Sens
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- Jan 7, 2016
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The Sens should identify their 7-3-1 and spend the next two seasons either building that up or trading all pieces that don’t meet that protection or are expansion except away for picks
Ottawa doesnt have the french media to deal with for one....You know, a bit of me feels depressed to see Montreal try and fail at the offer sheet route, especially with Point allegedly turning down their offer. If a super wealthy team like Montreal who are in a world class city can't attract free agents with supposedly inflated contract offers then what hope in hell do we have of ever getting anyone of note to sign here?
Melnyk will not own this team forever. There will come a day where we have a newer, wealthier owner. And yet the sad reality is it probably won't change much except for our capacity to sign our own players.
You know, a bit of me feels depressed to see Montreal try and fail at the offer sheet route, especially with Point allegedly turning down their offer. If a super wealthy team like Montreal who are in a world class city can't attract free agents with supposedly inflated contract offers then what hope in hell do we have of ever getting anyone of note to sign here?
Melnyk will not own this team forever. There will come a day where we have a newer, wealthier owner. And yet the sad reality is it probably won't change much except for our capacity to sign our own players.
You know, a bit of me feels depressed to see Montreal try and fail at the offer sheet route, especially with Point allegedly turning down their offer. If a super wealthy team like Montreal who are in a world class city can't attract free agents with supposedly inflated contract offers then what hope in hell do we have of ever getting anyone of note to sign here?
Melnyk will not own this team forever. There will come a day where we have a newer, wealthier owner. And yet the sad reality is it probably won't change much except for our capacity to sign our own players.
Could start by signing Chabot and WhiteThe Sens should identify their 7-3-1 and spend the next two seasons either building that up or trading all pieces that don’t meet that protection or are expansion except away for picks
Little but disapointed the Sens couldn't top the Sabres on their Johansson offer. Not sure it would have mattered to him, but personally I would have been comfortable with him for 5.5/6 million on that term.
I guess it wasn't in the cards with Boedkker clogging up a roster spot (and $3 million in salary), but he'd probably be the teams best forward this season. Could have been a good vet for this season and we'd be looking at getting at least a 2nd back next year.
Not always as simple as this, but Boedkker + Smith out and Johansson + Ennis in makes us a much better team (at roughly the same hit)
You know, a bit of me feels depressed to see Montreal try and fail at the offer sheet route, especially with Point allegedly turning down their offer. If a super wealthy team like Montreal who are in a world class city can't attract free agents with supposedly inflated contract offers then what hope in hell do we have of ever getting anyone of note to sign here?
Melnyk will not own this team forever. There will come a day where we have a newer, wealthier owner. And yet the sad reality is it probably won't change much except for our capacity to sign our own players.
"Except our capacity to sign our own players"
Wow... I don't think you understand that this is the most important factor league-wide. If you're able to sign your own players when you need to, it ensures the long term success of your franchise since you retain the asset and can trade the player if ever you need to make cap space. Free agent signings are rarely ever worth it unless we're talking about elite players like Tavares, for example. 90% of the time, players that make it to free agency are players that will get overpaid and teams decide to let them go. Look at the Lucic, Ladd, Eriksson, Backes, Sekera, Clarkson, and the list goee on forever of mistakes made on July 1rst. It's a very well known fact across the league that deals given on July 1rst or in free agency often turn terrible. As a Sens fan, this is something I have accepted a very long time ago, we do not attract guys through FA and that is a GOOD THING. One thing to consider is also that winning attracts free agents. Players want to win the cup, that's the main goal of moat hockey players. If the Sens win and become one of the best teams in the league they will be able to attract players. Not all of them, but some at least.
Our drafting is good enough that we can acquire signed players through trade if we need to, and our drafting is good enough that if we were able to retain our own players we'd be a very very good team. Melnyk is a cancer to the NHL, he is a cancer to the city of Ottawa, he is a cancer to the Ottawa Senators.
As for offer sheets, it has nothing to do with Montreal. In fact it's extremely surprising that Aho even signed the offer sheet to begin with, IMO that's a win for Montreal. Players do not sign offer sheets 99% of the time unless contract negotiations with their own team are going very poorly. The NHL is a league of principle and respect. Typically players do not want to throw under the bus their team/teammates, and the organization that spent years and years helping them reach the NHL and helped them become the players that they are today. It's the main reason why NHL players do not sign offer sheets to begin with, it's not surprising at all that Point does not want to sign an offer sheet and that's not only with Montreal, that's with the entire league. Point is playing on the best team in the league in one of the most attractive destinations for players, why would he leave that? Tampa is a lot more attractive than Montreal, and again were talking about a player being loyal to the team that spent countless hours and money helping them becoming who they are today. Tampa has one of the best management group in the league as well, they'll retain Point as they should. The NHL created the RFA period in order to help smaller markets keep the players that they drafted and developed until they are 27, the fact that Montreal is failing at the offer sheet game is actually a great indicator that the goal of the NHL of helping markets like Ottawa is clearly working. Teams are able to retain their RFAs. Montreal didn't offer enough for Aho either, it was clear that Carolina would match that offer. Like Waddell said, very surprising they didn't offer more than that, had they made a legitimate offer they could've made Carolina think twice but it wasn't close.
The problem in Ottawa is not that we cant attract UFAs, it never was, it's that we can't retain our own talent. See Chara, Hossa, Alfredsson, Karlsson, Stone, Duchene/Zibanejad, Dzingel. That list contains arguably the 5 best players to ever put the Sens logo on. All of them but 1(Chara) were traded or let go because of money. No succesful team has ever been built with UFAs in the salary cap era because teams in the league retain their best players. Ottawa being the exception here.
A small market team like Ottawa needs the following things:
1- Spend smart (No high profile UFAs)
2- Great drafting
3- Retain elite players you drafted
Also, don't pretend that winning and having really good talent on the roster would be enough for Ottawa to attract free agents. When Ottawa was winning President's Trophies and had the likes of Spezza, Heatley and Alfredsson I didn't see a queue of high end free agents wanting to come play here. When there was a huge hole on the pairing with Karlsson, I didn't see defensemen lining up to come to Ottawa to play with a Norris trophy winning defenseman who averaged a point per game.
I get how UFAs or guys on expiring contracts want to go out and get top dollar and take these owners to the cleaners, they’ve earned it.
If I’m a guy like Colin White id really want to lock up a sizeable contract and set my self up for life right now. He could sign a 1 year deal for 2 million but what if something happens, an injury or something and it doesn’t work out for him. 2 million is a lot and all but after taxes it doesn’t totally set you up for life. Lock up 20 million and you’re insanely rich. That’s what I’d be looking to do but who knows how these guys see things.
We signed Hasek, arguably the greatest goalie of all time....
When he was 40...
28-10-4, 2.09, .925%When he was 40...
Signed as a 36 year old and were the only team willing to give him a third year on his contract. The 2 names mentioned so far as great free agent signings were both end-of-their-career type guys who we had to overpay (Gonchar) or had no other options (Hasek).The team signed Gonchar who was coming off a 62-11-49-50 season to help mentor EK ... but that was when the team was not broke
6 million a year? Really? For Colin White?I would sign Colin White to 6x8 right now and lock his ass up if he was willing!
7 3 and one i would imagine.So are we doing 4+4+1 or 7+3+1
I would sign Colin White to 6x8 right now and lock his ass up if he was willing!