What should Dorion do?

[Pierre from Orleans]

I don't get why anyone would want to trade White right now. We have no idea what this kid could be at the NHL level.

I don't want to but he'd be the first chip I'd throw into a trade IF we were to make a trade. Browns ceiling is much higher IMO and Chabot is pretty much off the table unless we could get a significant return so that leaves White.

 

[Stylizer1]

I choose not to panic every time the Sens lose a game.

Let's wait and see how the team plays once everyone gets back from their injuries or sickness.

Making a desperation trade, 12 games into the season always ends up with overpaying for a player that you may already have in your farm system.

This is not a panic thread because we lost a game. It's a legitimate question as to if we have a good enough roster to win a cup. Some players you need to overpay for because they will make that much of a difference.

 

[branch]

Chabot in. Backend needs more skill.

 

[BondraTime]

Have you looked at the Standings?

Ottawa is doing pretty well for a team that has been dealing with a number of key players out of their line up, since the beginning of the season .............. Karlsson has missed games, Turris, White, Ryan and others ........ why do some people want to panic, and make moves before the Senators even have their full roster in place for an extended number of games????

I'm not panicking at all, I'm just pointing out that your excuse that "every team loses leads throughout an 82 game season" has nothing to do with the amount the Sens are losing leads through the first dozen games of the season.

 

[BondraTime]

I'm not panicking at all, I'm just pointing out that your excuse that "every team loses leads throughout an 82 game season" has nothing to do with the amount the Sens are losing leads through the first dozen games of the season.

....

 

[BatherSeason]

This is not a panic thread because we lost a game. It's a legitimate question as to if we have a good enough roster to win a cup. Some players you need to overpay for because they will make that much of a difference.

This has been debated all offseason long and all we hear from our local media and the portion of the fanbase that drinks the media Kool-aid was:

"we were only one goal away from the Cup, why change anything?"

This roster is not good enough to compete for a Cup this season. Replacing Methot with Oduya was not the answer.

 

[Pinto Bean]

I love the defensive depth on this team so IMO, if Dorion were to do anything it'd be to add a forward.

My ideal defence with the thought of everyone being healthy would include EK, Ceci, Dion, Freddy, Wides, and Harpur while using Boro and Oduya as 7/8 guys. When I remember that we also have Chabot and Jaros sitting in the AHL, it makes me giddy!

 

[Micklebot]

This has been debated all offseason long and all we hear from our local media and the portion of the fanbase that drinks the media Kool-aid was:

"we were only one goal away from the Cup, why change anything?"

This roster is not good enough to compete for a Cup this season. Replacing Methot with Oduya was not the answer.

It seems to me replacing Methot with Oduya is and always was a temporary measure until they deem Chabot ready.

Also, have we seen a single game with this roster in tact?

Karlsson missed the first 5 games, Ryan was hurt in game 8, so at best we have 3 games, but Smith missed one of those games I think, so really 2 out of 12 games with a healthy roster (assuming you don't count White or MacArthur).

Edit: I think it's also important to realize that building a roster that will be competing for the cup (on paper) this year might not be a realistic goal. Picking up the pieces to make that dream a reality would certainly mean mortgaging the future. We could trade off Chabot in a package for a #1 center, and White with Brown for a top 4 Dman, max out our cap space (not that our budget would allow it), but it would put us into cap hell come time to re-sign Turris, Stone, and Karlsson.

Not sure what the right answer is, but as it stands, I think our best shot is praying Chabot, White and Brown become key pieces on entry level contracts, kind of like how Anaheim scored big by having Getzlaf and Perry become their best two forwards out of nowhere.

 

[Pinto Bean]

It seems to me replacing Methot with Oduya is and always was a temporary measure until they deem Chabot ready.

Also, have we seen a single game with this roster in tact?

Karlsson missed the first 5 games, Ryan was hurt in game 8, so at best we have 3 games, but Smith missed one of those games I think, so really 2 out of 12 games with a healthy roster (assuming you don't count White or MacArthur).

This. It's unfair to expect a fully healthy line-up at all times but imagine having some luck with injuries. We'd be able to line up some variation of:

Ryan-Brassard-Stone
Mac-Turris-Dzingel
Hoffman-Pageau-Smith
Burrows-Thompson-Pyatt
White-Paul-Dido

With the defence being some variation of:
Claesson-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Boro-Wides
Oduya-Harpur

I've gotta say that's pretty solid depth top to bottom and when you add in our solid prospect pool and our 1-2 punch in goal, it makes me pretty happy with the overall job that Dorion and co. have done.

 

[Cosmix]

I choose not to panic every time the Sens lose a game.

Let's wait and see how the team plays once everyone gets back from their injuries or sickness.

Making a desperation trade, 12 games into the season always ends up with overpaying for a player that you may already have in your farm system.

Trading away picks and top prospects for a second or third line player is not very good asset management for a budget team. I do not trust Dorion to make good trades.

 

[Cosmix]

I'm generally of the thought that we don't freak out unless there are issues with the standings. Last year I always said I'm not worrying until we are no longer in 2nd place... This year I'll say the same thing.

Yes, we likely need to improve on our roster. Yes, the last game was awful (the last few weren't pretty). But I'm not sure panicking and overpaying for something is the best idea when we are still picking up points and sitting in a good position (at least in my opinion) and have some pretty exciting prospects.

I am in favour of “freaking out” at this time of the year!

 

[Stylizer1]

This has been debated all offseason long and all we hear from our local media and the portion of the fanbase that drinks the media Kool-aid was:

"we were only one goal away from the Cup, why change anything?"

This roster is not good enough to compete for a Cup this season. Replacing Methot with Oduya was not the answer.

Being 1 goal away from the cup is a great safety blanket but I don't think most believe this team was one of the best teams last season. They got on a run.

Losing Methot was not a big deal. Claesson could have easily replaced Methot for 1/8 of the price. Oduya was needed for veteran, championship experience.

 

[chipsens]

Bring up Harper or Jaros. Sit Oduya. Give Pha9 a frozen boot and tell him no more breakaways thru the middle (consider enrolling him in figure skating class)

 

[Stylizer1]

It seems to me replacing Methot with Oduya is and always was a temporary measure until they deem Chabot ready.

Also, have we seen a single game with this roster in tact?

Karlsson missed the first 5 games, Ryan was hurt in game 8, so at best we have 3 games, but Smith missed one of those games I think, so really 2 out of 12 games with a healthy roster (assuming you don't count White or MacArthur).

Edit: I think it's also important to realize that building a roster that will be competing for the cup (on paper) this year might not be a realistic goal. Picking up the pieces to make that dream a reality would cer.tainly mean mortgaging the future. We could trade off Chabot in a package for a #1 center, and White with Brown for a top 4 Dman, max out our cap space (not that our budget would allow it), but it would put us into cap hell come time to re-sign Turris, Stone, and Karlsson.

Not sure what the right answer is, but as it stands, I think our best shot is praying Chabot, White and Brown become key pieces on entry level contracts, kind of like how Anaheim scored big by having Getzlaf and Perry become their best two forwards out of nowhere.

This is why we need to trade off a big contract. Out of those big contracts Ryan is the weakest link. Even though Phaneuf's contract sucks he is far more valuable to our D than Ryan is to our forwards. One of the two would need to be moved in order to have the space needed to bring in a top Center(the position we have been missing since the Spezza trade) and also resign the players who are due for raises. This is how this team team makes a jump to the next level. Duchene is more of what we already have. I don't want to keep rearranging similar pieces to get marginally better. we need to acquire someone big and make a push right now before player raises are due.

 

[tony d]

Went with Option 2. Our team has had injuries thus far for sure but aside from last night's performance (Which happens to every team) we've had a good season. No need to panic here.

 

[NyQuil]

The problem with "big moves" is that they seem to be targeted at our offence when our issue appears to be leaking goals.

 

[swiftwin]

This. It's unfair to expect a fully healthy line-up at all times but imagine having some luck with injuries. We'd be able to line up some variation of:

Ryan-Brassard-Stone
Mac-Turris-Dzingel
Hoffman-Pageau-Smith
Burrows-Thompson-Pyatt
White-Paul-Dido

With the defence being some variation of:
Claesson-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Boro-Wides
Oduya-Harpur

I've gotta say that's pretty solid depth top to bottom and when you add in our solid prospect pool and our 1-2 punch in goal, it makes me pretty happy with the overall job that Dorion and co. have done.

This is pretty solid. The only thing I'd do is wait until the deadline, and if Mac doesn't come back, maybe bring in a top6 rental, unless someone like DiDo keeps lighting it up.

 

[Zorf]

This is pretty solid. The only thing I'd do is wait until the deadline, and if Mac doesn't come back, maybe bring in a top6 rental, unless someone like DiDo keeps lighting it up.

Does anyone have any hope or expectation that MacArthur will come back?

Maybe I'm in the wrong, but I just sort of wrote him off, assuming he'd ride out his contract on LTIR and then retire.

 

[swiftwin]

Does anyone have any hope or expectation that MacArthur will come back?

Maybe I'm in the wrong, but I just sort of wrote him off, assuming he'd ride out his contract on LTIR and then retire.

I wrote him off last year too, so you never know... But yeah, I'm not counting on it.

 

[Zorf]

I wrote him off last year too, so you never know... But yeah, I'm not counting on it.

Ok. I thought that I had missed something and that there was some sort of news that he was still working on coming back.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

Turris out wiht a mysterious flu, Dorion scouting in brooklyn? Clearly a Taveras trade is imminent

 

[Icelevel]

Need to add a top 6 forward.
Trade pieces
dzingel 1st englund harpur gagne perron hammond wideman smith
Maybe turris

 

[Upgrayedd]

Dorion needs to get some good karma going so our players stop getting injured one after the other....anyone remember the last time this team had anything close to a somewhat healthy roster....I know everyteam goes through injuries but we have to be right up there for lengthy significant ones within the last few years.

 

[JD1]

12 games into a season. 100% a panic move.

and absolutely no reason to panic.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Anyone think the poor attendance is effecting the team's performance on home ice? A friend of mine had suggested it last night whilst we were at the Bell Centr...err the CTC lol, I don't have a firm opinion yet on it but it was an interesting talking point I thought that could perhaps have a tiny bit of merit?