Rebuilding or Retooling?

[Powdered Toast Man]

One of those captains half the fanbase wanted gone anyway, so apparently this is a horrible thing? I don't understand, you guys are too confusing. You know what, we will get McDavid and then there we go, our new Jason Spezza, Ryan will see that we have all the young pieces for a cup, he will resign. McDavid will attract young free agents to Ottawa, Melnyk will get scared of the poor attendance this year and will sign some decent free agents/or a successful businessman sees the potential money in the team and buys the team off of Melnyk. We sign those free agent players to shut our fans up, even changing the jerseys to the original jerseys from the 90's. We contend all year, destroy the league, the Leafs finish last, we sweep all the rounds of the playoffs and we get to the finals against the Dallas Stars, Spezza reveals that he was a Senator all along and the spotlight focuses on the team entrance where suddenly Alfie skates on the ice in full Sens gear as he grabs a mic and says "I should never have left", he scores the winning goal off of a pass from Jason Spezza making us the only team in the modern NHL to win the cup in one game because Dallas forfeits because they are not worthy, The Sens go on their Stanly Cup parade (with Alfie and Spezza included) in downtown Ottawa as the fans jump on the float and it floats into the sky as everybody waves to the camera.


But then suddenly the float then crashes down resulting in a fiery explosion.The tragedy is then investigated by local enforcements, including Alfies brother. They then find the cause of the crash to be the float ran out of gas causing it to spiral down towards the ground. As they go over the costs of the parade to see who's job it was to buy gas, the name they find renders them speechless...Eugene Melnyk. Curse you Melnyk.

You missed the part where Melnyk drop kicks Spartacat into a giant waste disposal unit.

9/10 would read again

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

Wait... what?

Whether we can improve our D externally is not a hockey issue? Losing two of our most valuable players is not a hockey issue?

Please explain, I'm interested in hearing where you are going with this.

I tend to believe they missed the playoffs because they played like **** a few too many times. Not because off ice drama sapped their chi.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

You missed the part where Melnyk drop kicks Spartacat into a giant waste disposal unit.

9/10 would read again

That's the first scene in the sequal, Melnyk's Revenge.

 

[saskriders]

One of those captains half the fanbase wanted gone anyway, so apparently this is a horrible thing? I don't understand, you guys are too confusing. You know what, we will get McDavid and then there we go, our new Jason Spezza, Ryan will see that we have all the young pieces for a cup, he will resign. McDavid will attract young free agents to Ottawa, Melnyk will get scared of the poor attendance this year and will sign some decent free agents/or a successful businessman sees the potential money in the team and buys the team off of Melnyk. We sign those free agent players to shut our fans up, even changing the jerseys to the original jerseys from the 90's. We contend all year, destroy the league, the Leafs finish last, we sweep all the rounds of the playoffs and we get to the finals against the Dallas Stars, Spezza reveals that he was a Senator all along and the spotlight focuses on the team entrance where suddenly Alfie skates on the ice in full Sens gear as he grabs a mic and says "I should never have left", he scores the winning goal off of a pass from Jason Spezza making us the only team in the modern NHL to win the cup in one game because Dallas forfeits because they are not worthy, The Sens go on their Stanly Cup parade (with Alfie and Spezza included) in downtown Ottawa as the fans jump on the float and it floats into the sky as everybody waves to the camera.


But then suddenly the float then crashes down resulting in a fiery explosion.The tragedy is then investigated by local enforcements, including Alfies brother. They then find the cause of the crash to be the float ran out of gas causing it to spiral down towards the ground. As they go over the costs of the parade to see who's job it was to buy gas, the name they find renders them speechless...Eugene Melnyk. Curse you Melnyk.

Legendary post

 

[StefanW]

I tend to believe they missed the playoffs because they played like **** a few too many times.

.....and so you discount any other argument as not being "a hockey issue." Well, I'm glad we've had this chance to chit chat about it.

 

[Benjamin]

How about "re-trolling" ?

Works for me.

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

.....and so you discount any other argument as not being "a hockey issue." Well, I'm glad we've had this chance to chit chat about it.

I discount your argument that off ice psychological and economic issues were/are to blame for someone like Cowen forgetting how to pivot.

 

[Hale The Villain]

If Ryan, MacArthur and Methot are willing to sign extensions before August, we should re-tool.

If they are not, we should trade them and rebuild. No point in keeping them just to see them walk at the end of the season.

I doubt Murray commits to either side though.

 

[PaGEEsBack]

Have you ever worked at a place where owners or managers didn't care? It trickles down to employees, they figure "if x doesn't care why should I". It is the same situation here

He accepted the captaincy - I'd like to think he had a good idea of what needed to be done when he took on the responsibility leading others. When he didn't work to fix the problem he became part of the problem - simple as that. Same as anyone who accepts a position and does **** all with it while pointing fingers.

 

[OttawaOilers]

I often question this title.

I'd say yes do to the fact management's so high on prospects like Lazar.

 

[PaGEEsBack]

Well a) that's not true, and b) if we're looking at the Islanders as a model we're ****ed for all intents and purposes.

Every cup winner has at some point had to lift themselves from the bottom. There's no winning with a snap of the finger.Today's Islanders can be tomorrow's Kings - or not.

 

[The Fuhr*]

I discount your argument that off ice psychological and economic issues were/are to blame for someone like Cowen forgetting how to pivot.

If the team had money he'd be on the bottom pair and not in the top four...

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

All I hear about is letting the kids play, and now it looks like the kids are going to play and it's non-stop *****ing.

 

[topshelf15]

All I hear about is letting the kids play, and now it looks like the kids are going to play and it's non-stop *****ing.

No problem letting the kids play ,but its our other pieces surrounding the kids that have most worried

 

[HockeySens]

We had a #1 center, #2 center, #1 winger, Veteran captain/#2 winger, #1 dman/top 5 player, #3 dman, a ton of youth depth and a whole bunch of cap space. What did we do? We lost players and wont add players because of money.

A committed team in this situation would have used the cap space in free agency and added another defenseman using the youth as assets. That team could be near or at contending status.

Instead we're a joke of a team.

Agree with this 100%

We couldve kept Alfie and still trade for Ryan while keeping Spezza happy. Ryan shoudlve been an addition to Alfredsson and Spezza not take the place of Alfredsson and Spezza.

OR

We couldve let Alfie go, keep our young prospects and trade Spezza for more prospects signaling for a full on rebuild

Instead, we lost 2 top 6 forwards(uncluding a #1 center) and a bunch of prospects.

I remember when we used to have top 10 prospect pool in the nhl if not top 5 and we still had Turris, Spezza, Karlsson, Cowen,Alfredsson. Now we have an average prospect pool and without a veteran leader, top 6 forward in Alfie and a #1 center in Spezza. If Ryan doesnt resign we are back to square one with worse prospects

I actually dont mind if they go back to a rebuild as long as they commit to it or


Talent in, talent out for this team.

 

[Flamingo]

My biggest take away from the Alfredsson and Spezza departures is that no matter how upstanding a player appears to be at the end of the day he has to worry about himself. Expecting someone even a great guy like Alfie to be selfless isn't reasonable.

Exactly. Spezza told Murray he wasn't going to renew his contract, completely his prerogative. This left Murray with no option. If this team were a serious contender with many mature, contributing scorers, it would have made sense to keep Spezza for his final year. But it's not.

 

[Here I Pageau Again]

Like everyone has said, the issue isn't that people aren't committed to winning. It's just we are not willing to spend the money to get there.

Obviously spending to the cap doesn't mean winning, but you need to spend money wisely to get there (but not be cheap). The Sens (owner) are being cheap. And people's hands are tied. I think the sens could make a splash if they were willing to shell out a little money here and there. I am not saying make stupid UFA signings (a la Clarkson), but make smart decisions adding players you need, and spending money where you need it. (I'm not even saying we need to spend to the cap)

Until the ownership is willing to do that, I think we could squeak into the playoffs, but we will not be a winning team. We will be a scrape through the season team.

 

[hockeycoach]

I can see all the Debbie Downers and Buzz Killions are here but let's not go overboard.
Hockey is a game AND a business, and if you think throwing multi tens of millions at players buys a winning team doesn't always pan out.
The Rangers have tried it in the past and it didn't always work out.
Spezz wanted out, Alfie wanted out, while I regret losing Alfie, it's not the end of the world.

I agree Melnyk is tight, but I'm still a Sens fan and hope 'doing more with less' will work out, and maybe Eugene will see it as a spark and throw more gas on the fire.

 

[Busboy]

"We've always wanted to shift to the hard-working competitive team we had two years ago... We're going to try to get back on track." - Bryan Murray

I hope this is what happens. #bringpeskyback

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Like everyone has said, the issue isn't that people aren't committed to winning. It's just we are not willing to spend the money to get there.

Obviously spending to the cap doesn't mean winning, but you need to spend money wisely to get there (but not be cheap). The Sens (owner) are being cheap. And people's hands are tied. I think the sens could make a splash if they were willing to shell out a little money here and there. I am not saying make stupid UFA signings (a la Clarkson), but make smart decisions adding players you need, and spending money where you need it. (I'm not even saying we need to spend to the cap)

Until the ownership is willing to do that, I think we could squeak into the playoffs, but we will not be a winning team. We will be a scrape through the season team.

It would help immensely if the public had a clear view of the real finances of the team and with Uncle Eugene. As it stands right now, we have no idea if the team/arena/capitalwhatever tickets, etc are in the black or red, and we have no idea if Melynk is really losing his fortune at such a fantastic rate.

Are Murray, management and the players doing the most they can to win under a severe lack of financial resources? My head says yes.

Is Melynk being squirrly with the monies? My gut says yes.....but there's just no way to know.

 

[BankStreetParade]

You guys are losing your minds, but just remember we still have an Erik Karlsson on our team. He's a gamechanger.

 

[Here I Pageau Again]

It would help immensely if the public had a clear view of the real finances of the team and with Uncle Eugene. As it stands right now, we have no idea if the team/arena/capitalwhatever tickets, etc are in the black or red, and we have no idea if Melynk is really losing his fortune at such a fantastic rate.

Are Murray, management and the players doing the most they can to win under a severe lack of financial resources? My head says yes.

Is Melynk being squirrly with the monies? My gut says yes.....but there's just no way to know.

Honestly, I don't know how you cannot assume that it comes from Melnyk.

Obviously there isn't official "proof". But why would Murray be stingy with money? It really makes no sense. Especially for a team who's made money (I'll try to find the article). If they don't start to spend some money, they will eventually start to lose money again. Ottawa isn't the place that will stick by a team that is not trying to be better.

Again, like you said, you cannot "prove" it. But I don't get how a manager would want to hold back funds that are not directly effecting him. Management I would assume would still want to win. While, ownership is more concerned with finances. Someone is unwilling to spend, which is trickling down and effecting the team dynamics and not giving the team the tools they need to win.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Honestly, I don't know how you cannot assume that it comes from Melnyk.

Obviously there isn't official "proof". But why would Murray be stingy with money? It really makes no sense. Especially for a team who's made money (I'll try to find the article). If they don't start to spend some money, they will eventually start to lose money again. Ottawa isn't the place that will stick by a team that is not trying to be better.

Again, like you said, you cannot "prove" it. But I don't get how a manager would want to hold back funds that are not directly effecting him. Management I would assume would still want to win. While, ownership is more concerned with finances. Someone is unwilling to spend, which is trickling down and effecting the team dynamics and not giving the team the tools they need to win.

Assume is the key word here. I'm pretty sure most of the people on this thread (myself included) believe it's Melynk gripping the pennies tight.

It's just...I really, really, realllllly want to know if it's just cheapness on Melynk's part (whether it's playing hardball to force a casino, screwing up the restructuring and screwing over the team, pulling too much money out of the team, whatever), or if he really has no choice.

 

[LynxBud]

Our franchise players are leaving for a chance to "WIN", enough said.

I'm done supporting this team in any way financially and don't even know if I'll bother tuning in to watch games. Not worth the frustration.

Melnyk can go eat ****. Who would've thought one piece of **** dirtbag like himself could kill my passion for the Sens.. sucks.

 

[LynxBud]

You guys are losing your minds, but just remember we still have an Erik Karlsson on our team. He's a gamechanger.

You think a player like Karlsson will want to stick around? Watching guys like Alfie and Spezza leaving so they at least have a CHANCE to win the cup?
Hard to be optimistic about having a generational talent on your team when we have an idiot like Melnyk as the owner.