Have not been around this board in a long time hope everyone is well....

I guess for me the question of who do we trade is very much linked to the overall plan the Senators should have going forward.  In my view, the Senators should be on a 3-5 year plan: Make the playoffs in 3 years (Spring 2014) and be an elite team in 5 years.  So to determine whether we trade someone, we need to ask where will these players be (in terms of their play 3-5 years from now).  I also think we should be looking to spend much closer to the salary floor than to the cap to give youth a chance to develop, get better draft picks, and be able to keep the team somewhere close to profitable during the rebuild. 

Looking at our rosters, I would see 3 untouchables:

Karlsson - massive upside and will not even be entering his prime when we make it back to playoff contention.
Spezza - should still be in his prime (he will be 30) when we make it back to playoff contention.
Alfie - he will either be retired or close to it. But, a young organization like ours needs our greatest player ever to be a Senator for life.  If we had won a cup, or if we had been a team that started in the 1980s, this scenario would be different. The only way he should be traded is if he asks to be traded to a contender.  If he does, I will cheer him on to win a cup.

I think everyone else is tradable.  While we will want some veteran presence for mentoring the younger players, I think we need to stock up on prospects and picks.  So I would keep veteran presence to a minimum.  I used to think that Mike Fisher would be a good keeper but he will be 33 when we are back in playoff contention and a UFA that season too.  Chris Kelly is liked by many but he too is 30 now and will be a UFA at the end of next season.  I don’t think we should trade these players for the sake of trading them. But if there are good picks and/or prospects to be had take them – whether it be now, this summer or next season. 

At the end of the day, everyone is tradable for the right price.  So while I think Alfie should be kept here, if Pittsburgh comes calling with Sydney Crosby or Eveni Malkin I would make that trade.  I am interested to see what happens in the weeks ahead.  I wish we would hire a GM that will oversee the rebuild (provided its not an arrogant monstrosity from TSN) sooner rather than later and I wonder if Melnyk is wanting to wait until the offseason because he has someone in mind who is currently not available.

Cheers

One question for Bryan Murray:  Dad.....are we there yet?  When are we going to get there - I am tired of waiting!

 

To me the choice is between Fisher and Spezza.  Looking at it from the present, I would say the obvious choice would be Fisher since has shown much leadership over the years. 

However, he would not be my choice.  I believe the team should give the A to Spezza and emphasize what they are looking for in an Assistant and potential future captain: a solid two way player who leads by example in terms of effort, defensive responsibility and intelligent decisions. 

thank you frequentvisitor  and its this long because i was a major advocate in getting spezza to stay so..thought it made sense for me  and is moxie always this considerate?...

He is - but there is this MetalHawk character on the board and guess what - he absolutely loves Spezza! 

I am a longtime fan of Jason and thought the one good thing about the Yashin Jr trade demand was that it ensured Spezza would remain a Senator.

Cheers

5 million per season according to the TSN tracker.....   I think I would have like 3-4 million per.


I am guessing that something might be coming soon moving cap space out of Ottawa because if we are not right at the cap we are awfully close.

Wikepedia now lists his current team as Ottawa though they got the years wrong in the first sentence of the article

There has been a bit of discussion about steps the league should take to protect teams given everything that has happened with Dany Heatley and Yashin before him.  One of the steps the league took in the last collective agreement was to ban the renegotiation of contracts even if both the player and the team agreed.  What do you think the league should try to do in the next round of collective bargainning? 

Here are a few of my thoughts:

1) I would say either ban No Trade and No Movement clauses all together, or if you can't get that, restrict the number any one team can give out.
2) I would lower the maximum any one player can make to 15% of the total salary cap and I would sell it by saying we want more players to make more money.
3) Put a standard clause in a contract saying neither a player, nor his agent, can publicly ask for a trade.  This one is a pipe dream as the NHLPA would balk at it.  It might also be very difficult to enforce as agents could leak information.

Cheers

I have always liked Chris Neil but this is too much money over too many years.  The only thing I will say is I would rather be over paying him than a lot of other so called character guys.

cheers

Neil, 30, tied a career-low with ten points and set a career-low with a minus-13 in 60 games last season.

That's the part that said it all for me.  I appreciate everything he has done for the Senators and do not begrudge him trying to make the most out of free agency, but any team that would offer him anything beyond 1.7 is nuts IMO as I am not convinced he is worth much beyond 1.5 per years with a term of 2 years.

My nickname for Heatley is now Yashin Jr.   

The guy has so much talent but will never live up to his potential because he can't handle being pushed.  Clouston's remarks were timid.  I almost want to see him traded to the Rangers so he can live with Torts as his coach.

Happily, I am not driving buy SPB everyday and don't have to see that picture.