Losing Alfie was the start of all this mess.
What mess? Serious question
"Since Alfie left", out of 4 seasons, Sens made the playoffs twice (98 & 99 pts seasons), and missed twice (85 & 88 pts seasons, aka not too far). Also made the ECF 7th game double OT against the "maybe" triple champs as FAR as last season.
Are you suggesting that every team that has done about the same or worse is "a mess"?
Really, I don't get the drama magnitude on this board, it's ridiculous. It's like a continuous Dr Phil show.
All I see is a team operating on a lower budget than most. Is it because the market is fragile or because the owner is lying to cover his personal finances, I have no idea. Melnyk may not be likeable, personally I don't really care about that. Is Dorion the greatest GM? Sure not, I am not a fan so far but at the same time outside of a few moves, it's not as bad as the talk around here. He has to save money in all the trades so of course, he will sacrifice assets or better returns as a result... That's not on the GM, but the financial state of the team (be it Melnyk's fault or just the result of smaller/weaker market)
Or is it because Karlsson rumors? lol do you guys think it's unique to Ottawa? You should have seen the millions of rumors about Price and Pacioretty this year here in Montreal, and not just trade rumors. The drama is 10 times more gigantic.
Let's all take a deep breath, everything is going to be ok.
And the Ryan trade. If they had stuck with their plan of being patient, they’d be fine. Or certainly better off today.
The Ryan trade is a trade you make when you feel you’re one guy away from being a contender. We weren’t.
Do we remember what happened?
In 2010-11, the team was going nowhere and had several aging vets, it was the final nail in the coffin of the "win it for Alfie" era. Team decided to go on a big retool/rebuild, aka a youth movement.
Team got younger in a hurry but they were "victim" of their early success after making the playoffs the first 2 years in 2011-12 & 2012-13, even winning a round against the 2nd seed in the East, a massacre if you remember. Expectations rose after those 2 seasons and they didn't get any high draft picks outside of Zibanejad (6th) in 2011.
The "plan" was working really well and the prospect pool was great but then Alfie left. Yes, he should have been paid what he wanted and that's where Melnyk should have not been cheap but at the same time, the drama around it is purely emotional because he was turning 41 freaking y/o, he didn't have a future with the team as a player. lol comon.
Ryan was 25 y/o when acquired and had 2 more years at 5.1 cap hit. He was younger than Duchene when we acquired him. I don't see why teams who made the playoffs 2 years in a row should not make quantity for quality trades. IMO, you make them every time you have the opportunity.
