OT: What Really Saddens Me about the Karlsson Trade

[MtRundle]

I've been a Senators fan for 21 years. I moved to Ontario in 1997 from Winnipeg, the Jets were gone and there was this team of young talented skaters, with a good coach, and competent management. I was hooked watching a young Alfie, Hossa, and then Havlat rip up the league. They started as scrappy underdogs, came into their own as one of the best teams in the East, and 10 years later went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. They had speed, skill, got tougher as they grew, and for a stretch you knew they had a chance every year to do something great.

Yes there was heartbreak; losses to the dreaded TML in the battle of Ontario, the Sabres in 2006 when we were supposed to go all the way that year, and probably the most devastating loss as a fan when I was 18 when Friesen scored with minutes remaining in game 7. Watching us come so close and come up short was truly tough to stomach, but as a teen and young adult it was great to be a Senators Fan.

I'm older now, not as invested in cheering for a hockey team- life gets in the way, and I no longer invest the long hours I did as a younger fan. I'm not upset myself at what our joke of an owner does, and go by the rule to expect the worst whenever Eugene sticks his finger in the pie. I'm jaded and have enough grey in my beard to have earned the right to be.

Who I am upset for, what does get my blood boiling, is imagining what the fans age 5-15 must be going through right now. The young fan who desperately wanted to cheer for an exciting team and had a quick glimpse of what the beautiful game is for a few short weeks in 2017. A large proportion of young fans who bleed red white and black have only known what a team owned by Melnyk is like. They only truth they know is that good players leave too early, that true character guys are pushed out by lesser men, and that a winning team like in 2017 is fleeting and not the norm. That a generation of young hockey fans is becoming jaded through the actions of mismanagement, ineptitude, and straight up malice by the Senators ownership.

I'd love to tell a young sens fan to stick with it, it gets better in time, and soon the Senators will be back to their winning ways- but I have a sneaking suspicion that they wouldn''t believe me.

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[Agent Zub]

Crazy how they are trying to paint Karlsson as a villain.

Alfredsson and Karlsson were amazing role models.

Melnyk on the other hand is scum, and his cronies Dorion, Boro and Randy Lee are scum.

 

[MtRundle]

Crazy how they are trying to paint Karlsson as a villain.

Alfredsson and Karlsson were amazing role models.

Melnyk is scum, and his cronies Dorion, Boro and Randy Lee are scum.

True leadership starts at the top. It's funny that Dorion throws character and leadership around and forgot (or never learnt) that you gotta walk the walk before you can talk the talk.

 

[BoardsofCanada]

Melnyk offered Karlsson 88M to stay and he said no. Karlsson dumped us. But Melnyk is scum and Karlsson is a beautiful role model. I don't fully understand the hate for our management. I do understand some of it but why is there no blame towards the players?

Stone and Duchene are doing the same thing. They are dumping us. I understand that they don't want to play for a crap team but is there no loyalty? Personally, I am a bit pissed off at our big players for ditching us.

 

[Micklebot]

Melnyk offered Karlsson 88M to stay and he said no. Karlsson dumped us. But Melnyk is scum and Karlsson is a beautiful role model. I don't fully understand the hate for our management. I do understand some of it but why is there no blame towards the players?

Stone and Duchene are doing the same thing. They are dumping us. I understand that they don't want to play for a crap team but is there no loyalty? Personally, I am a bit pissed off at our big players for ditching us.

Do you think there may be a reason why our big players, in your words, keep ditching us? If it keeps happening, maybe there's some underlying reason.

 

[BondraTime]

Melnyk offered Karlsson 88M to stay and he said no. Karlsson dumped us. But Melnyk is scum and Karlsson is a beautiful role model. I don't fully understand the hate for our management. I do understand some of it but why is there no blame towards the players?

Stone and Duchene are doing the same thing. They are dumping us. I understand that they don't want to play for a crap team but is there no loyalty? Personally, I am a bit pissed off at our big players for ditching us.

I mean, you are answering your own question.

- Terrible team
- Terrible owner
- Terrible management
- Smaller payroll
- Ability to go where they want, for big money.

Seems pretty simple, and obvious to me. They are leaving because this place is a tire fire.

 

[DrEasy]

I got hooked on the Sens at about the same time as you MtRundle, and so I have a similar experience. The Sens had a knack of defying odds and exceeding expectations (except in the playoffs). Loved the Jacques Martin years, even despite the playoff heartbreaks. We had such an exciting and skilled team! My excitement level for the Sens has kept going down through the years, no doubt due to age/responsibilities, but also due to changes in philosophy ("intangibles" over skill, local over international), and due to some of my favorite players being traded for low return or gone unceremoniously. I wasn't as excited about our recent playoff run as I was in past years, probably for the reasons I mentioned but possibly others that I haven't quite figured out myself. I wonder if others felt the same, since we weren't able to sell out some of our home playoff games.

 

[Ray Kinsella]

Melnyk offered Karlsson 88M to stay and he said no. Karlsson dumped us. But Melnyk is scum and Karlsson is a beautiful role model. I don't fully understand the hate for our management. I do understand some of it but why is there no blame towards the players?

Stone and Duchene are doing the same thing. They are dumping us. I understand that they don't want to play for a crap team but is there no loyalty? Personally, I am a bit pissed off at our big players for ditching us.

Nothing on the Karlsson offer was ever 100% confirmed. There was one report that talked about a rumour of 10 x 8. We also don't know why the Karlsson camp didn't sign. It could be a multitude of reasons. One thing does seem clear however, Karlsson wanted to stay. So... there's something to be said about that and what the offer actually was.

As for Stone and Duchene, those are also only hearsay that they're not staying, albeit I wouldn't blame them if they didn't. As for loyalty, I don't see why there should be more loyalty on the players' side than on management's. It's a business for both parties.

 

[Sensung]

Do you think there may be a reason why our big players, in your words, keep ditching us? If it keeps happening, maybe there's some underlying reason.

Nah, must be the selfish players who don't want to take a hometown discount to play for the worst owner in the league.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

 

[coladin]

Kids are resilient. They will survive.

 

[coastalview]

Melnyk offered Karlsson 88M to stay and he said no. Karlsson dumped us. But Melnyk is scum and Karlsson is a beautiful role model. I don't fully understand the hate for our management. I do understand some of it but why is there no blame towards the players?

Stone and Duchene are doing the same thing. They are dumping us. I understand that they don't want to play for a crap team but is there no loyalty? Personally, I am a bit pissed off at our big players for ditching us.

well your rendition of facts does not really jive with what dorian said does it ?
so something is clearly wrong here

dorion talked about the decision to rebuild being made in february and karlsson being moved a key building block as his trade would have assisted that decision
so it does seem more likely that karlsson was not offered that contract to stay
but rather he was offered that contract so he could be traded with it
and avoid the disaster that just happened

but why would karlsson give up his ufa freedom to move to any team he wished.. just because he was offered a contract that would give melynk that right instead
why would he accept that sort of contract

if i am mistaken please explain what dorian said and meant
cuz sens management speak is way to elusive to me
i try to accept their words at face value

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Melnyk is a special kind of coward. Sends and pays yes-men to take the fall and has his own players answer for his stupidity in the media, all while he runs off to Toronto radio and avoids the local media like a plague.

 

[JD1]

I've been a Senators fan for 21 years. I moved to Ontario in 1997 from Winnipeg, the Jets were gone and there was this team of young talented skaters, with a good coach, and competent management. I was hooked watching a young Alfie, Hossa, and then Havlat rip up the league. They started as scrappy underdogs, came into their own as one of the best teams in the East, and 10 years later went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. They had speed, skill, got tougher as they grew, and for a stretch you knew they had a chance every year to do something great.

Yes there was heartbreak; losses to the dreaded TML in the battle of Ontario, the Sabres in 2006 when we were supposed to go all the way that year, and probably the most devastating loss as a fan when I was 18 when Friesen scored with minutes remaining in game 7. Watching us come so close and come up short was truly tough to stomach, but as a teen and young adult it was great to be a Senators Fan.

I'm older now, not as invested in cheering for a hockey team- life gets in the way, and I no longer invest the long hours I did as a younger fan. I'm not upset myself at what our joke of an owner does, and go by the rule to expect the worst whenever Eugene sticks his finger in the pie. I'm jaded and have enough grey in my beard to have earned the right to be.

Who I am upset for, what does get my blood boiling, is imagining what the fans age 5-15 must be going through right now. The young fan who desperately wanted to cheer for an exciting team and had a quick glimpse of what the beautiful game is for a few short weeks in 2017. A large proportion of young fans who bleed red white and black have only known what a team owned by Melnyk is like. They only truth they know is that good players leave too early, that true character guys are pushed out by lesser men, and that a winning team like in 2017 is fleeting and not the norm. That a generation of young hockey fans is becoming jaded through the actions of mismanagement, ineptitude, and straight up malice by the Senators ownership.

I'd love to tell a young sens fan to stick with it, it gets better in time, and soon the Senators will be back to their winning ways- but I have a sneaking suspicion that they wouldn''t believe me.

personally I don't think young kids get too far into it to have all those thoughts

 

[JD1]

I mean, you are answering your own question.

- Terrible team
- Terrible owner
- Terrible management
- Smaller payroll
- Ability to go where they want, for big money.

Seems pretty simple, and obvious to me. They are leaving because this place is a tire fire.

so if that's the case, and not really that I disagree, but what was EK doing at a podium last week near tears saying he never thought it would come to this

to use your words he didn't leave because it's a tire fire. seems he wanted to stay. actually kinda seems like Turris did too.

 

[BondraTime]

so if that's the case, and not really that I disagree, but what was EK doing at a podium last week near tears saying he never thought it would come to this

to use your words he didn't leave because it's a tire fire. seems he wanted to stay. actually kinda seems like Turris did too.

The fact that we can't even sign guys who want to stay here, like Karlsson, leads to the fact this place is a tire fire, wouldn't it?

As I said, ownership and management are terrible, with a smaller payroll. Karlsson left because of that, at best.

Stone and Duchene are now involved in a full fledged rebuild. They need to look at:
-having bad management
-bad ownership
-being on a very bad team that is not going to attempt to compete for a few seasons-
-being able to go where the please at the end of the season


I hope they sign here long term, but the odds are stacked against it

 

[topshelf15]

I dont want EK to come back....Let him enjoy playing for a team that does do everything they can to win...He lived with the total opposite here for 9 seasons...As a huge fan of his I want to see hoist a cup

 

[BloodRedArmy]

Melnyk offered Karlsson 88M to stay and he said no. Karlsson dumped us. But Melnyk is scum and Karlsson is a beautiful role model. I don't fully understand the hate for our management. I do understand some of it but why is there no blame towards the players?

Stone and Duchene are doing the same thing. They are dumping us. I understand that they don't want to play for a crap team but is there no loyalty? Personally, I am a bit pissed off at our big players for ditching us.

Say what? Where'd you get your info from?

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Say what? Where'd you get your info from?

It's been reported, in the media, a few times now. Mostly from Garrioch and Brennan, in their columns and during interviews on TSN1200.

But they don't know 100% for sure ....... only Dorion and EK65 know the exact numbers and structure of the contract offer.

We'll see what he signs for, when he becomes an UFA next July.

 

[JD1]

The fact that we can't even sign guys who want to stay here, like Karlsson, leads to the fact this place is a tire fire, wouldn't it?

As I said, ownership and management are terrible, with a smaller payroll. Karlsson left because of that, at best.

Stone and Duchene are now involved in a full fledged rebuild. They need to look at:
-having bad management
-bad ownership
-being on a very bad team that is not going to attempt to compete for a few seasons-
-being able to go where the please at the end of the season


I hope they sign here long term, but the odds are stacked against it

it was your original wording that they are leaving because it is a tire fire. very widely held perception. but with Turris and Karlsson it seems they didn't want to leave. Why is that?

Again looking at your wording...it doesn't seem to me that we can't sign guys that want to stay because with Turris and Karlsson it seems we chose not to which is different from can't.

I'd say NYI couldn't sign Tavares....that's different than the situation here.

hopefully they choose to move forward with the other two and the other two choose to want to be here

 

[BondraTime]

it was your original wording that they are leaving because it is a tire fire. very widely held perception. but with Turris and Karlsson it seems they didn't want to leave. Why is that?

Again looking at your wording...it doesn't seem to me that we can't sign guys that want to stay because with Turris and Karlsson it seems we chose not to which is different from can't.

I'd say NYI couldn't sign Tavares....that's different than the situation here.

hopefully they choose to move forward with the other two and the other two choose to want to be here

That's my fault for wording it incorrectly and leaving it ambiguous.

I group all of them together as a tire fire; our inability to spend, our poor asset management, our poor on ice product, our meddling owner. I don't see, or know why our UFA's would want to hunker down here when they have greener pastures everywhere on July 1st.

 

[branch]

It's been reported, in the media, a few times now. Mostly from Garrioch and Brennan, in their columns and during interviews on TSN1200.

But they don't know 100% for sure ....... only Dorion and EK65 know the exact numbers and structure of the contract offer.

We'll see what he signs for, when he becomes an UFA next July.

He didn't sign because the owner is such a joke.

 

[JD1]

I group all of them together as a tire fire; our inability to spend, our poor asset management, our poor on ice product, our meddling owner. I don't see, or know why our UFA's would want to hunker down here when they have greener pastures everywhere on July 1st.

I don't know why they want to stay either , I only know that they seem to want to taking the two guys we are talking about at their word.

The inference I draw from that is the players perception is not as negative as the perception on the board or the media perception. Again I don't know why that is but it seems to be that way.

 

[jomas]

I've been watching th new blow up, and the forums along with it for awhile now and thought I'd put my two cents in.

I've been a Leafs fan in Ottawa since a kid, and while I got to grow up seeing a good team in the late 90's and early 00's I had to live with a team collapse in my youth and witness it continuously dig it's own hole further and further.
It was a pretty humiliating experience, especially when Ottawa hit the finals but I survived, and if anything I think it bettered me as a hockey fan. I began to just enjoy the finer moments of hockey as a whole and appreciate the rest of the game.
I understand that it will likely suck for a lot of kids, but they're tough and they'll certainly get over it. If anything they'll be the ones who get to witness Ottawa's return as a dominant team in their youth/young adulthood.

 

[CanadianHockey]

It's been reported, in the media, a few times now. Mostly from Garrioch and Brennan, in their columns and during interviews on TSN1200.

But they don't know 100% for sure ....... only Dorion and EK65 know the exact numbers and structure of the contract offer.

We'll see what he signs for, when he becomes an UFA next July.

Link? All I remember was an 8x10m offer that lacked signing bonuses up front.