have his best season as a Senator. He also saw time with Regin and Shannon and helped their play. He commands attention on the ice, clearing room for his centre to find open ice in the slot for one timers and rebounds. His hands are still strong and he knows how to skate and conserve energy by being in the right place at the right time.

But he was given a two year deal and he was given a lot of money. He had two points after the Olympics. He is 37 years old and just had major knee surgery (not his fault, of course). Let's think back to summer 2009 - do you think Kovalev could have been acquired on a one-year deal instead of two? Montreal had already made up their mind to move on and so it would have come down to us and whoever else pursued him. I'd like to think that Kovie would have gone for a one year deal near his beloved Montreal. Do you think that Kovalev could have been signed for $4M a year instead of $5M? Again, his bargaining power had dropped and I don't think he was a very highly sought free agent. Did we have to spend the full $5M and make him our second highest paid player?

There is also the consideration of other eligible players that we passed up. I don't want this to turn into a "we should have signed Mikael Samuelsson" thing, but did we pass up on something more important? Our hole was on defence, especially when we didn't know what we'd get from Karlsson to start the year. Could the money have been better served on a lesser forward and another defenceman, thus pushing someone like Campoli a bit harder?

Let us know - if you could do it all over again, would you still sign Alex Kovalev and would you sign him to that contract? Why?

Hastily Made Playoff Post

Heartbreak and heroics this playoff season. In just six games, we learned a great deal about our team and our players. It's a shame to lose in a game where we blow a 3-goal lead on home ice in an elimination game. It's a shame to lose in OT when our fourth line is inexplicably on the ice when our top players couldn't have been too tired to be out there. It's a shame that we have lost six straight home playoff games. But it was great to be back in the playoffs, to see the fans come together in red, and to do it with class and sportsmanship.

Reasons for Hope:

1. Peter Regin - it isn't Mike Fisher that is a scoring machine, it is Regin. On his own, he isn't a top line player. But paired with Spezza and Alfredsson really doesn't expose him to be a big miss, either. He has speed, smarts, and he definitely has the hands to hang with the top players. Regin was a treat to watch and will be much improved next year, too.

2. Erik Karlsson - there is no question that the kid made some mistakes in the playoffs, but nothing that was so costly that it cost us a game or the series (we did that as a team). It was Kuba's injury that allowed us to see how special this kid is as a player and hopefully he has learned enough from this experience to work his ass off this summer with the captain and be a top pairing player next year. Unreal season for the kid.

3. Pascal Leclaire - I laughed out loud when I read Brennan in the Sun say that Pascal should have been playing the entire series, never should have been pulled in Carolina last month, rah rah rah. Get over yourself, Brennan. At no point during this season did Pascal show that he was the starting goalie. He did everything possible to ensure Elliott took over the job. Of course Elliott started the series - he was the goalie that got us here! Pascal had one win in 2010 and it was a nothing game in Florida. But what Leclaire did do in the past two games was give us some hope or excitement or bewilderment as to what we might get next season. It doesn't change the fact that he is the most injury-prone player we've ever had and it doesn't change the fact that he was quite bad when he WAS healthy. But for a guy that was written off amid suggestions he be bought out, Snoopy showed enough promise to make us just a bit excited that he will be better next season.

4. Matt Cullen and Andy Sutton - Cullen isn't a top line player and Sutton isn't a top pairing defenceman, but these guys fit in better than any other trade deadline acquisition we've ever had, except maybe Comrie 1.0. Cullen was easily our best forward in the playoffs (Sorry Regin) and gives us another second line forward with the likes of Fisher, Kovalev, Michalek, etc. Carolina used to be a contender because they had a great goalie and had nine forwards that could bury goals. We could get there if we can bury Cheechoo and keep Cullen. Sutton is a decent replacement for Volchenkov when the latter goes to the Caps this summer. He blocks as many shots and hits as many forwards, but doesn't get the same recognition because he hasn't been here his whole career. I'm curious to see his salary demands coming off a $3M season.

5. Kelly/Ruutu/Neil - our best combined line this series, these guys need to be left alone as the ultimate third line. Kelly and Ruutu really are our best backcheckers. If you watch Ruutu in our zone, he's everywhere and he's great at getting the puck to safety. These three need to be together for 82 games, leaving the fourth line to whatever rookies crack the roster, like Zach Attack and Bobby Butler...

Things that concern me:

1. Brian Elliott - What happened here? He was never an elite goalie, but he was very good for us down the stretch. He was actually quite bad in the playoffs. I know the Emery struggled in his first playoff series, so hopefully this was a big learning experience. But you have to wonder with Lehner going to Bingo and Pascal perhaps stepping back into the #1 role (amazing that we call him the starter after two games, one of which he lost), what the future holds for Elliott.

2. Alfie - I am not concerned about Alfie as I know he had pulled abdominal muscles. I'm more concerned about this team without Alfie. We are in the final years of this guy's career and it is no secret that we are downright awful when he isn't on his game. I was hoping to see Spezza take over a leadership role but it didn't happen this year, aside from some point streaks late in the season. Does BM need to look at the free agent or trade market to find that leader post-Alfredsson? We most definitely need some kind of contingency because our heroic captain is going to start showing declining production as these years tick off.

3. Volchenkov - I'm calling his departure inevitable. If you haven't listened to the 6th Sens interview with his agent, Jay Grossman, what are you waiting for? But seriously, the comments that he made were clear - A-Train needs to know that he is spending his prime physical years blocking shots for a winning team. His style is so reckless that he doesn't want to sacrifice his body for a team that isn't ready to contend. Our first round loss, albeit fair for us, might not have been enough to show A-Train that we're ready to contend. I honestly think he looks at teams like Pittsburgh, Washington, Vancouver, Detroit, or Los Angeles and takes a decent contract for a chance to win a Cup while he is still able to play at a high level. A first round series win over the Champs would have gone a long way for us in showing Volchenkov that we're a winning team, but that didn't happen.

4. Jason Spezza - I know he had a fair amount of points this round, but he looks like the same player as the Spezza from 2, 3, 5 years ago. He is still an elite talent and it is almost unfair to pick on him since he really is an incredible offensive player, but it is almost like his development has hit a plateau. Can we honestly look at Spezza's season (or Fisher, for that matter) and say that this is a player that has more potential that we haven't seen? Or is it a case of 'what you see is what you get'? $7M is given to the guy for his talent but also because he's young and he is supposed to improve. I'm just not sure how much better Spezza will be. I'm glad he's here, but I still haven't come to terms with the fact that he isn't an Yzerman. That's for me to get used to, I suppose.

5. Team upside - Do we have a lot of upside for next season? Let's be real and assume that Wiercioch and Cowen probably won't make the team, okay? So we'll have a group very similar to this year. Of this team, Karlsson and Regin are sure to improve going into next season. But who else really has room to get better? Will Fisher or Spezza take another step, or are they basically playing their best hockey now? Can Michalek come back strong after major knee surgery? Can Kovalev and Kuba come back and be close to their previous levels? Phillips and Alfie are old and at some point will start regressing. The third line is great, but they are also playing at their potential and won't really grow. My point is simple - we are a good team that is playoff-calibre, but do we have room to grow and improve as it stands today? I'm putting my trust in the little general with the healthy salad and hope that we continue to develop the kids and find somewhere (outside of Ottawa) for Cheechoo. Let's hope that this team builds on this season and doesn't just rest on it.

Have a great summer! Til the draft!

Wow.

Can you think of a game with more contaversy? But it's all behind us cause SENS WIN! Carks is the hero and, to a lesser extent, but maybe a more important extent, Leclaire makes his money. Simply awesome.

Selfishly, I'm ecstatic as I have tickets to Game 6. Look for me, I'll be the one in the Alfredsson jersey...

We play like that again and game 7 here we come.

GO SENS GO!!!

The Obvious Report - Game 5 is the Biggest of Lecaire's Career

Snoopy officially gets the start tonight, and much like my post from the other day, it's his turn to have the biggest game of his life. Let's just hope he stays strong and doesn't get pulled mid-second.

Again, I believe that Snoopy can steal a game and turn the series around, much like I hoped for Elliot to do in Game 4. Let's just hope this move sparks the boys to play a better game with, more importantly, a better start.

We can analyze this goaltending move to death, I'm just hoping it works. I have tickets for Game 6!

Let's go Snoopy! Go Sens Go!

(also, Chummy is in, which should make us all happy!)