2014-15 Defence Thread

[EssendonBombers]

So it's pretty glaringly obvious that the Sens D needs some kind of overhaul. On first glance the personnel isn't that bad, but Karlsson, Methot and Ceci are the only ones I would have locked in.

Here's my solution anyway...

All this might not be possible, but it is a route I would explore and see what can be done.

First, either trade Phillips at the deadline, trade his rights before free agency or just plain don't resign him. Phillips has constantly looked lost in his own zone, is slowing down and his departure would signify that this is a new leaf and a new mentality in Ottawa defense.

Sign a solid veteren defenseman to replace him. Markov and Boyle are realistic options. A player like this would be signed to play on the second pairing and provide a solid 1-2 punch with Karlsson anchoring the top pair, like Gonchar in 2011-12.

Explore options for trading Cowen. Try to package him with something to get a solid young forward (target Eberle/Yakupov and O'Reilly).

So if you sign Markov and trade Cowen, the defense hopefully looks like this:
Methot - Karlsson (25-30 mins)
Markov - Ceci (18-25 mins)
Wiercioch - Gryba (12-16 mins (Wier on PP, Gryba on PK))
Borowiecki

If you sign Boyle, keep Cowen and trade/waive Gryba, the defense looks like this:
Methot - Karlsson (25-30 mins)
Cowen - Boyle (18-22 mins)
Wiercioch/Boro - Ceci (14-18 mins)

What do you think? Too unrealistic? I just think the defence need a major culture change, and bringing in one of these guys could do it.

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[BigBush*]

It's pretty much a one man show with EK. It's sad to watch

 

[Qward]

Habs offered Markov 6m for one more year.

I do not want to give him that.

Just trade Greening for Gonchar.

 

[Senscore]

We need to constantly keep rotating Dmen into the lineup, as they all seem to exhaust their supply of ****s to give within a year or two.

 

[Yokai]

If Cowen was the type of player that could help Ottawa land O'Reilly or Eberle then he wouldn't be someone the team would think of giving up. With the way Cowen has been playing I doubt his value is high.

 

[Laphroaig]

I think signing Markov or Boyle is a pipe dream as much as I'd love to have either one on the team. I believe that the erratic and contradictory statements emanating from the mouth of Eugene Melnyk coupled with the abysmal performance of the Sens makes Ottawa an undesirable free agent destination.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Is there any way that claessen is worse than Cowen is right now?

 

[aragorn]

I think signing Markov or Boyle is a pipe dream as much as I'd love to have either one on the team. I believe that the erratic and contradictory statements emanating from the mouth of Eugene Melnyk coupled with the abysmal performance of the Sens makes Ottawa an undesirable free agent destination.

Sadly, after watching that game tonight, I'm starting to agree with you, they were brutal ... all of them.

 

[FireMelnyk]

If we put our current D where they should go if they were being slotted properly:

??? - Karlsson
Methot - ???
Cowen/Phillips/Wiercioch- Gryba/Ceci

Boro - Corvo

 

[tony d]

We need to trade for someone like Keith Yandle. Defence is a big hole for this team and we need it fixed very soon if we want to take the next step in becoming a better team.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Nevermind.

 

[aragorn]

The biggest problem with this defence is that they are very young & inexperienced. In a few yrs they could be very good but at the moment they are playing like a young inexperienced bunch & are not getting much help from the forwards or their goaltending to bail them out. Every mistake seems to be going into the net & offensively they are not getting any puck luck. Not too many NHL teams play well defensively with four young players back there on defence including Karlsson who makes his share of defensive mistakes.

 

[General Zodd]

I think if we just moved the entire Team Canada defensive roster up to Ottawa, we might just be okay!........

 

[coladin]

I think it is glaringly obvious that this predictable thread is an overreaction to a horrific game.

Hard to base on what was seen last night, isn't it?

According to last night, just waiting for a "Trade Lehner" thread right above this one.

Look, Detroit played had a chance to get into the game. Ottawa didn't. They will be better out west and, no, the defence is just fine with a young corps which has a mix of everything.

 

[arglebargle]

This isn't a reaction to one game. They've been blown out 2 games in a row, and Cowen, Gryba and Phillips have been terrible all season.

Trading/cutting those three guys would improve the team. None of them are good enough to be NHL players. They'd be additions by subtraction.

 

[Back in Black]

This isn't a reaction to one game. They've been blown out 2 games in a row, and Cowen, Gryba and Phillips have been terrible all season.

I disagree with you on Phillips. I think he's done OK. Cowen on the other hand......

P.S. Trade Lehner.....

 

[EssendonBombers]

We need to trade for someone like Keith Yandle. Defence is a big hole for this team and we need it fixed very soon if we want to take the next step in becoming a better team.

That's another interesting option: Trading for an established top pairing defenseman that might be available. Probably involves giving up a high end assest like Lazar.

 

[StefanW]

D is definitely an issue. Not sure why this is not a part of the trade thread, seeing as it is all about who to trade or who to trade for.

 

[trentmccleary]

Karlsson, Methot and Ceci are the only ones I would have locked in.

Don't lock Ceci into anything yet... young players are notoriously erratic, which is why you made this thread. You'll pen Ceci into the top-4 next year and he'll suck, meanwhile Cowen winds up stabilizing the top-4. Kids are hard to predict.

The biggest problem with this defence is that they are very young & inexperienced. In a few yrs they could be very good but at the moment they are playing like a young inexperienced bunch & are not getting much help from the forwards or their goaltending to bail them out. Every mistake seems to be going into the net & offensively they are not getting any puck luck. Not too many NHL teams play well defensively with four young players back there on defence including Karlsson who makes his share of defensive mistakes.

Exactly.
IMO, the obvious solution is to deal 1 of the kids for a decent, stable vet to eat some minutes for the next 2-3 years.

 

[arglebargle]

The defense is a huge problem this year, but IMO the problem is that the same 3 guys have been so insanely bad that the rest of the team can't make up for it. Just replace Phillips, Cowen and Gryba with some decent players and it will make a gigantic difference.

Methot - Karlsson
Wiercioch - UFA
UFA - Ceci

Just fill those two spots with two guys in the 27-32 age range with at least 3-4 seasons worth of NHL experience. There are at least 4-6 LD and RD UFA's who fit this description. You don't need to hand out big long term contracts either, decent journeyman D-men sign for 2-3 years at $2-4 million per all the time.

Then you're free to deal Cowen for some other area of need. The reason I think they should deal Cowen is 1) there's a huge risk that he's a gigantic bust, and his contract will prohibit the Sens from filling other areas of need and 2) a lot of people think he has potential despite his terrible play, so we can probably get a high pick/good prospect/decent roster player for him.

He's not going to turn into Chris Pronger or anything close to it. It's looking more and more like if he works really, really hard and improves a lot in the offseason he might be like Hal Gill or Andy Sutton. We can easily improve on that in free agency.