Going into the trade deadline, how many pieces are we from being a contender?

[saskriders]

This was supposed to be the final year of the 3 year rebuild, yet so far it has been the worst. Regardless we still have some good young players, but what do we need to acquire to push ourselves over the top.

To answer this we need to decide who should stay on this team, and can play a roll on a contender (in a couple of years time). I would say the players we have who can would be:

MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
xxx-Spezza-xxx
xxx-Zibanejad-xxx
xxx-Smith-Neil

xxx-Karlsson
Methot-Ceci
xxx-Wiercioch

Anderson
Lehner

Players in bold are pretty easy to put in this category, others are more borderline and based on how they age/develop
Cowen is the biggest question mark

It seems pretty obvious that we have somewhat of a core built up, and some guys like Ceci, Zibanejad, and Wiercioch that will develop over the next couple seasons, but there is pretty much no support. Who can we acquire (or is in our system) that can fill these blank spots?

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[Benjamin]

A whole ****ing bunch.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Two defencemen including one puck mover and one veteran steady-it-down guy.
Two to three forwards including one vet 15-20 goal grinder, two skilled, speedy wingers OR an elite-level passer/game changer centre.

A Lundqvist level goaltender would be awesome but is a pipedream.

 

[Senscore]

I think the number of guys we need to get rid of is probably larger than the number of guys we should keep.

That's pretty bad.

 

[SenatorArmy*]

all the pieces

 

[StefanW]

A **** load.

 

[Six Assets]

Swept by Oilers.

Lots of missing pieces.

 

[CanadianHockey]

Need a top line winger to play with Spezza, and another #3 D (or better) to flush out the blueline.

Wiercioch does not belong as a 'near core' player if Cowen isn't considered one.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

3.

2 top 6 forwards and 1 top 3 defender.

I'll use: Moulson, Callahan, Ehrhoff as examples.

Moulson-Spezza-Callahan
MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Conacher-Zibanejad-Michalek
Greening-Smith-Condra

Methot-Karlsson
Ehrhoff-Ceci
Cowen-Boro

 

[SenatorArmy*]

people talk about adding pieces to make us a contender like that is some magic formula for success but even the great teams do this. It's not necessarily some strategic advantage & you really might just be making yourselves less of an underdog. Chicago added a couple nice pieces, St. Louis too & they are powerhouses. The problem is Melnyk's thrifty, barely-scrape-by economics. You don't want to spend the money to ice a competitive team? Then don't complain when your team doesn't come up with another miracle season for you.

 

[Alfie#11]

We're missing so many it's a pointless discussion.

Even the worst teams have a handful of good to excellent players.

If you dropped 3-4 top tier NHL players we could be a contender, much like most bad to mediocre teams.

Now keep in mind we have no budget to acquire said players.

That's the Ottawa Senators - back to the future. It's the mid to late 90s again. Only UFA hits at 25 instead of 31.

 

[aragorn]

The Ottawa Senators have been inconsistent all yr long, I'm not sure that adding one or two pieces is going to change that. Is our goaltending going to carry us as well? I'm not so sure of that either.

 

[BigRig4]

This was supposed to be the final year of the 3 year rebuild, yet so far it has been the worst. Regardless we still have some good young players, but what do we need to acquire to push ourselves over the top.

To answer this we need to decide who should stay on this team, and can play a roll on a contender (in a couple of years time). I would say the players we have who can would be:

MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
xxx-Spezza-xxx
xxx-Zibanejad-xxx
xxx-Smith-Neil

xxx-Karlsson
Methot-Ceci
xxx-Wiercioch

Anderson
Lehner

Players in bold are pretty easy to put in this category, others are more borderline and based on how they age/develop
Cowen is the biggest question mark

It seems pretty obvious that we have somewhat of a core built up, and some guys like Ceci, Zibanejad, and Wiercioch that will develop over the next couple seasons, but there is pretty much no support. Who can we acquire (or is in our system) that can fill these blank spots?

Yep totally agree with this assessment. Desperate needs for a postseason birth next season are two high level defenseman and winger for Spezza. Not to mention a few AHL guys like Stone and Hoffman who have shown promise even if means they have to be bottom 6. It's not like we don't have the money/assets to do it, we just don't have willing ownership and management. With a stacked AHL team full of good prospects and loads of money we could be a competitor next season but I'd be shocked if it actually happened.

 

[Yak]

The first couple years of the rebuild we still had a few vets and we over achieved, plain and simple.This year is a reality check that we are not as good as we think we are and we have some holes to fill before we are a contender.Can we make the playoffs, we could but the way we have played this year it would just be masking issues.We need to start part 2 of this rebuild and that would be cleaning house of mediocre and get clear vision to where this team is going.

Only way I take on a UFA going into this deadline is if we dont deal Spezza so we can see if anyone can play with Spezza.We are far off from being serious contender so no need to give up anything unless it benefits this team past this year.If anything we dump some of the players that are not in the bigger picture or long term and bring up some kids who will be part of it.

On the other hand we have some decisions to make in the off-season with Spezza, Ryan, Anderson and maybe if the right deal comes along for one of those guys tomorrow we jump on it.

 

[aragorn]

Yep totally agree with this assessment. Desperate needs for a postseason birth next season are two high level defenseman and winger for Spezza. Not to mention a few AHL guys like Stone and Hoffman who have shown promise even if means they have to be bottom 6. It's not like we don't have the money/assets to do it, we just don't have willing ownership and management. With a stacked AHL team full of good prospects and loads of money we could be a competitor next season but I'd be shocked if it actually happened.

I'm not so sure that the players who are doing so well in Bingo would do just as well in the NHL. We have seen many examples of that already this yr & Hoffman is the latest example of a very good AHL player who can't seem to score at the NHL level, so far anyway. Conacher was very good in the AHL, SDC is playing well in the AHL too as is Prince, Petersson & Pageau. Bingo is having a decent season but outside of Stone & Boro I'm not sure any other players on that team can help Ottawa right now. What I do agree with is that we may have the assets that could return a decent player, some quantity for quality type deal. I doubt Melnyk is going to open his wallet too much for the UFA market this summer, maybe one player depending on who is re-signed or not.

 

[QuattroFTW]

The problem is Melnyk's thrifty, barely-scrape-by economics. You don't want to spend the money to ice a competitive team? Then don't complain when your team doesn't come up with another miracle season for you.

Right here. of course not every team that spends money will be successful, and spending boatloads of money is not a prerequisite to winning a cup, but if you can't afford to buy the pieces you need to tweak the team the way you want, then you won't go anywhere.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Top six forward, bottom six gritty two way/ point guy. Top 4 d.

 

[Spez]

Two top six forwards and two top 4 defensemen are what we badly need. With those pieces this team would be a playoff lock for the foreseeable future but unfortunately we'll never get those pieces with our budget the way it is. You'd be pretty much praying that a lot of the bingo boys magically transform into those type of players quickly.

 

[arglebargle]

Sign 2 FA D-men, 1 left and 1 right. $2-4 million/yr range for each. Keep Wier as the 7th, deal Cowen, waive/trade Gryba.

Sign a couple wingers in the $2-4 million/yr range on 2-3 year deals to try to fill the 2nd line wing spots.

Fill the rest of the spots with the best of the remaining wingers from the current lineup. Keep Neil as the 13th forward.

Need a top line winger to play with Spezza, and another #3 D (or better) to flush out the blueline.

Wiercioch does not belong as a 'near core' player if Cowen isn't considered one.

Uhh based on what exactly? I know Cowen is bigger and was drafted higher but Wiercioch is clearly the better hockey player.

 

[OttawaSenators11]

The back end is horrid

someone to play with Karlsson to bump Methot to the 2nd pairing and someone to play with Spezza

This will never happen , so no point talking about it.

budget team, budget results!

 

[aragorn]

Two top six forwards and two top 4 defensemen are what we badly need. With those pieces this team would be a playoff lock for the foreseeable future but unfortunately we'll never get those pieces with our budget the way it is. You'd be pretty much praying that a lot of the bingo boys magically transform into those type of players quickly.

It could be argued that we already have that in the organization but they are still too young & inexperienced. IMO Wiercioch & Ceci both have the potential to be top 4 defencemen but will need a few yrs to reach that potential. Boroweicki & Gryba could be a very good shut down defencemen but again are young & need patience & experience.

IMO Stone has the potential to be a top 6 forward & Lazar who is probably a few yrs away. I don't really see any one else in Bingo with top 6 potential. They have the opportunity to trade for a couple of top 6 forwards at this deadline but will they? How much will Melnyk allow BM to add to the budget? One player or two players, we don't know, my guess is one at the most unless he can get some salary going back the other way. I think the Methot / Karlsson pairing is fine. I also think Ottawa had numerous chances tonight to score but didn't or couldn't. Also lots of teams change their lines during games all the tim as does PM, these guys should be able to play with anyone. Hemsky was able to score on his own why can't our players?

 

[CanadianHockey]

Uhh based on what exactly? I know Cowen is bigger and was drafted higher but Wiercioch is clearly the better hockey player.

Based on the fact that Cowen's biggest flaw is his positioning - which is something every defender learns with experience. He's had two pro seasons, he's got loads of developmental time left and he will improve. Cowen has size, he has decent mobility and hands and brings a physical side that Wiercioch can only dream of possessing.

Wiercioch has had problems with his strength (it may still be an issue, but it's improved a lot). He's a decent skater with a great outlet pass, good transition game, and good vision. His positioning, like Cowen's, is inconsistent and needs to improve.

Wier is 'better' insofar as he's been sitting for so long that his inexperience hasn't been exposed, whereas Cowen has been overexposed. And I'm a fan of both.

 

[Tundraman]

20 but if I have to whittle that down I'd say 8-9 much like in your diagram. If I had to narrow it down further maybe 7 but I'd have to keep our 2 goalies and I'm not convinced of them.

Realistically 2 more hard nosed regular scoring wingers, 2 D who could play shutdown 3-4 and a goalie who can play 2 good games in a row would be nice. So make that 5. I'd shuffle the rest and keep the best pieces.

 

[Boud]

We are still a young team honestly and we have kids that will be able to play in the next years like puempel, hopefully Stone and I truly believe Cowen will be a good defensmen.

We cant panic here, we were a suprise to make the playoffs last year and we need to remember that. Our defense is very young and mistake have and will be made.

To start, I think we need a top 4 D who can mentor our young guys like Cowen, Ceci, Borocop, Wiercoch and Gryba ... Keep in mind that apart from Philips and Methot, our oldest defensemen is what 24?!
Philips has been a great team member but hes not the player he once was anymore. If we could bring a guy that could lead our young defense we would be miles ahead of what we have now.

The dept we have in the backend is absolutely crazy ... Karlsson,Methot,Cowen,Philips,Gryba,Ceci,borowiecki,Claesson,Wierciooch,Claesson,Wikstrand

Decisions will have to be made because we just have too much

 

[Korpse]

Swept by Oilers.

Lots of missing pieces.

Swept the Blues.

No missing pieces.