BlueAndWhite
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The 2005-2006 incarnation of the Senators begin the season with intense expectations. The 2003-2004 Senators won the HFNHL Championship so it’s seems unfair that anything less than another Championship will be viewed as a disappointment.
To further increase the burden, GM Fernandes has thrown caution to the wind and has disassembled and reassembled the existing roster without significantly cutting the payroll. In fact at press time, the Senators unofficial payroll was at 46.212 million.
One more time: 46.212 million.
That’s 5 million over the soft cap limit of 40 million and 1.2 million over the hard cap limit of 45 million. So what does this mean ? It means that regardless of where they finish this year, the Senators will contribute 5 million in luxury tax dollars and forfeit a second round pick in the 2006 HFNHL Entry Draft.
“Bottom line, you have to take risks. I think many people are overtly concerned about their “dynasty†status in this league and in doing so miss out on the importance of winning a Championship THIS year. That is the ultimate goal after all. You can’t be a dynasty if you never take the plunge off the deep end and attempt to win it all. Would I trade 5 million dollars and a second round pick for a very good shot at the Championship ? I don’t think I even have to answer that.†said GM Fernandes.
The salary cap hit the Senators harder than any other team and rightfully so, the Senators had accumulated a GLUT of expensive talent through deadline deals at the end of the last year and then added the likes of Jochen Hecht, Jaromir Jagr and Roberto Luongo in the off-season.
“The team dynamic is a bit different this year. The cap forced our hand a bit. However do keep in mind that at one point we simply had too many players and those same players were getting paid ridiculous amounts.
Look no further than the time we had Luongo, Theodore and Joseph on the pro roster at the same time. Even without a cap, it would have foolish to have those three players on the same team. It was just a matter of time before we moved those players.†Commented GM Fernandes on his personnel changes
Gone are the likes of Matheiu Schneider, Mike Modano, Brett Hull, Teemu Selanne, Ray Whitney and Sergei Feorov, Curtis Joseph, Eric Brewer and Jose Theodore in comes Jochen Hecht, Alexander Karpotsev, Jaromir Jagr, Jason Allison, Rod Brind’Amour, Viktor Kozlov, Roberto Luongo, Martin Gerber, Mattias Ohlund and Henrik Zetterberg.
So without further ado, here are your 2005-2006 Senators
Naslund-Allison-Iginla
Hecht-Brind’amour-Jagr
Zetterberg-Handzus-Kozlov
Stoll-Smithson-Hendriks
Gonchar-Ohlund
Hatcher – Boynton
Niinimaa – Karpotsev
Luongo
Gerber
“I personally believe the team is as strong as we were last year and we might still pick up someone at the deadline – perhaps to bolster the fourth line and the bottom defensive pairing. With the salary cap being averaged right now if we can stay a few hundred thousand under the 46.5 million mark (and thus give up a first round pick) at the first two intervals, we might be able to add about 600,000 in salary without losing a single core player. However, that is a long way off and we’ll see how well the team performs till then. I truly believe we have a very strong chance at repeating this year.
Losing Modano and Federov down the middle would hurt any team but Jason Allison is looking like a legitimate #1 center and Rod Brind’Amour adds a good defensive presence on the second line. Michal Handzus is another Selke caliber centerman who has produced enough offence to be a second line center. Smithson is a nice energy player who we believe has a future in this league.
On the wings – well with Naslund, Jagr and Iginla we might have three of the top five wingers in the game. We all know what they can do, but it will be exciting to watch the younger guys like Zetterberg, Hecht and Stoll.
Defensively with the addition of Ohlund and the emergence of Boynton, we felt comfortable trading an All-Star like Mathieu. Karpo is a tad under-rated as a defenceman but in the #6 slot, he can easily get the job done.
Luongo. Luongo. Luongo. We made a big commitment to Roberto both financially and in terms of the assets we gave up to acquire him. He’s a stud and will be with us for years to come. We were happy to get Gerber to terms on a contract. He’s not exactly a young player but he has room to grow as a player. He should see about 20 games this year.
Overall this is a deep team with a decent mix of veterans and younger players. I like this bunch and I exepect us to go deep into the playoffsâ€
With some tough competition this year in their conference it remains to be seen if GM Fernandes has taken the right risks.
The Senators released their prospect rankings which have changed since the signings of Zetterberg and Gerber. The updated rankings for Nov. 05 are as follows;
1.) Marek Schwarz
2.) Chris Higgins
3.) Marcel Goc
4.) Denis Grebeshkov
5.) Lukas Krajicek
6.) Roman Voloshenko
7.) Enver Lisin
8.) Dimitri Vorobiev
9.) Roman Kumuberg
10.) Viktor Alexandrov
