OK. The title is a little misleading, but the Sens have been so busy signing and re-signing players the past couple of the weeks, they are in danger of not having a truly competitive training camp. By that I mean, they have too many one way contracts for a team that's supposed to be re-tooling.
As it stands now there are 12 one way deals at forward and another 5 on the blue-line(When you include Erik Karlsson, you can essentially make that 6). Meanwhile, Anderson and Auld are on one ways in goal. That's 20 right there. You can carry 23, but the Sens never have done that in the salary cap or the "budget" era. They historically have carried 21.
Here is your opening night line-up based on contract situations.
Michalek Spezza Alfredsson
Foligno Regin Butler
Greening Smith Condra
Winchester Konopka Neil
Kuba Karlsson
Gonchar Phillips
Lee Carkner
Anderson
Auld
Here are some of the players that have serious to fair shots at making the team, but as it stands now, there's just no room.
F - Filatov, Da Costa, Zibanejad, O'Brien, Silfverberg(if he changes his mind and comes to camp)
D - Rundblad, Cowen, Borowiecki, Gryba, Wiercioch
G - Lehner (Barring injury to Anderson he'll be in Bingo, but I had to include the AHL playoff MVP)
Some of those players on 2 ways will definitely be on the team. Even though the Sens will not be spending to the cap, I can't see Eugene Melnyk being happy with burying one way money in the AHL. The point being, it's a pretty good bet Bryan Murray will be looking to shed at least a couple of one way contracts through trade prior to training camp, or at the latest, prior to the start of the season.
Sens need to clear the deck...again
Saturday, July 9, 2011
by
Steve Lloyd
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About this blog
Welcome to my Healthy Scratches blog. You can hear Jason York and myself weekdays from 3-6 on Team 1200. I use this blog to expand upon some of the things we talk about on the show, and anything else that really pops into my ample head.
Twitter.com/Steve_Lloyd
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8 comments:
Yeah....that's just what this team needs. More Bryan (the not-so-elite hockey mind) Murray making consistently poor decisions on trades and signings.
That said; if any have to go, here's some suggestions:
Michalek
Regin
Butler
Greening
Smith
Condra
Winchester
Konopka
Kuba
Gonchar
Anderson
Auld
With the exception of maybe Anderson, the rest of these guys are useless. Most of them aren't even NHL calibre players. Some/Most are only here to fill a roster spot at a low price.
I believe the Sens rarely carry below 22 players (although at least 1 is usually out due to injury). I think Filatov and Rundblad are the most likely to join your group at the top.
Ottawa has made it known that it is rebuilding. The lineup points exactly too that. This will be a fast and exciting club to watch. I would much sooner have this team on the ice than what we had last year!
I'm thinking Neil and Kuba get traded at deadline for anything Senators can get. Only at that point, I'm thinking, will Cowen get a regular spot, in addition to a rotating cast of forwards auditioning in the final 20 games for the following year. And if Neil is gone I think they will re-sign Konopka to be the lone pugilist up front (assuming he has an okay year).
Also keep in mind he can't shed any big contracts right now because of the cap floor. Neil might be the biggest they could deal and not violate.
Even if a player on a one way is traded for picks or a non-roster player, one of our young guys moves up. On forward that probably means Filatov (who I think will make the team regardless, even if it means carrying an extra forward). On Defence it's one of Rundblad or Cowen.
Trading Spezza or Gonchar would be difficult without a significant salary coming back - but trading someone like Kuba or Michalek is doable without seriously having to worry about the cap floor.
At this point in time, and assuming we carried 13 forwards and 7 defensemen (add Filatov and Rundblad to list), if we traded Kuba for a pick or non-roster player, and replaced him with Cowen, we would be about 200K below the cap floor of 48.3M...
Great comments re: cap floor. Certainly something to consider when everyone plays G.M. and makes deals. Keep in mind many of the players on entry level (Filatov, Zibanejad, Da Costa, Rundblad, Cowen) all make more $ than 10 of the current roster skaters on one way contracts. 8 Forwards and 2 Defensemen.
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