Rebuilding or Retooling?

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With the 2014 NHL Draft (June 27th-28th) just days away and an impeding deal to ship Sens forward and captain Jason Spezza out of town looming, the question remains:

Are the Ottawa Senators currently rebuilding or retooling?

To clarify, here are the definitions for both terms provided by Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Re·tool

adapt or alter (someone or something) to make them more useful or suitable.

Re·build

build (something) again after it has been damaged or destroyed.

There are multiple different ways to look at this puzzle. If the Ottawa Senators were rebuilding right now, one could say then they would be trading Craig Anderson, Chris Phillips and Chris Neil all for draft picks in the upcoming draft.

Is that happening? No.

HOWEVER, is trading away Spezza, a point per game player, for a draft pick, a prospect and a top six forward - a retooling move?

Normally the answer would be yes.

The Anaheim Ducks traded away Bobby Ryan to the Ottawa Senators last summer for the exact same package the Sens want for Spezza, now. This is considered a retooling move as the Anaheim Ducks don't have an "internal budget" and aren't restricted by their owner to bring in high paid free agents, if the fit was right.

The Ottawa Senators on the other hand DO have an "internal budget", unfortunately.

Fun Fact: Ducks owner Henry Samueli is worth 2.1 billion according to Forbes, up 11.3 million alone from last year. Sens owner Eugene Melnyk is only worth 1 billion according to CanadianBuisness.com and that number seems to be shrinking...

As stated before, Spezza requested a trade because management couldn't commit to bringing in high end talent, if it meant spending significantly more money.

"Anytime you feel you have to make a trade, or you want to make a trade, the earlier the better but ... but ... <strong>but you may not get the same value in return so I'm not going to rush into it just for the sake of rushing into it and get it out of the way. I'm trying to go with what I think the value is for Jason Spezza."

- Bryan Murray via Ottawa Sun

Do you really think Murray wants to trade Spezza when "they may not get the same value in return" for him?

Of course not!

The same reason why Ottawa lost Daniel Alfredsson is the same reason why they're going to lose Spezza.

This guy.

Is it possible to ever consider a professional sports franchise in a retooling stage when they have an "internal budget" well below the actual league's salary cap?

YES ... to a degree.

With that being said, the Senators right now are in the final stage of their "supposed" rebuild - whether they want to admit it or not.

They are waiting for their wealth of prospects (Cody Ceci, Eric Gryba, Patrick Weircioch, Robin Lehner, Mika Zibanejad, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, Shane Prince, Curtis Lazar) to develop into the "high end" talent they hope they can be.

The problem is, like in all sports, not all of a team's prospects will ACTUALLY develop into "high end" talent like Melnyk mystically thinks they will. Even if this was the case and all their prospects into productive NHL players, or even 1/4 of them, could Melnyk afford to keep them?

The only way the Senators can win in this system is if they have an astounding year while having all of these prospects still at a relatively low salary.

That's the bottom line. This window is only going last a few years, and last year was the first trial run.

We all know how that turned out.

Thankfully, players are still developing and there's still time for success.

You've just got to have faith.

Via: Nilsen Report

Click to read more...

 

[StefanW]

We wont know for sure until we see who we pick up in the Spezza deal and at UFA time, and see how contract extensions with Ryan, Lehner, etc go. By the middle of July we should all be perfectly aware of where the organization is at.

 

[robsenz]

I'm just going to go ahead and say Re-tarded decision making.

 

[Hemmer Time]

I want a re-tool. We have a good supporting cast in place, we have:


- a franchise d-man
- supposed #1 goalie
- and options for his back-up (Driedger, Hogberg, Hammond?)
- Core of young defenders that can cover the #3-6 spots
- Good supporting wingers (young ones: Stone/Puempel/Prince/Hoffman/Lazar?, and also MacA and Ryan if they stay)
- Good center depth (but not great) : Turris and Zbad both look like they'll be good 2nd line centres, guys like Pageau, Smith, Dzingle are all helping or will soon.

We lack: elite talent at center and a partner for Erik Karlsson. If we could somehow trade a group of prospects for a top-ten pick in next years draft (say a combination of Puempel/Prince and Cowen/Wiercioch, depending on what kind of season they have and how their value changes), along with our own top-ten pick, we can get the pieces we are missing.

Personally, I would want to select Travis Konecny (1C and hometown-ish, plays for the 67's), and then Oliver Kylington (Swedish, LHD, big, two-way, excellent skater, stylistically compares to EK or OEL, in potential OEL or EK with better defence and less offense)

Assuming we trade Prince + Cowen + another piece (one from Spezza return) to say Buffalo for the NYI pick, we could have (in the future):

Puempel - Konecny - Ryan
MacArthur - Turris - Stone
Prince/Hoffman - Zibanejad - Lazar
Schneider - Pageau/Smith - Condra/some other PK'er

Kylington - Karlsson
Wiercioch/Methot - Ceci
Boro/Claesson - Gryba/someone else

Lehner
Driedger

 

[dan1el]

I want a re-tool. We have a good supporting cast in place, we have:


- a franchise d-man
- supposed #1 goalie
- and options for his back-up (Driedger, Hogberg, Hammond?)
- Core of young defenders that can cover the #3-6 spots
- Good supporting wingers (young ones: Stone/Puempel/Prince/Hoffman/Lazar?, and also MacA and Ryan if they stay)
- Good center depth (but not great) : Turris and Zbad both look like they'll be good 2nd line centres, guys like Pageau, Smith, Dzingle are all helping or will soon.

We lack: elite talent at center and a partner for Erik Karlsson. If we could somehow trade a group of prospects for a top-ten pick in next years draft (say a combination of Puempel/Prince and Cowen/Wiercioch, depending on what kind of season they have and how their value changes), along with our own top-ten pick, we can get the pieces we are missing.

Personally, I would want to select Travis Konecny (1C and hometown-ish, plays for the 67's), and then Oliver Kylington (Swedish, LHD, big, two-way, excellent skater, stylistically compares to EK or OEL, in potential OEL or EK with better defence and less offense)

Assuming we trade Prince + Cowen + another piece (one from Spezza return) to say Buffalo for the NYI pick, we could have (in the future):

Puempel - Konecny - Ryan
MacArthur - Turris - Stone
Prince/Hoffman - Zibanejad - Lazar
Schneider - Pageau/Smith - Condra/some other PK'er

Kylington - Karlsson
Wiercioch/Methot - Ceci
Boro/Claesson - Gryba/someone else

Lehner
Driedger

Looking a bit far into the future, but I LOVE Konecny and Kylington on that roster

 

[Ouroboros]

Neither.

Extracting as much blood as possible from a 56 million dollar stone.

 

[thinkwild]

I hate both these terms. This is how I hear the question: which shortcut to a championship should we take: the quick 3 year rebuild, or the quicker 1 year retool?

How about we go for the indeterminate period of hard work and patience required of a just plain build.

We aren’t rebuilding. That would imply that we reached some lofty heights just recently that we want to tear down from and return to. You can say we are retooling, but we retool every year just as every team does. Its an empty word. It’s mainly a marketing term imo. Buy tickets, we are doing a quick retool.

The other thing that bothers me is this idea that management promised us a 3 year rebuild, and like a petulant child having a tantrum we scream: they promised me a Cup now, I want one, the blueprint called for drafting someone in the 3rd round who would surprise everyone and then we would fleece a team in trade for a new star, and it didn’t happen, so trade everyone, fire mgmt., and try the quick and easy 3 year rebuild again so that no fans have to face the prospect that building a champion is long and difficult and lacking shortcuts.

Well suck it up nancy boys, we aren’t rebuilding, or retooling, or taking any other easy shortcut. Murray never promised a 3 year rebuild, in fact in that one year that fans for some reason keep calling our rebuild year, he claimed it wouldn’t take 3 years, but rather they would be back really quick. It took him a year to even use the word rebuild. And he was right. And we did have a team that coulda done really well if injuries didn’t conspire against us.

But now we are continuing to build. That team cant win. We're not building a house with a definitive blueprint; its building a team, with dynamic adjustments for reality and human development. For all those thinking we were promised a 3 yr rebuild, first of all, you weren’t, that idea came from fans, and 2nd of all, grow the **** up. This team is not built for spending yet. It is still building and developing. All this crying over the budget and why wont they buy us a Cup will be warranted when they deserve it, but they don’t yet.

 

[saskriders]

I say a bit of both.

In the long run we are still in a rebuild, but in the short term we have to retool some of that rebuild that went wrong.

 

[x Karlsson x 65]

Its sort of a mix, its more of a reboot

 

[HavlatMach9]

rebuild just happens, either you suck intentionally like the Oilers or you fall apart like the Flames and the Sabres. Most teams, including us right now, are retooling

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

If we are going to play around with semantics, I'd say the Ottawa Senators are "building."

Both "rebuild" and "retool" suggest intentionally changing the composition of the team. I don't think Alfredsson leaving and Spezza wanting out was something Murray intended.

 

[enviro61]

It's a fire sale baby, thinly disguised as a retool. Reminds me of my beloved Expos when they did their fire sales.

 

[Stylizer1]

What happened to re-tooling?

In 2011 we shipped out a bunch of contracts for picks and got many draft picks. Most people were happy because it was obvious that the Sens had gone flat. Murray filled up our farm team and we developed players. We kept a core in place and were sold that it was about re-tooling and not going into a full rebuild.

Last off season after some positive progress in making the playoffs and going to the second round we lost a valuable piece of our leadership when Alfie left. Still we signed Mac, and traded for Ryan and was some what deeper than the year before.

Through out the season we played very average with many players under performing. Seemed like the chemistry just wasn't were it should be. The line ups each night was a big question mark and the lack of experience on D really was a glaring factor in many of our loses

We went out and signed Hemsky who instantly made Spezza's line a threat and showed great chemistry.

We finished the season just out of the playoffs but all was not lost. We saw how Spezza players when teamed up with talent and all thought we were 1 top forward and a top 4 D away from being a top team in the east.

In the recent events that have taken place in the last few weeks it is clear that the Sens organization planned all along to be just good enough to keeps fans going to games and buying merchandise and were intent on going for cheaper contracts and playing the waiting game on prospects. This should have been done a while ago and not 3 years later.

This team has been mismanaged from a fans point of view but has made ownership money.

Melnyk has done a lot for this team and fans owe him a lot but we have always supported the team and have very good attendance considering the size of our market.

Alfie and Spezza both left because Melnyk doesn't want to spend money to be competitive. Spending to the cap is one thing keeping this at a level where we has a chance to win is another.

Out of all of our prospects we have had 1 has become elite in the last 5 years. Other than that we might have a second liner and a plethora of 3 and 4th liners. This is due to playing ourselves out of top picks. Now it seems we are destined to keep the same strategy going forward.

 

[MisterMethos]

Honestly I would be completely fine if we tear the team down and do a complete proper rebuild. Ship out Ryan, MacArthur, Methot, Anderson, etc. and start the rebuild. Wonder if a deal with Colorado could be worked out involving Bobby Ryan for Ryan O'Reilly and 1st Round Pick. Add onto Ryan if necessary.

 

[alfierulestheworld]

Honestly I would be completely fine if we tear the team down and do a complete proper rebuild. Ship out Ryan, MacArthur, Methot, Anderson, etc. and start the rebuild. Wonder if a deal with Colorado could be worked out involving Bobby Ryan for Ryan O'Reilly and 1st Round Pick. Add onto Ryan if necessary.

I agree, at this point I say we trade Ryan, anderson, and Mac. Pray for 1st or 2nd overall next year, and build around that person, EK, and our prospects.

I am not interested in paying to always see a 8-12th place team play every night, and pray we make the playoffs, and dream we could steal a round.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Murray just said the rebuild is over, we're going to compete now

 

[Tkachuk27]

We are just tanking for fun now.

 

[operasen]

This guy.

[/URL]

retool, rebuild or redundant?

 

[HockeySens]

I'm just going to go ahead and say Re-tarded decision making.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Murray just said the rebuild is over, we're going to compete now

Yup, he really did say that.

I mean, ok, this was a rebuild I guess. We went from a decent bungalow to a roughly built shack so technically we did rebuild.

 

[enviro61]

Murray just said the rebuild is over, we're going to compete now

hmm, I really don't see much of a plan in place. The only discernable plan is to spend as little as possible and try to convince the fans the team a contender. I don't see how the rebuild is over when you add a bunch of rookie hopefuls to the roster every year and have no idea who the next captain will be or how long he will want to stick around for.

 

[QuietOnTheFront]

Fail for McJesus!

 

[Matte99]

With all top end forwards gone, i guess Ottawa is rebuilding. Sens doesnt need to fail for McJesus, they simply just need to play to their potential. Its odd how something that looked so promising can disapear in a year.

 

[BigRig4]

The rebuild is essentially over in the sense we're done trading away the older guys. I honestly see the exact same roster that was 5 points away from the playoffs minus Spezza, plus a few others. We're just going to get better from this point forward.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Neither.

Murray said it was not a rebuild anymore and that he expects the team to compete in the East, just an hour ago in his presser.

Time to put up or shut up Bry-bry!