My perspective is this: the Sens have done very well drafting centers the last few years. Brown, Dahlen, White, Chlapik. Taking into account that Turris, Hoffman, Brassard, Smith, Pageau and Pyatt are all still young centers themselves, it isn't likely that all 4 of those draftees will make their way onto the NHL roster, even if they're extremely promising right now. A few of them are likely, but all 4 is a stretch, even if they did have the spots for them. Now, a few of them can and probably will convert to wing, but even still it's likely that a few of those names are going to be stuck in depth-chart purgatory for a few years, developing but not helping the Senators much except in cases of injury.
Turning the focus back towards this year, they won't be helping at all, period. Berglund and Lehtera would. If they are anxious about making a decent push into the playoffs, they might consider adding one or both of them, who have fresh experience going deep in the playoffs (and in Berglund's case looking extremely good while doing it), in exchange for one of those center prospects who, again, doesn't add anything for this season.
With that said, I totally understand the need/desire to keep prospects around to see how they develop, and not over-commit on a season that probably won't bring you the cup anyway (no offense, just speaking from personal experience here). But Berglund especially is cheap, experienced, versatile (he's a good winger too), and having a great season after suffering through a shoulder injury the last few. He also doesn't have to be protected in the expansion draft since he's UFA. Lehtera is panned by Blues fans, but he's got experience playing against other teams' top lines night-in and night-out, and has shown that he has the ability to be very effective (not lately, but he can be that guy) in a set-up role. In either case, you could do a whole lot worse for a rental/longer-term guy.
I guess overall I just understand the logic behind doing something like that from the Senators' perspective, if in fact this guy's source has good information. I like STG, I think he's fair and provides good/comprehensive commentary, but I don't know anything about how reliable he is for "insider" info. The premise makes a lot of sense though.
My perspective is this: the Sens have done very well drafting centers the last few years. Brown, Dahlen, White, Chlapik. Taking into account that Turris, Hoffman, Brassard, Smith, Pageau and Pyatt are all still young centers themselves, it isn't likely that all 4 of those draftees will make their way onto the NHL roster, even if they're extremely promising right now. A few of them are likely, but all 4 is a stretch, even if they did have the spots for them. Now, a few of them can and probably will convert to wing, but even still it's likely that a few of those names are going to be stuck in depth-chart purgatory for a few years, developing but not helping the Senators much except in cases of injury.
Turning the focus back towards this year, they won't be helping at all, period. Berglund and Lehtera would. If they are anxious about making a decent push into the playoffs, they might consider adding one or both of them, who have fresh experience going deep in the playoffs (and in Berglund's case looking extremely good while doing it), in exchange for one of those center prospects who, again, doesn't add anything for this season.
With that said, I totally understand the need/desire to keep prospects around to see how they develop, and not over-commit on a season that probably won't bring you the cup anyway (no offense, just speaking from personal experience here). But Berglund especially is cheap, experienced, versatile (he's a good winger too), and having a great season after suffering through a shoulder injury the last few. He also doesn't have to be protected in the expansion draft since he's UFA. Lehtera is panned by Blues fans, but he's got experience playing against other teams' top lines night-in and night-out, and has shown that he has the ability to be very effective (not lately, but he can be that guy) in a set-up role. In either case, you could do a whole lot worse for a rental/longer-term guy.
I guess overall I just understand the logic behind doing something like that from the Senators' perspective, if in fact this guy's source has good information. I like STG, I think he's fair and provides good/comprehensive commentary, but I don't know anything about how reliable he is for "insider" info. The premise makes a lot of sense though.
Berglund for Wideman. Gives a decent fill in for after the Shattenkirk trade.
Ottawa needs to swing a second deal for another RD though. Maybe Lazar for Sproul in Detroit since he's playing 7th man. Or a small asset for Goloubef in Colorado. Or maybe both. We need RD depth.
Berglund for Wideman. Gives a decent fill in for after the Shattenkirk trade.
Ottawa needs to swing a second deal for another RD though. Maybe Lazar for Sproul in Detroit since he's playing 7th man. Or a small asset for Goloubef in Colorado. Or maybe both. We need RD depth.
This is a silly thread. The Sens are in the forward market, yes, but we would be looking for a winger(s).
This Eklund-ish rumour is a non-starter for us Sens fans and I don't think any of us are interested in another Centre-iceman.
Look at our depth down the middle already:
Turris
Brassard
Pageau
Kelly
Smith
Lazar
and as for prospects, we have White and Brown coming up.
If the Sens are in on Lehtera who makes nearly 5M for two years after this season, there are two plausible situations.
The first would be that the Blues are the "contender who likes Bobby Ryan better than their top 6 guy" that I think it was AJ Jakubec of TSN referenced a few weeks ago when Ryan trade speculation first heated up. That would mean we're going to see something based around Bobby Ryan to STL for Lehtera+Berglund.
Second possibility would be that Clarke MacArthur is retiring for good and his contract isn't insured. Sens are a budget team, the Blues are supposedly a cap team. So in that scenario we'd see the Sens swap their LTIR MacArthur contract for Lehtera's cap hit with a similar logic to the Blue Jackets acquiring an overpaid David Clarkson for Horton's LTIR contract.
If Logan Brown is on the table for one of Berglund or Lehtera, then Ottawa is either way lower on Brown than I thought or too high on Berglund/Lehtera
Berglund is a center/winger just like Smith
I can easily seeing Boucher wanting another two way player who provides depth
Wow I never knew Lethera was making 5M for the 2 next years. That's insane.
Wow I never knew Lethera was making 5M for the 2 next years. That's insane.
Would love Berglund at the right price, but it depends if the Blues end up selling him for futures or if they keep him around for a playoff run. Am not against a Lazar/Berglund swap.
Brown isn't being moved unless Shwartz if coming back, so you can all stop dreaming about him, haha.
You're nuts if you think Brown is even close to the value that Schwartz* has. I like Brown, I wouldn't mind having him on the Blues, but a lot of things have to go right for him to be successful at the NHL level. Schwartz is already a proven 50-60 point two-way winger when he's healthy. I'd love to hear the argument about how Brown is somehow worth more than that.