A Position Paper

Hello Interet,

How's it going? Did you get that card I sent you for your birthday?

I have decided to use MY first post in the Senator Blogosphere to give y0u all a taste of our (well, at least my) Senator opinions on a few "hot-button" issues. Since it's my first ever post, and I have a few things I need to get off my chest, this will be a bit of a rant. Excited? No? Good, here we go


Jason Spezza: He's good. I like him. I feel he has received unfair treatment in the media, and that the criticism he receives is often unfounded or over-blown. Yeah, he turns the puck over at some inopportune times. And it would be nice if he dropped the self-laugh he's got going on in interviews. However, the offensive creativity he brings to the table is a rare commodity, one we would be remiss to give up on due to some correctable failings. As anyone who has been within 100 yards of a copy of the Ottawa Sun this season knows, there has been ample suggestion that Spezza should be traded. The problem with this is that Spezza has underperformed when compared to the expectations he has set for himself. With the team struggling beside him, his value is likely the lowest it has ever been. Any move to get rid of Spezza would invariably bring diminished returns. You wouldn't sell stock when it was under-valued, and you shouldn't trade your franchise centre when he is having a slow start. The man is under contract for six more years, and if you believe that a player's "prime years" are anywhere from 26-34, then Spezza is just entering his. It's often said that you can teach a player defensive responsibility but not offensive skill. Well, Spezza has the skill, he just seems to be the victim of a slow learning curve. Frankly, I've never seen a perennial 90-point performer so despised by the hometown fans. While he is not the second coming of Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, or the Easter Bunny, his services should be retained.


Bryan Murray: Similarly, many fans and media pundits have questioned the job security of General Manager Bryan Murray through the team's struggles. Let's get some things straight here. Bryan Murray did not build the core of these Ottawa Senators. He did not pillage their farm system. He didn't pass on Chara in favour of Redden. All of these moves are the handiwork of the name-droppingest GM in Senator franchise history, John Muckler. I find it shocking Muckler even found time to make roster moves between using the term "Hockey Club" ad nauseum in interviews, promisng a Stanley Cup victory every half-hour, and telling anyone who would listen that yes, he was, in fact, in Edmonton when Gretzky, Messier, Coffey, and Fuhr were brought in by Sather. Surprisingly enough, Muckler still found time to oversee bad-trades and pedestrian entry drafts while in Ottawa. Let's look at just a few Kodak Moments from Muckler's reign: He put 20-goal man Brooks Laich and a 2nd rounder towards the (failed) Peter Bondra experiment, and the next year dealt Brandon Boichenski and a 2nd rounder for the overweight and forlorn Tyler "Press Box" Arnason. Having learned from those mistakes by 2007, Muckler spent another 2nd rounder on Oleg Saprykin. Nick Foligno is the only NHL regular the team has to show from the four Muckler-led drafts (though to be fair, Murray traded two others in Meszaros and Eaves), and the returns from Muckler's dump of Martin Havlat and Brian Smolinski's salaries amount to AHLer Josh Henessy and 2008 entry draft selection Patrick Wiercioch. Oh, and all you Gerber detractors have Muckler to thank for that $3.7M salary cap tumor we got in place of Dominik Hasek.
While Murray's moves have not been knock-you-on-your-ass amazing, he can't be held responsible for the team's current underlying weaknesses. He only took over as GM a year and a half ago which is not enough time time to effect substantial change. Murray built the foundation of that Ducks team that won the cup in 2007, as well as the Panthers team that made it to the Stanley Cup final in their third season in 1996. FUN FACT: Murray also had a hand in building the Detroit Red Wings while he was both coachand GM from 1990-1994, when he drafted players like Chris Osgood, Martin Lapointe, and Darren McCarty in late rounds. Murray has a strong track record and GMs need a few years to put their plan in to action, let's give the man some time before we get our the torches and pitchforks.

Mike Fisher: I'll keep this short and sweet. He's having a tough start, but his skating, physical play, effort level, and traditionally adequate offensive production render his $4.2M cap hit reasonable. If some other GM offers the moon for him, he naturally becomes expendible, but he certainly doesn't hurt the team to the point where we should panic and trade him while his value is low.


Team Struggles: The team isn't as good as it once was talent-wise, plain and simple. Making a trade or two will not fix the team's underlying issues: a lack of forward depth, an immobile, offensively barren defence corps, and stop-gap solution goaltending. Trades for the likes of Jay Bouwmeester and Mattias Ohlund would further diminish the team's fledgling core of secondary scorers and/or prospects. The team has played sub .500 hockey for a calendar year now, despite major personnel changes in that time. Unless an amazing trade offer comes along, I'd like to see the team stick it out, and try to improve from within. If the team continues down it's current path, the time is right for a minor rebuild. They already have two first round picks in this year's draft, Filip Kuba and Chris Neil are in contract years and might have some trade value, while several players have deals that expire July 1st 2010. Heatley and Spezza are under contract until 2014 and 2015 respectively, so they will still be around when the club is back in contention. The club could move out players who won't be key cogs post-rebuild, stockpile some draft picks and prospects, and use the cap space to bring in the right free agent if the opportunity presents itself. If everything goes smoothly, the team could be back in the playoff picture by 2011-2012. I'm still not convinced this kind of situation will be necessary, but it sounds a lot better than the oft-proposed trading of Spezza, Vermette and picks for what amount to rental players or significant downgrades.



Wasn't that fun? Sens and Leafs Thursday. Shotgun live blogging it Jay Onrait stylz.