Senators – Looking to the Future – Tank or Build?

[UltimateHKY]

Perhaps rather than “bringing on the tank,†the Senators should look towards developing current assets and really giving all opportunities to make next year a solid success. Let the younger players take on bigger roles. The team might not be capable of making the playoffs, due to stronger competition around them. At this point, they cannot compete and expect to come out on top every time. But it could be worthwhile to put these young players in situations where they are forced to work hard and come through in the face of stronger opponents. Even if they don’t make it all the way or succeed every time, they’ll have had a taste of what it’s like to work against the best in the league, and know what they need to do to win in the future. They’ll have had a chance to work together, not only building chemistry, but building a culture of community.

Article here: http://ultimatehockeynetwork.com/uhn-│-senators-looking-to-the-future-tank-or-build/

Where do the Sens go from here?
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[operasen]

Good Article.

I think the Sens have started by doing a "growth" year this season. They have added Borowiecki, Lazar, Hoffman and Stone to the roster. Lazar may do some AHL time next year to find his scoring touch, or he may be given more time up here (I hope anyway).

These get added to Lehner, Ceci, Wiercioch from last year, and I suppose we add Zibanejad and Cowen, as well.

Next year I see Pageau full time and one of Prince or Puempel, plus one of the D prospects (Claesson, Wideman, Englund, Wikstrand).

I think some of Wiercioch, Phillips, Smith and Neil are gone to clear space and of course any trade will alter the roster as well.

Bottom line is that the above players are being given a real chance to learn "on the job" and when added to the core group of Karlsson, Methot, Anderson, Turris, Ryan, MacArthur, makes this one of the youngest yet fastest growing groups in the league.

I think the future quite strong if Murray can stay the course and resist the temptation to trade off any of the developing future stars for an instant fix. Stay the course.

A No1 centre (Zibanejad??) and a No3 D (UFA) within the next two years will solidify the team into a contender.

 

[NyQuil]

Good Article.

I think the Sens have started by doing a "growth" year this season. They have added Borowiecki, Lazar, Hoffman and Stone to the roster. Lazar may do some AHL time next year to find his scoring touch, or he may be given more time up here (I hope anyway).

These get added to Lehner, Ceci, Wiercioch from last year, and I suppose we add Zibanejad and Cowen, as well.

Next year I see Pageau full time and one of Prince or Puempel, plus one of the D prospects (Claesson, Wideman, Englund, Wikstrand).

I think some of Wiercioch, Phillips, Smith and Neil are gone to clear space and of course any trade will alter the roster as well.

Bottom line is that the above players are being given a real chance to learn "on the job" and when added to the core group of Karlsson, Methot, Anderson, Turris, Ryan, MacArthur, makes this one of the youngest yet fastest growing groups in the league.

I think the future quite strong if Murray can stay the course and resist the temptation to trade off any of the developing future stars for an instant fix. Stay the course.

A No1 centre (Zibanejad??) and a No3 D (UFA) within the next two years will solidify the team into a contender.

What's interesting about the current situation is that the Senators have the opportunity to both tank and build at the same time, so I agree with the article's author.

I'd try to work in as many prospects into the line-up as possible over the last couple of months of the season.

If we win, great, if we don't, our younger players get valuable NHL experience and maybe our pick is a good one.

I'd argue that the best way to accomplish this strategy is to dump a few vets at the deadline (e.g. Condra, Wiercioch/Gryba, Michalek etc.) if possible.

Ideally, we would have seen Neil and Phillips out the door IMO, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

I feel we can tank but still develop. We'll get that high draft pick even though the sens have shown they can outplay teams and go toe to toe with giants under cameron. We'll gladly take that top ten draft pick but i dont think the sens draft position will be a great indicator of where the team is at. I've watched this team steamroll pittsburgh and carolina twice in recent days but all three of those games were losses. Once the sens get Anderson back and they start capitalizing on the chances they are creating a low playoff seed will be in reach....likely next year

 

[chipsens]

IMO we need to tank a bit more...realizing we will never fall fall enuf to grab McDavid or Eichel. Still, we need to fall into 6th worst in order to grab either Marner or Zacha as elite Cs. Otherwise we risk missing the boat...like getting to draft Bryan Marchment as the next pick after Joe Sakic is taken. My nightmare: Marner on the Leafs.

 

[tony d]

I think we should tank as well next year and then be a good team for 2016-2017.

 

[NyQuil]

IMO we need to tank a bit more...

I think it's really up to Craig Anderson at this point.

 

[maclean]

I think we should tank as well next year and then be a good team for 2016-2017.

Ugh, no. The thick and deep 2015 draft can counterbalance finishing low this year. Next year's the year to get these rooks some playoff experience

 

[Boud]

I don't know about tanking to be honest. We alredy have a good base of young players that we can rely on. Zibanejad, Cowen, Ceci, Karlsson, Turris, Ryan, Stone , Hoffman, Prince, Pageau, Claesson, Borowiecki, Chiasson, Lazar

These are are players under 25 (except Ryan) that will be part of this team for years to come. I think we maybe got into ourselves a little bit since we acquired players like Ryan,MacCarthur and Legwand to compete now while we are still a building team, overall I feel like we're on par with what was expected or atleast what I expected. The most important thing I see is that the young guys are getting chances now and they are looking good. Amongst players who have started to show more maturity and have developed ino their role, we have Hoffman, Stone, Pageau, Zibanejad who's quietly having his best season, Ceci at 21 already looks like a top 4 defensemen, and finally a guy like Cowen who's been night and day compare to last season. We could sure use a couple more pieces to complete the puzzle. Utlimately we'd need another top forward and defensmen, which we will likely get into this years draft. It's so easy to forget that Zibanejad is only 21 years old, but if a player at such a young age can have 20 goals and 40 points you have to imagine that he'll get better and better and I believe Zibby will be a top line forward in the years to come.

Overall, I don't see ''tanking'' a being a beneficial thing to do for Ottawa. We are a very young team and we need to have a team that can let the young guys develop in a ''healthy'' way. Our young players are already good and will get better, I don't even think tanking is a possibility now. Like I said before, we'll get some good young players this year with 3 picks in the first 2 rounds and that will help our prospect pool. There's still guys like Paul, Puempel, Englund, and even Lindberg that will also be part of this team in the year to come. Future looks good for Ottawa, should look bright in a couple years.

 

[Flamingo]

I think the team is on the perfect course right now... letting the prospects play & develop on a team that's competitive game-to-game (they have the puck enough of the time) while shaping up for a good draft pick.

What would tanking entail? You can't overtly throw games. And not trying to win is terrible development for the prospects that are playing on the team right now. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Lead Zibanejad, Stone, etc. to successful NHL careers, that's worth much more than a hyped-up 18-year-old prospect.

What Nyquil said.