Bryan Murray

Hockey

Senators Trade Rumours; Murray Off His Rocker?

The rumours of a Senators blow up/mini blow up have been floating around for a few months now, which is not unusual considering how the team has been playing this year. What is a little disturbing though are the latest rumours to come out from the Hockey News Rumour Roundup. The rumour states that “Senators GM Bryan Murray, meanwhile, would be willing to shop everyone on his roster except defenseman Erik Karlsson, center Jason Spezza and captain Daniel Alfredsson.”

I think that this is completely wrong. On that list should also include Chris Kelly, Chris Neil and Mike Fisher. Those 3 guys give 110% every game, play the full 60 minutes and give it their all game in and game out, wearing their heart on their sleeves.  You could probably also include Matt Carkner on the list too.  These are the kind of veterans that you need on the team to be role models for the young players that are bound to join the ranks next season.  Guys that lead by example, guys who work hard every night and give it their all. Murray, I’ve never been one to call for your job, but I do think that if you get rid of any of those 3-4 guys that you’d be doing a huge mistake. They are part of your core that must remain intact.

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Luc "Sandman" G.
Hockey

Sens Active At 2009 Trade Deadline

vermette The Ottawa Senators were first out of the gate today, the last day of trading for the 2008-2009 NHL season. Our hometown Sens sent the much beloved Vermette to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for goaltender Pascal Leclaire and a 2nd round draft pick.

I am sad to see Vermette go. He was a gentleman on and off the ice. I met him and a sign and greet last year and he was polite, gracious and was really nice to my young nieces. Professionally, I believe that he will be hitting his prime in the next season or 2. Watch for him, as he’ll explode to be a 30-35 goal scorer. Its just to bad that it won’t be with the Senators. At least he’s going to a good organization that still is in a position to make the playoffs (currently seeded 6th in the tightly contested Western conference). I wish Antoine all the luck with his new team.

Coming our way is Pascal Leclaire, the 26 year old goaltender who was drafted 8th overall in theleclaire 2001 draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He has been a very good goaltender for that team but unfortunately got hurt earlier this year and is out for the rest of this season.  In almost 7000 minutes of play, Leclaire has a very respectable .907 save percentage and 2.82 goals against average. Assuming he comes back 100% from his ankle surgery, Leclaire could end up being the best goaltender we Ottawa fans have seen between our pipes (Hasek notwithstanding).  With him comes a 2nd round pick in what experts are calling the best draft in many years. All in all, I think that Murray did a very good trade and that Ottawa came out the winner. Unfortunately we don’t get to see until next season if it is truly so.

gerber That wasn’t the only change to the Sens lineup. Even though he has been playing down in Binghamton for the farm team, Gerber was finally picked up off waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Their #1 goaltender, Toskola, requires hip and groin surgery and will be out of the lineup for the rest of the season. The Leafs, not wanting to put the pressure on the again Curtis Joseph, picked up Gerber for the remainder of the season. Since he was picked up on waivers, the Leafs will only have to pay 1/2 of his remaining 800k salary. Not a bad deal for a team that absolutely required a goaltender. Gerber is a class act and I’m glad that he gets the chance to play in the NHL again, even if it is for the greatly hated Leafs.

Before the trade deadline, Murray managed to sign Filip Kuba to a contract extension that will keep him in a Sens jersey for the next 3 years, at a very reasonable 3.7M per season. Kuba was expected to be able to fetch 4.5-5M on the open market this summer. I believe that giving the team such a significant homtown discount speaks volumes regarding Kuba’s character and his belief in this team. It shows that he believes this team can and will be a contender in the short term.

What came as a surprise to the majority of NHL fans, Chris Neil was not traded. Murray stated that he received a couple of phone calls the day before the trade deadline regarding Neil, but come the day of the deadline no team showed any interest. A contract couldn’t be reached between the Sens and Neil before the deadline. The team was offering Neil 1.8M a year, whereas Neil was looking for 2.5M. I strongly believe that for what Neil brings to the table, 1.8M is a very generous offer (I’d peg it more at 1.3-1.4M). Hopefully Neil and his agent will see this lack of interest for what it is, and accept the 1.8M deal.

All in all, I think that Murray has done great things for this team over the last couple of weeks. We acquired Campoli and Comrie for McAmmond and San Jose’s draft pick, giving us the puck moving defenseman we’ve been searching for, and a possible 2nd line scorer. Today Murray brought in a goaltender who was regarded as being the best goaltender available on the market, and one who has the potential to be a difference-making #1 goaltender. Our playoff hopes for this year may be gone, but things are shaping up to turning this team into a real contender again in the 2009-2010 season.

Go Sens Go!

Luc "Sandman" G.
Hockey Ottawa

Slumping Senators

Slumping Senators What is wrong with the Ottawa Senators? That’s a question that’s asked thousands of times every day since the start of this season. A team with this much talent should not currently be 27th in the league. So what exactly is happening to our beloved Sens?

Pinpointing one problem is impossible. There’s multiple issues affecting this team, and fixing one thing won’t fix the problem.

There’s the obvious lack of a puck moving defenseman. The loss of Redden and Meszaros is being greatly felt. Forwards are having to fight their way out of their own zone and through the neutral zone without having someone in the backend to move the puck up the ice. This is also leading to turnovers in our own zone, which leads to more goals against the team. There’s very little available in the market right now that would fit under our strained salary cap.

The lack of a true number one goaltender is another problem. Both our goaltenders can ru very hot or very cold. Auld started strong in the season but has quickly shown that he truly is a backup goalie and not a number one. Gerber falls under the same category, and with his salary is not tradable . The Sens have to bite the bullet and wait for his contract to end. Elliot in Binghampton shows a lot of promise but still needs seasoning in the NHL. To bring him up at this time would be detrimental to his growth and would harm the team in the long run.

Another issue is the lack of a true 2nd line. We have a very capable 1st line in Alfie, Spezza and Heatley, and have very capable 3rd and 4th liners but no true #2 center. Fisher, Vermette, Kelly, Ruutu, and the rest of the guys are 3rd and 4th line players. Pushing them to the 2nd line isn’t doing the team or themselves any favours, and it shows in the lack of secondary scoring.

We’re now feeling Muckler’s incompetency. Trading Chara instead of Redden, dubious trades and destruction of our young talent, trading away talent and draft picks that has left our farm team severely lacking. The lack of young capable players is being felt in many ways, one of which is having little money under the salary cap. Instead of having a mix of good, young players and proven players, we have more proven players who are eating away at cap space. Luckily Murray believes in building from within and has started to bring good and great players to our farm team, unfortunately most are still 1 or 2 seasons away from being able to join the big leagues.

Murray is not blameless however. His choices in coaches are questionable at best. Paddock lost all confidence in the team last year, mostly due to how he handled the Emery situation. This year, Hartsburgh was hired for his stance on player accountability and responsibility, but has seemingly not been good on his word. He also tried to bring a defensive system whereas the Sens have been historically and have been built as an offensive team.  Buying into this system and executing it has been a big issue with the team.

The biggest problem of them all is the lack of confidence being experienced by the players. This issue appears to have started in the middle of the 2007-2008 season and continues on to this day. The trades and buyouts that happened over the summer does not appear to have resolved whatever issues are still haunting the dressing room and the players’ confidence. Once this issue is resolved a lot of the other pieces will start fitting together. It still won’t give us a team that can contend for the Stanley cup, but it will at least allow the Sens to make the playoffs and maybe even win a round or 2.

There are many other minor issues that are affecting the Senators. There’s not a magic pill that will return the team to its former glory. I’ve been a proud Sens supporter since 1992 and will continue cheering for my team, but its not as fun to watch them play when the team is playing the way they have been for the last year. I believe things can be turned around, but a lot of changes will need to happen. I don’t mean changes brought by firings or trading players like Spezza, but changes from within. Changes that start with each and every player. Players regaining their confidence, playing as a team and playing for a full 60 minutes on a constant basis. These changes can happen and will put the Sens on the road to become the great team they can be, but time is running out.

Luc "Sandman" G.
Hockey

Sens Watch, July 1st

As July 1st comes around and NHL teams can sign RFAs (Restricted Free Agents) and UFAs (Unrestricted Free Agents), listed below is the activity as it relates to my home team, the Ottawa Senators. There’s a lot of activity happening this afternoon and over the next few days, with every team trying to land players that will make an immediate difference, or to create some breathing room in this cap restricted era. Listed below are the players we have added to our roster as well as those who have moved on to other teams. Once the dust has settled, I’ll analyze the new team from an armchair quarterback’s perspective.

3:40pm: Stillman signs with the Florida Panthers for $10.6 million 3 year contract.

4:27pm: Goaltender Alex Auld signs a 2 year, 2 million dollar deal with Ottawa.

6:00pm: Mike Commodore signs with the Blue Jackets for a 5 year 18.75 million dollar deal

7:37pm: Wade Redden moves to the New York Rangers with a 6 year, $39 million contract.

More to come as news comes in.

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Luc "Sandman" G.
Hockey Music Television

This is the end my friend

feb272008Quite a bit of excitement in the last couple of days. Tuesday was trade deadline day in the NHL. Murray didn’t do much for the Senators, bringing in Martin Lapointe from Chicago for a sixth-round draft pick. Lapointe isn’t expected to make a big splash on the ice (where he will likely replace the injured Chris Neil), but more for his leadership in the locker room. The big shockers at the trade deadline was Pittsburgh winning out in the Hossa sweepstakes. No one saw that one coming. Everyone believed Hossa would end up in Ottawa or Montreal. The Penguins will definitely be a team to look out for in the playoffs. They certainly won’t be pushed over like they were last year by the Sens. The lack of trades by Ottawa at the 2008 deadline said 2 things to me. Murray was giving a wake up call to the team, telling them they are good enough as it is. Secondly, that Paddock’s time as a coach was running out unless things changed. The Sens showed their appreciation to Murray by losing 4-0 to Boston. This was their first back-to-back zero goal losses since 2000! I thought they hit the bottom of the barrel with the 5-0 loss to Toronto on Monday. I guess I was wrong.

Tuesday night was also the very last show of the Return of the Spice Girls show. If we believe what the Spices have been saying, this was their last show ever… but as a couple of them said, they learned to never say never, so who knows. From the clips I’ve seen, it was a very emotional night, with each girl crying at some part of the concert.

For those like me who watch Stargate: Atlantis, I have but one word to say regarding this week’s episode, and that’s just WOW. I’m not going to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet, let’s just say the final 10 seconds were absolutely and totally not expected. There were rumblings that something like this would happen, but not like this. Just wow….

As I was driving home today, I was listening to the Team 1200 (a local sports radio station) when I heard the news that Paddock was fired (along with one of the assistant coaches) and that Murray was stepping back behind the bench for the remainder of the season and playoffs. As much as I knew Paddock’s days were numbered, I didn’t expect it this quick. I thought Paddock might still have 2-3 games left to prove his worth. Now we have to wonder if Murray didn’t want to do this sooner, but wanted to wait until the trade deadline had passed. We as fans just have to hope that this will be a wakeup call to the team, and we’ll see them regain the greatness that they showed last year and at the beginning of this year.

Go Sens Go!

Luc "Sandman" G.

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