TSN: 10 AM TSN.ca: End of Season News Conference

[bert]

I know it's a long shot, but I really hope Alfie decides to come back for 2 more years so we can make a real shot at the cup for him. 2 years, 10 million or something like that. I would hate to see Alfie retire without having won a cup.

Id like to see Alfie and Gonch get 2 year 10 million dollar contracts. Gonchar is intergral to the development of the young defensemen.

Was there any mention of Wiercioch? Seems to me like he has a very high ceiling just needs to bulk up (big time). But I havent seen one thing about him from Murray or Maclean but plenty of mention of gryba.

With the amount of injuries sustained this season i think going in with 8 d men is the only logical thing to do.

I think by the sounds of it Borowiecki needs another year of development, a one year one way contract for Benoit could bridge that gap.

 

[CR15]

He also said there were some FAs he was interested in.

I didn't hear the question, so I don't know if it pertained to FAs or trades, but he said he'd look to add a 27-to-30-year-old who can score. Did I get that right?

I'll start striking names off this list: http://capgeek.com/ufa-finder

the question was about bringing in a vetrean and he then said that age range is preferred so they have time with the ORG rather then a 39 year old with 1 year left in his career

 

[trobby]

I'll take Clowe, Roy and Whitney...

Everyone wants what Clowe brings.
I still think Roy can be a 70 pt guy in the right system.

And Whitney for a #4 role would work well with this team. Good size and can move the puck.

Done and Done.

Oh, and don't forget to sign the Alfredsson kid.

 

[derriko]

Something interesting nobody has mentioned yet. Murray was very impressed with Smith's development (only singled out him and Turris)

I thought Zack had a pretty poor season. He didnt produce, and he didnt seem involved for long stretches. He wasnt playing with the edge, or irritating anybody except his own teams fans.

I guess the production can be semi forgiven since he was the 4th C all year, but the other areas were severely lacking.

I dont want to just give him away, but if his name put into a package for a better player, I think hes very replaceable. Especially for a top 6 or top 4 D.

 

[guyzeur]

Acquiring a 27-to-30-year-old who can score is straight from Murray's mouth, so no extrapolation needed for that part.

Extrapolate on the possible 27-30year old who could be with the Sens next year.

 

[PierresGabriels]

Nabbing Horton would be swell.

 

[coladin]

Nabbing Horton would be swell.

I don't think I can stand watching Horton. Bruins fans are always all over him as he goes stretches doing nothing. We would be acquiring a whipping boy.

I don't really think any of those UFAs will make a difference to us...maybe Clowe or Bickell or Clarkson.

 

[Inkling]

On the Team 1200 they seemed to think BM's comments were alluding to Clarkson but obviously easier said than done.

 

[Sensinitis]

Clarkson is a disaster waiting to happen IMO. He just plays so much like a grinder and doesn't have that much talent, he's bound to fall back on earth very soon and not even reach 20 goals.

 

[Emerica]

I think Clarkson is going to end up in Toronto.

Hopefully they overpay for him.

 

[Milan the God*]

I don't think I can stand watching Horton. Bruins fans are always all over him as he goes stretches doing nothing. We would be acquiring a whipping boy.

I don't really think any of those UFAs will make a difference to us...maybe Clowe or Bickell or Clarkson.

I think Clowe wanted a 6yr contract with a high amount of money. No way BM offers him that.

I think Clarkson is going to end up in Toronto.

Hopefully they overpay for him.

I'm hoping for this as well. I'm hoping they believe he's the power forward they have been craving for a while and throw a lot of money at him.

 

[Flamingo]

the question was about bringing in a vetrean and he then said that age range is preferred so they have time with the ORG rather then a 39 year old with 1 year left in his career

Thanks. Context means everything, and in this case Murray's response was to a directed question about acquiring older players. If he spontaneously volunteered that notion, it would be more likely to be in their off-season plans. But instead, he's only saying that, relative to acquiring an older veteran player, getting someone who will stay with the team and develop over many seasons is preferable.

 

[Dr.Sens(e)]

Something interesting nobody has mentioned yet. Murray was very impressed with Smith's development (only singled out him and Turris)

I thought Zack had a pretty poor season. He didnt produce, and he didnt seem involved for long stretches. He wasnt playing with the edge, or irritating anybody except his own teams fans.

I guess the production can be semi forgiven since he was the 4th C all year, but the other areas were severely lacking.

I dont want to just give him away, but if his name put into a package for a better player, I think hes very replaceable. Especially for a top 6 or top 4 D.

I thought MacLean specifically noting Smith was one of the more interesting parts of his news conference. Turris wasn't as much of a surprise, but interesting too.

I think the big difference in Smith this year is Maclean asked him to play a role, and an important one, once Spezza went down. Basically, Turris was sent to the wolves of the other team's top checkers every night, and Smith was tasked with often going up against the other team's top line with a bunch of defensive zone face-offs etc. I'm sure MacLean told him "Don't take bad penalties, and don't sweat not scoring points. If you keep the other guys off the board, you will have done your job, and done it well."

In past, Smith was thrown out there to crash, bang, make some noise and hopefully score some goals. But now he is part of the team's game plan.

If Turris and Smith hadn't risen to the occasion in their elevated roles this year, we likely don't make the playoffs, and hence, MacLean singled them out. He also probably singled them out, because the other guys who were also deserving have already received enough praise from the media. I think he was just balancing things out so fans could appreciate how much he valued these two guys.

One of the reasons he is a good coach.

 

[Dr.Sens(e)]

Thanks. Context means everything, and in this case Murray's response was to a directed question about acquiring older players. If he spontaneously volunteered that notion, it would be more likely to be in their off-season plans. But instead, he's only saying that, relative to acquiring an older veteran player, getting someone who will stay with the team and develop over many seasons is preferable.

I believe he was also referring more to getting a player via trade. He has no interest in giving up an ***** (i.e. young player) for a guy in his 30's, but rather a 27-29 year old who can be part of the longer term.

This didn't mean he might not consider a 35 year old free agent, which still sounded like wasn't his preference, but he'd consider it at least.

 

[great1]

Clarkson is a disaster waiting to happen IMO. He just plays so much like a grinder and doesn't have that much talent, he's bound to fall back on earth very soon and not even reach 20 goals.

I agree with this. I really don't want Clarkson.

 

[Proust*]

Or maybe Maclean was just artificially inflating Smith's stock for a potential trade?

The problem with Smith's offensive game is that while maybe Maclean told him not to worry about it, yet when presented with the puck, Smith would make a horrible play. Maybe he wasn't out taking risks to gain the puck, but he seemed to get it a lot anyways. Once he got it, he displayed an uncanny ability of shooting/passing/chipping it into the opposiing checkers shin-pads. One game, which I attended, sticks out... It seemed like, thanks to solid forechecking, he ended up with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone every shift... however, he gave it away just as often.

Therefore, my worry is that Smith is limited by his hands and technical ability, which are not likely to improve. He might be the perfect 4th line centre, but I always hoped he could establish himself on the 3rd line.

 

[guyzeur]

Or maybe Maclean was just artificially inflating Smith's stock for a potential trade?

The problem with Smith's offensive game is that while maybe Maclean told him not to worry about it, yet when presented with the puck, Smith would make a horrible play. Maybe he wasn't out taking risks to gain the puck, but he seemed to get it a lot anyways. Once he got it, he displayed an uncanny ability of shooting/passing/chipping it into the opposing checkers shin-pads. One game, which I attended, sticks out... It seemed like, thanks to solid forechecking, he ended up with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone every shift... however, he gave it away just as often.

Therefore, my worry is that Smith is limited by his hands and technical ability, which are not likely to improve. He might be the perfect 4th line centre, but I always hoped he could establish himself on the 3rd line.

McLean doesn't play mind game, right?

 

[Dr.Sens(e)]

Or maybe Maclean was just artificially inflating Smith's stock for a potential trade?

The problem with Smith's offensive game is that while maybe Maclean told him not to worry about it, yet when presented with the puck, Smith would make a horrible play. Maybe he wasn't out taking risks to gain the puck, but he seemed to get it a lot anyways. Once he got it, he displayed an uncanny ability of shooting/passing/chipping it into the opposiing checkers shin-pads. One game, which I attended, sticks out... It seemed like, thanks to solid forechecking, he ended up with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone every shift... however, he gave it away just as often.

Therefore, my worry is that Smith is limited by his hands and technical ability, which are not likely to improve. He might be the perfect 4th line centre, but I always hoped he could establish himself on the 3rd line.

Well, I can pretty much guarantee Maclean wasn't pumping Smith's tires so Murray has more leverage. First off, no GM in the league cares about a post-season presser for the fans. They care what their pro scouts and their own coaches say on a player. Second, it just doesn't really strike me as something Maclean would do, or Murray would manipulate him in this way.

In terms of his offensive abilities, we already know he can score 15 goals or so, because he has. Whether he can score 20+ or contribute more offensively, I'm not sure. But I do know he is a good two-way center who is tough, wins faceoffs and is a good guy to go to war with. We don't have many of those. And there were games this year where Silfverberg, Zibanejad and many others looked pretty lost or extremely limited offensively. This team struggled offensively, and it seemed in the Pittsburgh series we were incapable of getting a pass or shot through the Pens at times (where as they did it easily). A small sample size can't be focused on. Smith has pretty decent hands and offensive abilities for a guy of his ilk. He scored 24 goals and almost 50 points as a 20 year old in the AHL. That is better than a lot of our top 20 year olds did this year in Bingo, and was about the pace Stone was at. I think you're probably expecting too much. Certainly MacLean is happy with him, which means I'm happy with him. The best players play, and Smith played in key situations a lot.

 

[NyQuil]

The Devils fans are pretty hard on Clarkson, claiming he has one of the worst hockey IQs in the league.

I was surprised but it might be relevant.

 

[StefanW]

I think Smith had a really solid year, and I don't understand why so many people here are knocking him. As a fourth line player he is asked to go out, show a bit of speed, bang around, and make sure the other players are keeping their heads up. This is an important role, and he did his job very well.

 

[Step]

Me too.

I infer from this that Gonch might be gone.

Really? I didn't get that at all..

 

[CR15]

I think Smith had a really solid year, and I don't understand why so many people here are knocking him. As a fourth line player he is asked to go out, show a bit of speed, bang around, and make sure the other players are keeping their heads up. This is an important role, and he did his job very well.

I think alot of his good work during the season was undone after 5 games vs the Pens since he was pretty invisible to fans with a short memory span vs the Coach who would be the one to know exactly what he expected of him and key situations he used him in all season.

also props for being one of extreme few willing to take a puck hard to the net vs shooting from a ways out like the majority of the team.

 

[swiftwin]

What about Penner? I'm pretty sure Murray signed him out of college for Anaheim, and he also tried to trade for him during the Heatley fiasco. We could always use a big winger like him.

 

[GrantLemons]

The Devils fans are pretty hard on Clarkson, claiming he has one of the worst hockey IQs in the league.

I was surprised but it might be relevant.

This.

Tons of Devils fans nominating him for the "Dumbest player in the NHL" award on the main boards.

I'm not sure I want a guy like that in the top 6.

It's scary also that he scored something like 10-12 goals in the first 20 games or so and then disappeared off the face of the earth for the rest of the season and only had a few goals.

Pass on Clarkson. Leafs or Rangers can have him for $5m+ per year.

 

[Alfie#11]

I think Smith had a really solid year, and I don't understand why so many people here are knocking him. As a fourth line player he is asked to go out, show a bit of speed, bang around, and make sure the other players are keeping their heads up. This is an important role, and he did his job very well.

He's not a 4th liner though. He was given a 4 year 1.9 million dollar per year deal.

Smith is supposed to be a quality 3rd liner. For most of this season he was functioning as a 2nd liner.

I also found McLean's comments interesting. I was pretty down on Smith like others. I found him to be soft this season and not even great with the puck. He did a good job defending other top centres but he was an offensive black hole and didnt employ the grit we've seen in the past.

I love the player Smith is supposed to be. Dollar store Spezza, the player he was this year, I can do without. If he isn't bringing grit and net drive, I don't mind dealing him at all.