Confirmed with Link: Del Zotto waived

[Sens of Anarchy]

Mendes: Having a fluid goaltending situation isn't a recipe for success in the NHL
Mendes with some comments on MDZ

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

It seems to me that Murray and Del Zotto were sent down for different reasons.

Dorion obviously realized last year he made a mistake on Murray and prayed he would be taken in the expansion draft or on waivers. Since he didn’t get claimed they are now hoping he finds his game because it’s in the teams best interest with the money invested.

it seems apparent Del Zotto was sent down due to the incidents on social media. There is no finding his game and being a healthy scratch here would be fine, other than his teammates are probably pissed at him. What he did goes against everything a supportive teammate should do.

I've seen people here talk about the MDZ social media thing but I have not run across it.

 

[ksens]

It seems to me that Murray and Del Zotto were sent down for different reasons.

Dorion obviously realized last year he made a mistake on Murray and prayed he would be taken in the expansion draft or on waivers. Since he didn’t get claimed they are now hoping he finds his game because it’s in the teams best interest with the money invested.

it seems apparent Del Zotto was sent down due to the incidents on social media. There is no finding his game and being a healthy scratch here would be fine, other than his teammates are probably pissed at him. What he did goes against everything a supportive teammate should do.

None of this really matters - I don't really care why they were sent down. In the end the net effect is that this front office brought in $8.5M AAV in cap dollars that are now in the minors, and we're bottom feeder team on an internal budget which means there is $8.5M that is not helping this team get better on the ice. Then there is the collateral damage to future FA signings that Methot refers to above.

It is possible to be unhappy with the signings of the players and unhappy with the fact that they are in the minors at the same time - this isn't some dichotomy. Dorion took $8.5M and lit it on fire. In a functional organization he would be unemployed by now.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

I've seen people here talk about the MDZ social media thing but I have not run across it.

As far as I understand he liked a video tweet of Mete getting walked, and then a couple after he was waived pointing out that he has better stats than half our D-core, fans of other teams saying they should claim him, etc. I am not sure there's enough to go on to say he was waived due to social media... seems to me like both sides just werent satisfied with one another and Ottawa was just hoping to get out of it. Demotion may have been due to his attitude, though.

None of this really matters - I don't really care why they were sent down. In the end the net effect is that this front office brought in $8.5M AAV in cap dollars that are now in the minors, and we're bottom feeder team on an internal budget which means there is $8.5M that is not helping this team get better on the ice. Then there is the collateral damage to future FA signings that Methot refers to above.

It is possible to be unhappy with the signings of the players and unhappy with the fact that they are in the minors at the same time - this isn't some dichotomy. Dorion took $8.5M and lit it on fire. In a functional organization he would be unemployed by now.

Wasting money is not unique to the Sens, always blows my mind a little to see people talk as though it is.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

As far as I understand he liked a video tweet of Mete getting walked, and then a couple after he was waived pointing out that he has better stats than half our D-core, fans of other teams saying they should claim him, etc. I am not sure there's enough to go on to say he was waived due to social media... seems to me like both sides just werent satisfied with one another and Ottawa was just hoping to get out of it. Demotion may have been due to his attitude, though.


Wasting money is not unique to the Sens, always blows my mind a little to see people talk as though it is.

Its speculation .. Even the reason one might like a tweet is speculation... I don't know the getting walked being referenced.. Maybe he's good friends with the player doing the walking.. Maybe the comment on the tweet was a comment about that player that he liked. We don't hear about it in the media. Bruce would have been the first to acknowledge it if the team found it worthy of waiving him.

I did see the tweet where he said he wasn't thrilled with his deployment. I don't have too much of an issue with that. JBD said he was helpful with him in practice.

Sign a veteran player for 2 years and waive him after 10 games played. Ignoring the speculation, its not a good look for the org; Neither is the waiving Murray imo.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Its speculation .. Even the reason one might like a tweet is speculation... I don't know the getting walked being referenced.. Maybe he's good friends with the player doing the walking.. Maybe the comment on the tweet was a comment about that player that he liked. We don't hear about it in the media. Bruce would have been the first to acknowledge it if the team found it worthy of waiving him.

I agree, I could see the team not loving his attitude but I think this was just about a team not wanting a player anymore and a player wanting to move on just as much.

 

[Boud]

It seems to me that Murray and Del Zotto were sent down for different reasons.

Dorion obviously realized last year he made a mistake on Murray and prayed he would be taken in the expansion draft or on waivers. Since he didn’t get claimed they are now hoping he finds his game because it’s in the teams best interest with the money invested.

it seems apparent Del Zotto was sent down due to the incidents on social media. There is no finding his game and being a healthy scratch here would be fine, other than his teammates are probably pissed at him. What he did goes against everything a supportive teammate should do.

I don't think that's the case. MDZ was sent down likely because he wasn't playing at all. DJ opted not to have him in the lineup pretty much from season start after the team signed him to a 2 year contract. They gave him a chance but he's not been good enough to warrant a full time spot on the team. Now he wasn't playing much lately either. The team also decided to shift their strategy and offer more opportunity to JBD, Thomson, Brannstrom and eventually Sanderson. I'm sure MDZ is seeing this and know he won't play much here in the future. My best guess would be that he shared his discontent with his agent and the team tried to trade him but wasn't able to. Garrioch already alluded to the fact that MDZ will not be there long term and they're trying to facilitate a trade. Seems they then tried to waive him to give him maybe a better opportunity elsewhere in hopes that he would get picked up (and to save the money for the franchise) but he didn't get picked up.

To me the social media thing is way overblown. The initial video he liked was from a former teammate scoring a beautiful goal (He's friends with JT Miller). Lack of judgement? Yea for sure, and likely some fire in him because he isn't playing but all indications from DJ seem to be that he puts his head down and works despite not playing. This is kinda where we're at with social media though, people analyze each and every little details. The last thing he liked (thing saying Ottawa has the 3 worst dman in the NHL - and none of them are MDZ) seems more like again fire in him to play more. I don't think Dorion and DJ Smith are looking at what every player likes on all media platforms. They've both already mentioned they don't use twitter. That's a little too rich IMO. Ultimately if he was playing well enough he would be in the lineup.

And finally I can understand why he's mad. The guy was promised a top 4 spot on the team and they gave him 4M USD. Now they're playing guys like Mete ahead of him and Mete has been absolutely terrible. I can see MDZ thinking there's no way I'm worse than this guy. He HAS to be mad otherwise he would have no competitive nature. Getting sent down for liking a post on a social media platform seems far fetched.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

I don't think that's the case. MDZ was sent down likely because he wasn't playing at all. DJ opted not to have him in the lineup pretty much from season start after the team signed him to a 2 year contract. They gave him a chance but he's not been good enough to warrant a full time spot on the team. Now he wasn't playing much lately either. The team also decided to shift their strategy and offer more opportunity to JBD, Thomson, Brannstrom and eventually Sanderson. I'm sure MDZ is seeing this and know he won't play much here in the future. My best guess would be that he shared his discontent with his agent and the team tried to trade him but wasn't able to. Garrioch already alluded to the fact that MDZ will not be there long term and they're trying to facilitate a trade. So they then tried to waive him to give him maybe a better opportunity elsewhere in hopes that he would get picked up (and to save the money for the franchise) but he didn't get picked up.

To me the social media thing is way overblown. The initial video he liked was from a former teammate scoring a beautiful goal (He's friends with JT Miller). Lack of judgement? Yea for sure, and likely some fire in him because he isn't playing but all indications from DJ seem to be that he puts his head down and works despite not playing. This is kinda where we're at with social media though, people analyze each and every little details. The last thing he liked (thing saying Ottawa has the 3 worst dman in the NHL - and none of them are MDZ) seems more like again fire in him to play more. I don't think Dorion and DJ Smith are looking at what every player likes on all media platforms. They've both already mentioned they don't use twitter. That's a little too rich IMO. Ultimately if he was playing well enough he would be in the lineup.

And finally I can understand why he's mad. The guy was promised a top 4 spot on the team and they gave him 4M USD. Now they're playing guys like Mete ahead of him and Mete has been absolutely terrible. I can see MDZ thinking there's no way I'm worse than this guy. He HAS to be mad otherwise he would have no competitive nature. Getting sent down for liking a post on a social media platform seems far fetched.

Dorion and DJ probably don't look on Twitter much, but they don't have to. It's a young team full of players who use it frequently. If his social media antics with cutting down his teammate Mete rubbed some guys in the room the wrong way, then DJ (and then Dorion) would know about it real quick.

I don't think it's very far fetched for players on the team to be upset about one of their teammates publicly cutting down another. Considering the team's mentality of "you earn your spots", I also don't think it's far fetched for the team to send a player down who is acting publicly entitled to a spot on the team, especially if guys in the room were upset by his behavior.

 

[Boud]

Dorion and DJ probably don't look on Twitter much, but they don't have to. It's a young team full of players who use it frequently. If his social media antics with cutting down his teammate Mete rubbed some guys in the room the wrong way, then DJ (and then Dorion) would know about it real quick.

I don't think it's very far fetched for players on the team to be upset about one of their teammates publicly cutting down another. Considering the team's mentality of "you earn your spots", I also don't think it's far fetched for the team to send a player down who is acting publicly entitled to a spot on the team, especially if guys in the room were upset by his behavior.

Appreciate your input. I just have a really hard time believing the management team that learned months after the Karlsson-Hoffman saga (which was a legit issue - not just some like on twitter) would know right away if a player liked something on social media. I don't think players on the team would be talking to the coach or GM about this childish stuff either but it's not impossible.

Now that's all said in the optic that DJ says that MDZ is working hard and staying positive around the group despite not playing. I think DJ specifically said he was a good pro around the guys. It's obviously very different if he was voicing his displeasure to teammates but there's no indications of that.

The cause of MDZ being sent down is because he's just not good enough and they're trying to get rid of him and his contract. If the social media has anything to do with this it has to be an excuse to get rid of him. He had no future here. It all comes down to him not deserving a full time spot based on his play.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

Appreciate your input. I just have a really hard time believing the management team that learned months after the Karlsson-Hoffman saga (which was a legit issue - not just some like on twitter) would know right away if a player liked something on social media. I don't think players on the team would be talking to the coach or GM about that either but it's not impossible.

Your talking about an entirely different group of players and an entirely different coaching staff. This locker room seems pretty tight, everyone seems to get a long really well (and the players are constantly mentioning how tight the team is), whereas the Hoffman-Karlsson team was a complete mess when that stuff went down. And you had Guy Boucher coaching the team, a guy who former players like Neil have mentioned how he didn't have much of a relationship with the players (I think Neil said he would go weeks without talking to Boucher) compared to DJ who has been described as "another one of the boys" by guys like Tkachuk, and goes over to Austin Watson's house to have family game night.

And it doesn't even have to be straight to the coach. There are multiple guys in the room besides players and the head coach.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

I've seen people here talk about the MDZ social media thing but I have not run across it.

 

[Ouroboros]

Just seems so insanely immature for a 31 year old man to be spite-liking a bunch of tweets and instagram posts about how bad his teammates are.

Hard to wrap my head around it. What did he think the end result of these actions would be?

 

[Boud]

All in all, just another massive failure from Dorion.

So if it's true that they sent him down for that, then why are they preaching culture and character when signing veterans if this is what we get.

They brought in a guy who was on a two-way deal last season and gave him 4M over 2 years. They planned on playing him top 4. He didn't make the roster on opening night because he's not good enough. The only logical explanation for this signing would be "to have a veteran presence" and he isn't even that seemingly.

This is Boedker for Hoffman 2.0 level of stupidity. How many here called this a stupid move from the get go?! A lot.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

JT Miller and MDZ were teammates.. IMO he is more likely liking the play by Miller and/or the comment "one phenomenal J.T. Miller goal" even though it comes against his team. Certainly more plausible than him liking that Mete got walked which is looking for problems speculation.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

JT Miller and MDZ were teammates.. IMO he is more likely liking the play by Miller and/or the comment "one phenomenal J.T. Miller goal" even though it comes against his team. Certainly more plausible than him liking that Mete got walked which is looking for problems speculation.

I had the same thought.

 

[PlayOn]

Appreciate your input. I just have a really hard time believing the management team that learned months after the Karlsson-Hoffman saga (which was a legit issue - not just some like on twitter) would know right away if a player liked something on social media. I don't think players on the team would be talking to the coach or GM about this childish stuff either but it's not impossible.

Now that's all said in the optic that DJ says that MDZ is working hard and staying positive around the group despite not playing. I think DJ specifically said he was a good pro around the guys. It's obviously very different if he was voicing his displeasure to teammates but there's no indications of that.

The cause of MDZ being sent down is because he's just not good enough and they're trying to get rid of him and his contract. If the social media has anything to do with this it has to be an excuse to get rid of him. He had no future here. It all comes down to him not deserving a full time spot based on his play.

Does Josh Brown deserve a full-time spot? Does Victor Mete?

MDZ has not been good by any means but I also don’t know that he’s worse than the other two who seem to get plenty of rope. Not like we’re icing an excellent d-core here.

 

[Boud]

Does Josh Brown deserve a full-time spot? Does Victor Mete?

MDZ has not been good by any means but I also don’t know that he’s worse than the other two who seem to get plenty of rope. Not like we’re icing an excellent d-core here.

This is why I specified I think it was his agent pushing for a move. Mete and J.Brown don't have NHL experience, they're lucky to be playing on this team not like they would request a trade. Smith seems to prefer Mete over MDZ, and he showed it by scratching MDZ right away as the season started in favour of Mete. That has nothing to do with the social media stuff, it was way before that. MDZ on the other hand is 31 and expected to be playing top 4 minutes, not being on the sidelines. Would make a lot of sense that he would ask to be dealt or even waived in hopes that he would get picked up. Especially after DJ mentioned that they were going to give more ice time to younger players.

Again, seems very far fetched that they waived him because of that. I think it's a lot more likely that he wasn't happy with his role (and DJ isn't happy with his play) and his agent discussed with the team and they decided to try to trade him / waive.

 

[PlayOn]

This is why I specified I think it was his agent pushing for a move. Mete and J.Brown don't have NHL experience, they're lucky to be playing on this team not like they would request a trade. MDZ on the other hand is 31 and expected to be playing top 4 minutes, not being on the sidelines. Would make a lot of sense that he would ask to be dealt or even waived in hopes that he would get picked up.

If you’re trying to move him, it would make more sense to me to let him play the next ten games or so and see if he gets his game together. Now is actually the perfect time with Brann being injured, Sanderson still in college and JBD could’ve stayed in Belleville for now. Instead they called up Heatherington. I do think it was probably in part because of his attitude because otherwise it’s a bit extreme.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

If you’re trying to move him, it would make more sense to me to let him play the next ten games or so and see if he gets his game together. Now is actually the perfect time with Brann being injured, Sanderson still in college and JBD could’ve stayed in Belleville for now. Instead they called up Heatherington. I do think it was probably in part because of his attitude because otherwise it’s a bit extreme.

What was the rush to waive him? JBD is sitting out games and not playing anywhere. Heatherington has been ok but .. where is he a must play player? I agree play him and try to trade him from the NHL team.

 

[Matsens15]

I've seen people here talk about the MDZ social media thing but I have not run across it.

EDIT:Nevermind just saw somebody show you the pictures already

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

JT Miller and MDZ were teammates.. IMO he is more likely liking the play by Miller and/or the comment "one phenomenal J.T. Miller goal" even though it comes against his team. Certainly more plausible than him liking that Mete got walked which is looking for problems speculation.

Either way liking a video of your teammates getting embarrassed when they just had their biggest loss in the middle of a horrible losing streak is not the greatest look for MDZ.

 

[dumbdick]

None of this really matters - I don't really care why they were sent down. In the end the net effect is that this front office brought in $8.5M AAV in cap dollars that are now in the minors, and we're bottom feeder team on an internal budget which means there is $8.5M that is not helping this team get better on the ice. Then there is the collateral damage to future FA signings that Methot refers to above.

It is possible to be unhappy with the signings of the players and unhappy with the fact that they are in the minors at the same time - this isn't some dichotomy. Dorion took $8.5M and lit it on fire. In a functional organization he would be unemployed by now.

They were both signed as stopgaps and they didn't pan out. It could have went the other way. Zub did. C. Brown did. Norris was an excellent target. Sanford has been pretty good as has Holden. So was Demelo. So was Duclair. So was Ennis. You don't win them all, but Dorion's got some good moves.

It was probably more likely that it went the other way and the unproven kids didn't pan out and we were relying on these vets to not be an embarrassment in this league. Would have been amazing if all the prospects AND all the UFAs worked out. In the end it was just the prospects. I'm happy it worked out the way it did.

These two will be off the books soon enough.

 

[GCK]

JT Miller and MDZ were teammates.. IMO he is more likely liking the play by Miller and/or the comment "one phenomenal J.T. Miller goal" even though it comes against his team. Certainly more plausible than him liking that Mete got walked which is looking for problems speculation.

Likely what he was doing but who knows. It’s probably best to just not like it.

 

[GCK]

What was the rush to waive him? JBD is sitting out games and not playing anywhere. Heatherington has been ok but .. where is he a must play player? I agree play him and try to trade him from the NHL team.

This logic is why I think his actions had something to do with it.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

First, the Sharks rotate 6 forwards on the PK all averaging around 1:30 per game with Couture and Cogliano just slightly higher and second, anyone who thinks being a penalty killer means that player must play a sound defensive game doesn’t understand the defensive aspects of the game. PK is starts and stops with an active stick, that’s it

Way to mischaracterize my take on Hall-Larsson. I said Edmonton got better by making the trade. Larsson helped the team far more than Hall did. Sure Edmonton should have held out for a pick or something but they certainly didn’t lose the trade.

Explain Balcers 5 on 5 deployment then. His coach clearly thinks he's a plus on the defensive side of the game.

I tend to agree but it's OK to not agree with the SJ coach. And it's OK to think Balcers is a 3rd liner and no big loss. But there's no need to make up stuff like a "defensive liability" as the OP did.

The guy is at worst middle of the road defensively.