Silver Seven Weekly Question: Was this a Productive Year for the Senators?

[AchtzehnBaby]

“If you’re reading this then you’re likely at least as invested in this team as I am and probably moreso. You’ve committed beyond the point where any one player, coach, or manager can make or break your fandom.

You’ve stood by your team through as many hard times as any one sports fan can be asked to by the organization they support unconditionally. And I want to ask you, in your opinion as a loyal fan, were the last twelve months productive for the Ottawa Senators?”


Weekly Question: Was this a Productive Year for the Senators?

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[HSF]

Easiest part of the rebuild is over for dorion

Now comes the hard part and expectations

 

[Sens72]

The 2019 draft was one to forget for Pierre Dorion and his staff.

This feels like a little bit of an overreaction, no? Sure it wasn’t a home run of a draft but Thomson was far from a bad pick, Pinto has had a good year with UND and had a great WJC. The Kastelic pick was questionable but he still has bottom 6 upside. Søgaard is a goalie so it’s impossible to say what will happen to him yet, he’s 4-5 years away from possibly being on an NHL roster. Nonetheless he’s still seen as one of the better drafted goalie prospects. I can agree on Lodin being a bad pick but then Guenette was a steal in the 7th round. It was talked about before that he might get a chance to play for Team Canada next year at the WJC. Either way it’s way too early to write off last years draft, some player’s season haven’t even finished yet.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Easiest part of the rebuild is over for dorion

Now comes the hard part and expectations

I think there definitely will be some big trades next year - prospects for vets that won’t sit well with everyone.

Overall, it has been a good year in my opinion. We definitely are heading in the right direction. It will be even better in July regardless of what happens with our lottery.

I thought we would keep Pageau. Sad we lost him. The bounty of picks makes it easier to get over though.

If they continue to keep Melnyk out of the news and keep things in this same direction next year, it would be a good year but another hard year of playing under .500

They will have to start committing some big names to long term contracts as well. That will be the gauge to see how real FYOUS is.

 

[HSF]

I think there definitely will be some big trades next year - prospects for vets that won’t sit well with everyone.

Overall, it has been a good year in my opinion. We definitely are heading in the right direction. It will be even better in July regardless of what happens with our lottery.

I thought we would keep Pageau. Sad we lost him. The bounty of picks makes it easier to get over though.

If they continue to keep Melnyk out of the news and keep things in this same direction next year, it would be a good year but another hard year of playing under .500

They will have to start committing some big names to long term contracts as well. That will be the gauge to see how real FYOUS is.

The problem is we don't know where our pick is. We could potentially end up with picks 8-9 that imo would be a failure of a season

There are a lot of unknowns still in that respect. Additionally the huge red flag is if Melnyk will spend. If a good player becomes avaliable and all we have to do is give a 2nd rounder to obtain them do we do it? Can we afford it?

So far this year has been good but again it's the easiest part of the rebuild. Trade away good players and just be a bad team

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

The problem is we don't know where our pick is. We could potentially end up with picks 8-9 that imo would be a failure of a season

There are a lot of unknowns still in that respect. Additionally the huge red flag is if Melnyk will spend. If a good player becomes avaliable and all we have to do is give a 2nd rounder to obtain them do we do it? Can we afford it?

So far this year has been good but again it's the easiest part of the rebuild. Trade away good players and just be a bad team

It would be a travesty if we get 8-9, but that is highly doubtful. It is however very possible we don’t get Lafreniere.

As I eluded to in my post, and as you also stated, if Melnyk doesn’t spend, it is all over.

 

[HSF]

Ot would be a travesty if we get 8-9, but that is highly doubtful. It is however very possible we don’t get Lafreniere.

As I eluded to in my post, and as you also stated, if Melnyk doesn’t spend, it is all over.

It's not highly doubtful though as we have a high chance at either pick dropping and the standings are still fairly close

A mini win streak launched NJ and Anaheim up and the opposite is true

Agreed about Melnyk

 

[supsens]

This feels like a little bit of an overreaction, no? Sure it wasn’t a home run of a draft but Thomson was far from a bad pick, Pinto has had a good year with UND and had a great WJC. The Kastelic pick was questionable but he still has bottom 6 upside. Søgaard is a goalie so it’s impossible to say what will happen to him yet, he’s 4-5 years away from possibly being on an NHL roster. Nonetheless he’s still seen as one of the better drafted goalie prospects. I can agree on Lodin being a bad pick but then Guenette was a steal in the 7th round. It was talked about before that he might get a chance to play for Team Canada next year at the WJC. Either way it’s way too early to write off last years draft, some player’s season haven’t even finished yet.

It’s just more negative crap where people are trying to keep up the tradition of appealing to a certain group who want nothing more than to confirm and justify why they do nothing but pout.

 

[JD1]

Maybe it's my natural disposition but i find the critique side of that article to be full of crap.

Uniforms. Geezus. This isn't a Paris fashion runway and if it was, i still wouldn't give a shit. It's a tired old complaint. Some guys here get on me when i say this but i play a ton of hockey and I've never spoken to a hockey player over post game beers that has complained about uniforms. Never. In fact i would say no one i know would make uniforms their issue over post game beers, they'd be laughed right out of the room

In game experience. If that's a complaint it's a league wide complaint that doesn't seem to be making headlines and impacting attendance around the league

Are we a better team? Unequivocally yes imo. We're likely to out produce the last two years being driven far more by future players than past. Last year our success was driven by Stone and Duchene. People were predicting historically bad this year. Seems we are tracking better than last year.

DJ Smith. He was voted most likely to be successful by the players prior to getting an HC gig. Seems a lot of guys genuinely like playing for him.

2019 draft. Our top 2 picks are progressing well. Them becoming NHLers makes the draft a homerun regardless of what the other players do

Blah blah blah. Same old tired criticisms.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

will be more productive if we can somehow finish 2 and 3

 

[WaitingInVain]

If the Sens end up with a top 2 pick, they'll have done well. They gave themselves two swings at it too.

That top tier is three players, and if they end up with two picks of that group, they're laughing. Even the tail end of the top 10 through the mid-teens should be great.

 

[TkachukNorris79]

2019 draft was meh.

Lassi: was still a reach IMO at 19 but still a good propsect, and will really only need to be a #4D who's a PP triggerman (that shot tho) with Chabot, Brannstrom and JBD likely getting more minutes.

Pinto: I was so against him at 32, and I'd still take Kaliyev and Brink ahead of him (also we have crazy prospect depth at C but not at RW), but he's still a really good prospect who is breaking out at ND and killed the WJC. Seems like a big-game kinda player, so not mad at all. One more year in NCAA and he'll probably have a year in Belleville before coming up. Should be a really solid middle 6 C.

Sogaard: Definitely not the year I expected from him, but it's so tough with goalies. It's WAY too early to even judge that.

Lodin: Bad pick. Easy as that. But at least they took a swing for the fences. Struckout here.

Kastelic: Very solid pick at the spot, could be a long-term 4C option as soon as 2021 as he's 20.

Guenette: Steal for the 7th round. By no means can we say he'll make the NHL, but his odds are looking higher than most 7th rounders usually are.

It was a decent draft, but considering we had to replace our 4th overall with 19th, it wasn't too bad. Although they didn't mean anything, the 100 points Duchene got us probably makes up the difference between Byram and Thomson.

The problem is we don't know where our pick is. We could potentially end up with picks 8-9 that imo would be a failure of a season

Ottawa won't finish anything better than bottom 3, meaning 6th will be the worst.
SJ would have to finish 6th for us to pick 9, and that would mean not of the top 6 won a lottery pick, which is extremely unlikely.

I'd be absolutely shocked if either of the picks are outside the top 7. Both teams are real bad right now.

We really need a lottery pick, but either way, we're coming out of this draft with at least 2 top-line players.

And unless we take Drysdale (wouldn't oppose) We're getting 2 of the top 6 forwards in one of the best drafts ever. Get excited folks.

 

[bert]

I think there definitely will be some big trades next year - prospects for vets that won’t sit well with everyone.

Overall, it has been a good year in my opinion. We definitely are heading in the right direction. It will be even better in July regardless of what happens with our lottery.

I thought we would keep Pageau. Sad we lost him. The bounty of picks makes it easier to get over though.

If they continue to keep Melnyk out of the news and keep things in this same direction next year, it would be a good year but another hard year of playing under .500

They will have to start committing some big names to long term contracts as well. That will be the gauge to see how real FYOUS is.

Based on pd's trading history and where the team is i really hope he stays the course. The time for big trades is next year before expansion when players can be had for cheap. Next year is absolutely not the time to do that. Maybe at the draft when picks are more valuable but not too many other times should big trades be made.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

The easy work has been done in this rebuild. The true test is going to happen over the next 2 years to see how this team is shaped and who is shaping it.

 

[Dingle]

neutral year.

No one foresaw the dumpster fires that Detroit, LA (both) and NJ would be. Take a good look at the league. You have the top 16 teams and the bottom 15, with very little in between. And because the league is so laden with poor teams, even "top" teams can be more pretenders than contenders..HELLO VANCOUVER..Hello all 3 Canada west teams. This team is heading for a 72-75 point season. At a quick glance, 8-11 points better then last year. Given, the bottom feeders, there is little to suggest any kind of real over achieving.

No one player on the NHL roster is having a better season than last year. ..Less one, they traded him to NY. One key guy is having a real bad one (Hello White). Chabot, Tkachuk and the goalies are holding steady. The mid rank solders are a mix bag.

as for minor league players, a mix bag. Team success and individual success down there, but that has not translated to in NHL
Draftees in the system..again, a mix bag. Lassie Thompson has slowed in the W. Other kids are playing okay, but nothing earth shattering.

with a draft lottery system that is so wide open, the top 2 picks could be anywhere from 1-2, to 10-12...if the former, hurrah, if the latter, ouch. The JGP pick could, thanks to the weak league, be as low as 25 (assuming that NYI does not implode). If it does implode and it ends up a 15-20 pick..hurrah.

The arrow neither points up, nor down. Neutral year.

 

[JD1]

The time for big trades is next year before expansion when players can be had for cheap. Next year is absolutely not the time to do that.

Ok Bert....those two sentences back to back leave me a little confused

What are you trying to say

 

[Zorf]

I think the season has been productive from a coaching standpoint and (hopefully) a team identity standpoint.

The fact that there are no indications at all that DJ Smith has lost the room, despite losing so many games, is promising to me. This team, with their painfully obvious lack of skill find ways to at least be competitive in most games, and that's though pure effort.

Bring in some more skilled guys, and have them follow the Brady Tkachuk model of effort, and this team could be on the cusp of something special.

Now, that something special requires that a crap ton of player moves and development go correctly, but the foundation from the coaching staff of demanding effort is there, and is hopefully there to stay.


So, TL;DR: If the coaches can keep the players going on this effort level in all games, then I think this season is almost a success.

 

[dumbdick]

Feels better than last time when we got zib noesen and puempel. We've got better picks this time around, but who knows how this will shake out.

 

[bert]

Ok Bert....those two sentences back to back leave me a little confused

What are you trying to say

After the season before the expansion draft....

 

[Upgrayedd]

I would consider it a success if we end up bottom 3, ideally 2 because obviously nobody is passing Detroit, it appears to be on it's way to being successful, I fully expect a screw job via the lottery but all the team could do was assure it had a strong lottery ticket which will hopefully be accomplished down the stretch here!

 

[Answer]

Hard to say if it was a Productive year.

None of Brannstorm or Wolanin(well because of injury) broke out like Chabot did. Also, Jaros and Lajoie, both failed to show that they belong in NHL.

At least one of Batherson, L.Brown, Balcers or even Formenton, should be in running for Calder, like Hoffman and Stone were in their days.

Lets just hope we draft something crazy with our 1st and SJ's pick. Then I can call it a productive season.

 

[Samboni]

Despite the losing record, the Sens have been competitive. Surprisingly there have been few blow-outs and had they did better in OT, there record would be better. Looking forward to the draft and the rebuild.

 

[thinkwild]

Well last year i feel like we hit rock bottom. And prospects for this year looked bleak. But we have played much better than i thought. We are seeing a stable of prospects starting to take place. Prospect development is encouraging. And we arent quite at rock bottom. So baby steps, yeah, its been a little more productive than another year of trolling at rock bottom with little hope that i was expecting. And of course depending on the draft it may come to appear even more productive. I dont think anyone could have reasonably expected much more of a productive year

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

I believe very productive. We are 3rd last but have a lot of overtime games. We were close in a lot of games. Almost 95% of all games were entertaining/we were in them. Few times we were blown out or showed bad effort.

It would be even more productive if we land a top 2/3 pick and make a serious move this off-season for help offensively and/or defensively.

 

[Imnotagoodposter]

Feels better than last time when we got zib noesen and puempel. We've got better picks this time around, but who knows how this will shake out.

It’s hard to imagine we’ll do that badly with these picks again.
Maybe we’ll get Zib, Noesen and another Noesen instead :^)