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Off season roster changes

ColinM

Member
We currently have these players in our organization:

Hoffman - Zibanejad - Ryan
MacArthur - Turris - Stone
Condra - Pageau - Lazar
Michalek - Legwand - Chiasson

-------------

Greening Smith Neil
Puempel - Prince


Karlsson - Method
Wiercioch - Ceci
Boro - Gryba

-----------

Cowen Philips


Anderson
Hammond
Lehner


I think the least controversial moves would be to buy out Colin Greening and have Melynk talk Chris Philips and Chris Neil into retirement. I also think resigning Zibanejad to a market rate RFA contract and re-signing Hoffman and Stone to the standard rookie contracts are also a given.

I'm not sure what to do about Chiasson or Condra. In Chiasson's case he has value as a body but as RFA would could also trade him for a draft pick/marginal prospect. Condra demonstrated that he had awesome chemistry with Lazar and Pageau, but he is also a UFA and subject to what the market would bear. Personally I would be happy if we only had one of those 2 players at training camp in the fall. I'm indifferent to which one it is but it would depend on how contract negotiations play out with each of them.

Defense was a key weakness for the Senators. Judging by the length of time Cowen has sat during the playoffs I'd say he's as good as traded this off season. But I'm not super huge on a Boro-Gryba 5 - 6 pairing. It would be nice if we could package Cowen along with another player / draft pick for an upgrade on defense. I'm not sure is available to make such a trade.

Goaltending will probably be the most controversial part of Sens land this summer. 3 weeks ago I was really torn about which 2 of the 3 goalies I mentioned above I wanted to see in the Sens line up this fall, but after the playoffs I really want Anderson and Hammond. Hammond could be credited for winning games for us down the stretch. Anderson kept us in some playoff games we likely should have been kept in. I'm not really sure what Lehner's chief achievement is beyond only being 23 years old. Lehner could be a start in this league or he could flame out. Likewise after seeing what happened to Ben Bishop I'm not sure I really want to see a 27 year old goal tender who showed us flashes of potential walk. But I can also buy the argument that Anderson might be too brittle or that Scouts have caught on to Hammond's weaknesses, and thus Lehner should stay. The 4th variable that we have to watch on this front is Matt O'Connor. If he is signed by the Sens then I'd probably feel even better about trading Lehner. So for these reasons I won't spend a lot of time second guessing a goal tending decision once it is made.

Any changes anyone else would like to see?
 
Release Karlsson. Ha ha.

Seriously though, I think Weircioch took away Cowen's spot. I don't follow Ottawa closely, but weren't there talks of trying to trade Weircioch at the deadline? I may be getting that mixed up, but I thought I heard rumblings. Right now I'd say Karlsson (duh), Methot, Weircioch and Ceci are locks. I doubt Philips plays for the Sens again.

Forwards... maybe one or more of Condra, Legwand, Chiasson, Neil will be candidates to be moved/not resigned. (I don't know any of the contract situations for these guys.)

Interesting goalie situation too, I agree. Do you try and get something for Anderson since he doesn't have a NMC and go with youth or do you keep Anderson and decide between Hammond and Lehner? Can Hammand even duplicate what he did in the 25-30 games he played?

Just an outsider's thoughts.
 
You remembered correctly.

Bruce Garrioch:
Wiercioch was 5 minutes from being dealt at deadline. Other team involved never called back because they had another deal fall apart.
 
Release Karlsson. Ha ha.

Seriously though, I think Weircioch took away Cowen's spot. I don't follow Ottawa closely, but weren't there talks of trying to trade Weircioch at the deadline? I may be getting that mixed up, but I thought I heard rumblings. Right now I'd say Karlsson (duh), Methot, Weircioch and Ceci are locks. I doubt Philips plays for the Sens again.

Forwards... maybe one or more of Condra, Legwand, Chiasson, Neil will be candidates to be moved/not resigned. (I don't know any of the contract situations for these guys.)

Interesting goalie situation too, I agree. Do you try and get something for Anderson since he doesn't have a NMC and go with youth or do you keep Anderson and decide between Hammond and Lehner? Can Hammand even duplicate what he did in the 25-30 games he played?

Just an outsider's thoughts.

I think the whole Weircoch versus Cowen situation will be one of the more under reported issues this off season. Cowen is a former first round pick who has 2 years left on his contract, who didn't play in the playoffs and only played a couple of games after his suspension in March. Plus he got benched in October. It's the classic case of a player who is going to demand a trade. In spite of his rough year I think the guy legitimately has trade value. Edmonton will be an easy target on this front.

I also agree with you about Legwand. Nobody wants to spend 3.5 million on their 4th line center man. But since there's only a year left on his contract I could see someone wanting to role the dice on him. I've often wondered if Nashville would like him back.
 
You remembered correctly.

Bruce Garrioch:
Wiercioch was 5 minutes from being dealt at deadline. Other team involved never called back because they had another deal fall apart.

We'll always be curious about what those deals you don't make turn out to be.
 
The 4th variable that we have to watch on this front is Matt O'Connor. If he is signed by the Sens then I'd probably feel even better about trading Lehner.

Well that first shoe dropped, now that the Senators were successfully able to sign O'Connor.

http://www.tsn.ca/video/could-the-senators-trade-lehner-1.279387

I'd say if Hammond resigns, Lehner is as good as traded. Relatively speaking Lehner and O'Connor are close enough in age that I could see the Sens only needing one of them.
 
Couple of Senators' notes from Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts:

25. So now that O'Connor is going to Ottawa, who's leaving? It's not an easy question to answer, because some potential partners may prefer Craig Anderson while others might choose Robin Lehner, pending his recovery. It's believed Buffalo would have interest in Anderson, but would the Senators send another goalie in the division (Ben Bishop)? If one of them can get the Senators a top-six forward, that's the guy who goes.

26. As much as we'll focus on the goalies, Ottawa's biggest off-season decision may be an honest appraisal of Jared Cowen's NHL future. You're selling low right now, and when you see how far many of their young players came in the second-half, is it better to give him another shot when he gets healthy. Inconsistency may drive you crazy, but not as crazy as seeing a player you drafted and developed shine somewhere else.
 
Couple of Senators' notes from Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts:

25. So now that O'Connor is going to Ottawa, who's leaving? It's not an easy question to answer, because some potential partners may prefer Craig Anderson while others might choose Robin Lehner, pending his recovery. It's believed Buffalo would have interest in Anderson, but would the Senators send another goalie in the division (Ben Bishop)? If one of them can get the Senators a top-six forward, that's the guy who goes.


I'm surprised Buffalo is interested in Anderson. Anderson would be a good fit for an already good team that needs a goalie as opposed to a team that spent most of last year tanking. Then again who knows what else Buffalo on the go.
 
Well winning also builds confidence in a young team so maybe the thought is that Anderson can come in and steal some games for them.
 
Couple of Senators' notes from Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts:

25. So now that O'Connor is going to Ottawa, who's leaving? It's not an easy question to answer, because some potential partners may prefer Craig Anderson while others might choose Robin Lehner, pending his recovery. It's believed Buffalo would have interest in Anderson, but would the Senators send another goalie in the division (Ben Bishop)? If one of them can get the Senators a top-six forward, that's the guy who goes.


Guess he nailed Buffalo as a destination. I'm just as impressed Murray was able to unload Legwand's cap space. The only thing that would have been more impressive would be if they had dumped Greening this way.

So over the next 3 years the Goaltenders will be:

Starter: Anderson
Backup: Lehner
AHL: O'Connor

Given how torn I was about this a few months ago I'll be content to not second guess this.
 
So based on http://stats.nhlnumbers.com/teams/OTT?year=2016 we have $61 million committed to this roster:

MacCarthur - Turris - Stone
Michalek - Zib - Ryan
RFA 1 (Hoffman)- Lazar - Pageau
RFA 2 (Chiasson)- Smith - Neil

Greening (buy out pending) else a minor league forward from Bingo (maybe Shane Prince)
Condra (if we can resign as an UFA) else a minor league forward from Bingo

On defense:

Karlsson - Method
Wiercoch - Ceci
Cowen - Gryba
Boro

Hopefully Philips retires.

As ironic as this sounds I wouldn't be surprised if this trade saves Greening from being bought out.
 
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Of those forwards I hope we see:

MacCarthur - Turris - Stone
Michalek - Zib - Ryan
Condra - Lazar - Pageau
Hoffman - Smith - Chiasson
Neil - Guy from Bingo

which means we have to add salary on 3 RFAs and hopefully Condra. Whether we keep Greening or buy him out and replace him with a minor leaguer should balance out. This leaves the team's spending around $65 or so.
 
Sens fans opinion on Lehner?

I'm sure a team that sees themselves as up and coming could do worse than roll the dice on a 23 year old goaltender. I've pointed out earlier in the thread, that I would have been happy if they kept any 2 out of the 3 of Anderson/Lehner/Hammond, but reading the papers it sounds like Lehner was the most in need of a change of scenery and the least likely that anyone would want to stick their neck out for after keeping him over Ben Bishop. Having said that I think he'll have a decent shot of a good career in Buffalo.
 
10 minutes before Free Agency starts, I'm curious if we will see Condra sign today or any where for that matter. I suspect he's the next shoe to drop.
 
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