As a Sens fan what needs more attention IMO are the broken promises/sell jobs from the Sens brass to the fan base that has burnt this fan base out
And this is ‘Matt Duchene is a super star’ - no he’s not. ‘Alfie left because he had Swedish friends in Detroit’ - no he didn’t. ‘Bobby Ryan is ready for a larger roll’ (not his belly roll but on the ice) because he was ‘stuck’ behind Corey Perry’s - he clearly wasn’t physically or mentally ready for anything bigger.
We’re a playoff team (favourite of Murray and now Dorion) - nope and oops, make that a lottery team. We keep our players and never lose them - Spezza, Alfie, Turris, Methot. We are a top drafting team - no We’re just okay.
I think the promise of the repeated message that we are a playoff team and we are border line elite and we’re a contender - it’s like any other product, if it promises you something but doesnt
Deliver you just stop buying it.
The new Dorion ‘everyone is for sale’ line, does anyone actually believe this? I don’t, but I do believe the Sens don’t really have a plan, it’s Just a constant 6 week scramble to meet the promises they’ve made to the fanbase.
What we need now is for the GM to
Present a real solid plan of how he’ll make us a legit playoff contender and not tell me ‘Duch’ gives us two #1 lines when we don’t even have a real #1 line
Stop the sell job, get me something I can believe in and follow. I’m to
Smart, my Sens fans friends are done pretending And suspending belief anymore. Even if it’s a full rebuild plan or wait for EK to heal and, I just need consistency and a plan that isn’t smoke and mirrors.
And PD I know you will read this, Ottawa fans are most comfortable with the Hossa/Alfie/Jacques Martin Sens - this is what we know works and is our best chance at winning and is a philosophy we will all embrace. Draft players with speed and hockey IQ and big Dman who can move the puck, get players who are young and underpaid, don’t spend big in FA or make knee jerk moves (Ryan, Duch, Methot) - just settle it down, let the prospects grow into their rolls, draft from wherever you can to get an advanatage (We picked Slovakia, 2018 Tampa picked Russia and both clearly worked to their advantage)
Let’s get back to the Ottawa roots of elite player development, a true drafting philosophy of responsible players who are fast and smart. We will stick with your plan, and we know as a scout this is probably what you want to do anyways. You’ve got a headstart with a Chabot, Chlapik, White, Brown, Batheraon, Formenton - 2 solid drafts and some nice trades and you’ve got this team on the right track, but ore importantly you’ll have the fanbase buying a product they know will work and have a deeper emotional connection to. We loved Alfie because he was ours, fans love Hossa more then Duch or Ryan because he was ours, fans love JG deeply because he’s ours.
No more grand plan moves. Get back to a product we will all believe in.