Player Discussion Potential Career Senators?

Sun God Nika

Palestine <3.
Apr 22, 2013
19,918
8,281
I was watching the Turris, and Alfredsson back to ottawa videos and I came to the realization the only real player who started and ended a long career with Ottawa was Chris Phillips. As a sens fan I always wanted to idolize a STAR/FRANCHISE player from the start of their career to the end but all in a senators jersey. The story is usually always the same as soon as a contract comes up or the team is performing badly players get moved in cycles.

My question is do you see anyone on this roster having the potential to be a career senator and do you even care about something like this or does it seem meaningless?
 

BatherSeason

Registered User
Jun 16, 2009
6,640
3,702
Gatineau
I was watching the Turris, and Alfredsson back to ottawa videos and I came to the realization the only real player who started and ended a long career with Ottawa was Chris Phillips. As a sens fan I always wanted to idolize a STAR/FRANCHISE player from the start of their career to the end but all in a senators jersey. The story is usually always the same as soon as a contract comes up or the team is performing badly players get moved in cycles.

My question is do you see anyone on this roster having the potential to be a career senator and do you even care about something like this or does it seem meaningless?

Eugene Melnyk will never let this happen. The only career Ottawa Senator will be Pierre Dorion because once new ownership takes over and fires him, he will no longer be able to get another job in the league.
 
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hawthy

Registered User
Mar 31, 2010
844
682
Ottawa
Thread title made me laugh.

Answer to your question, though, until proven otherwise, is a full stop at me not seeing anyone as a career Senator. We are a cup of coffee and a training session - not a career path.

I'll revise my answer when history tells me to believe otherwise, mostly....
 

branch

#GirlBoss #Vibes
Jan 12, 2008
8,850
7,240
Other than the fact he only signed a 1 year deal are there any rumors of him wanting out

Only other thing I can think of is his parents confiding to a Sens fan at a Calgary game that Stone thinks it's a "shitshow" here in Ottawa.
 

Sensung

Registered User
Oct 3, 2017
6,101
3,357
The two Swedish captains, who also happen to be the best players in franchise history and faces of the franchise, were run out of town by our dickhead owner.

Unlike Phillips and Neil, they cost elite money, so Melnyk chose to alienate the fanbase instead of investing in his product. IDIOT.
 

coladin

Registered User
Sep 18, 2009
11,813
4,500
Thread title made me laugh.

Answer to your question, though, until proven otherwise, is a full stop at me not seeing anyone as a career Senator. We are a cup of coffee and a training session - not a career path.

I'll revise my answer when history tells me to believe otherwise, mostly....

This is not terribly important to me. If the NHL had a similar platform like MLB, what cap would Alfredsson wear going into the HOF?

Players move around in pro sports. It is becoming increasingly rare for a player to stick with one team. Look at the HHOF ceremony the other night. Martin Brodeur left NJ. Martin St. Louis leaving TB.

This is not just an Ottawa scenario.
 

Cosmix

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Jul 24, 2011
17,868
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Ottawa
I was watching the Turris, and Alfredsson back to ottawa videos and I came to the realization the only real player who started and ended a long career with Ottawa was Chris Phillips. As a sens fan I always wanted to idolize a STAR/FRANCHISE player from the start of their career to the end but all in a senators jersey. The story is usually always the same as soon as a contract comes up or the team is performing badly players get moved in cycles.

My question is do you see anyone on this roster having the potential to be a career senator and do you even care about something like this or does it seem meaningless?

It is not meaningless to me; however, my preferences are: 1) to have a team in my city, 2) to have an entertaining and competitive home team that makes the playoffs more than 50% of the time, 3) to go deep into the playoffs such as ECF and SCF every 5 years or so, and 4) to win the Stanley Cup some day. I don't put a high priority on having life-time players, home-town players, Canadian players, or other non-performance related player aspects.
 
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Ice-Tray

Registered User
Jan 31, 2006
16,357
8,158
Victoria
I was watching the Turris, and Alfredsson back to ottawa videos and I came to the realization the only real player who started and ended a long career with Ottawa was Chris Phillips. As a sens fan I always wanted to idolize a STAR/FRANCHISE player from the start of their career to the end but all in a senators jersey. The story is usually always the same as soon as a contract comes up or the team is performing badly players get moved in cycles.

My question is do you see anyone on this roster having the potential to be a career senator and do you even care about something like this or does it seem meaningless?

Also Chris Neil, also played 1000 games for us. I see you remembered :)
 

playasRus

Registered User
Mar 21, 2009
9,284
2,015
Happens that all of our superstars in the last two decades happened to peak or go close to over the hill in their careers just when Ottawa became lottery team material and wanted to rebuild. Re: Spezza/EK/Stone all in their 28-30 age where they've established themselves as legit players but teams out of playoffs/retooling.

Problem is we never seem to flip them for a good return that allows us to sustain a long period of success to keep a star around if they don't want to be here. Not that players dont' want to be here but we trade away the ones that do anyways (Turris, EK)

And then theres the problem with the owner.

Could also argue, we've had some reactionary/bad decision making to try and put us over the top.
Turris -> Duchene was supposed to make us legit, actually did opposite (possibly set us back).
Silfverberg -> Ryan was also supposed to make us contenders. That was kind of a lateral move with long term loss as Ryan became less effective 2-3 years down the road and Silf became a solid secondary player that can step up.
Zibanejad -> Brass I can't really complain about. That actually gave us a good run, but may be short sighted. Depends what you want but it's easy to complain while we're in a tire fire. Sure no one had anything negative to say while Brass was scoring 0.6 ppg in the playoffs on that magical run.

And then we had bad luck on some picks during other retool years a la Noesen, Puempel, Prince, Cowen that keep perpetuating our vicious cycle of low-lows followed with moderate highs.

Now, if we can keep drafting well, maybe flip guys that want to jump this sinking ship for decent futures and Tkachuk/Brown/Chabot/White/Batherson/Formenton/Lajoie actually pan out into Top liners, maybe this is a crop that we can sustain success with. But if we're going to lose Duchene/Stone/Ceci walk for nothing, considering we're possibly missing out on a top 10 pick this year, we're likely to run dry again in 5 years when some of the young crop resign elsewhere or we trade them at a loss.
 
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Ice-Tray

Registered User
Jan 31, 2006
16,357
8,158
Victoria
Happens that all of our superstars in the last two decades happened to peak or go close to over the hill in their careers just when Ottawa became lottery team material and wanted to rebuild. Re: Spezza/EK/Stone all in their 28-30 age where they've established themselves as legit players but teams out of playoffs/retooling.

Problem is we never seem to flip them for a good return that allows us to sustain a long period of success to keep a star around if they don't want to be here. Not that players dont' want to be here but we trade away the ones that do anyways (Turris, EK)

And then theres the problem with the owner.

Could also argue, we've had some reactionary/bad decision making to try and put us over the top.
Turris -> Duchene was supposed to make us legit, actually did opposite (possibly set us back).
Silfverberg -> Ryan was also supposed to make us contenders. That was kind of a lateral move with long term loss as Ryan became less effective 2-3 years down the road and Silf became a solid secondary player that can step up.
Zibanejad -> Brass I can't really complain about. That actually gave us a good run, but may be short sighted. Depends what you want but it's easy to complain while we're in a tire fire. Sure no one had anything negative to say while Brass was scoring 0.6 ppg in the playoffs on that magical run.

And then we had bad luck on some picks during other retool years a la Noesen, Puempel, Prince, Cowen that keep perpetuating our vicious cycle of low-lows followed with moderate highs.

Now, if we can keep drafting well, maybe flip guys that want to jump this sinking ship for decent futures and Tkachuk/Brown/Chabot/White/Batherson/Formenton/Lajoie actually pan out into Top liners, maybe this is a crop that we can sustain success with. But if we're going to lose Duchene/Stone/Ceci walk for nothing, considering we're possibly missing out on a top 10 pick this year, we're likely to run dry again in 5 years when some of the young crop resign elsewhere or we trade them at a loss.

Good post. It's interesting to consider that by far most of the teams in the league go through perpetual playoff disappointments, non-playoff appearances, and team core build ups that end far short of being successful. Some teams have missed the playoffs for decades at a time, unbelievable!

It's a cycle that all teams are a part of. Some have smaller cycles at times due to good drafting, good trades, and player skill/longevity, but in the end a team's core either wins or it doesn't, and eventually will need a rebuild.

The Sens have actually done remarkably well over their existence, and have only recently truly come to the end of an era. This new core is brand new now, with next to no ties to previous incarnations of the team, and it will be interesting to see how they do. The character of the team will change, and the kids will eventually define what this new iteration of the Sens will be.

One thing is for sure though, it is hard to have career players in the cap era. When the team is still competing, room needs to be made for better players and you can't really have passengers, even for nostalgia reasons. For bottoming out teams cap space isn't so much an issue, but players on their last legs that were good enough to stick with a team for their entire careers up until this point often want the enjoyment and excitement of one or two last runs at a cup.
 

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