letting Hossa go to was a huge mistake that was somewhat offset by Heatley's 2 50 goal seasons for Otttaw, isn't it hard to believe that Heatley actually did that?!!???!
CHARA!!!!!!!!!!! a generational type Defenseman who the GM at the time thought WadeRedden was the better bet. I'm still pissed about it and it happened a million years ago........
Assuming our whole no. 1 line is gone, I don't believe our no. 2 line can outplay most other teams no. 1 lines. They may be able to hold their own at best. After that whoever we put out as the no. 2 line will struggle.
No doubt in hind sight, Chara turned out to be a big loss. Alfie's leadership was really all they lost last year. He didn't exactly tear it up on a better team.
And I agree that the Alfie business (whether it was the Sens fault or Alfie and his agent's doing) and now how Spezza is being treated is really going to hurt the organization's ability to attract anything but over priced mercenaries. And since Melnyk has made it clear he's not planning to spend much, we may not even be able to get them.
Assuming our whole no. 1 line is gone, I don't believe our no. 2 line can outplay most other teams no. 1 lines. They may be able to hold their own at best. After that whoever we put out as the no. 2 line will struggle. I think they are going to have to try and improve defensively big time and hope to win a bunch of low scoring games.
Well, according to the "ditch Spezza and get what you can now" crowd, there is no problem with that at all. Of course, when the team struggles because they've lost that much talent they'll be screaming for GMBM's head because he's "screwed the team by not making deals with superstars" and that Melnyk is "being cheap".....when they did exactly what said crowd was demanding.
The UFA crop might yield one good player, but building an entire new 2nd line (now that 16-7-6 is the new #1) is going to be a challenge if 9-19-83 are all gone.
Well, say what we want about just making business decisions... there are some companies that do it ruthlessly, and there are some businesses that handle it well.
Reputation is everything if you want UFAs and/or people to stick around.
I still maintain that all this noise (which can exist on any team) will go away if a winning product is on the ice. Winning has a way of solving lots of concerns. And this season was horrid - with unmet expectations and everyone seemingly struggling at times in different ways.
from what i hear in media, spezza is gone, period. so hemsky likely is, as well. 9mm is up in the air. Sens could very likely be looking at replacing their whole top line. no problem there, right?
Here's something we agree on: "Alfie hurt the reputation of the organization as a whole". Yes, he did. It was his choice, but he did.
This "money puck" nonsense on Twitter is exactly that: a nonsense buzzword to express emotional dissatisfaction when a *business transaction* doesn't happen. Fans seem to forget that hockey is a business to the teams and the players, not a fun pass-time / hobby / interest, and that the rules of business and economics apply no matter how much "wejustgottahavethisguyorwearegonnaDIE" they shout about.
Alfredsson and his agent NEVER RESPONDED to the team's initial offer. Negotiations are two-way, and if one side won't play then a business transaction won't happen. His demand was $7M/1yr or $12M/2yr and he signed for less than that so obviously it was negotiable but he decided he wasn't going to with Ottawa. Or he was betrayed by his agent. Either way, the ball was in the player11 court and they never played it. Period.
The *rumour* is that Hemsky is asking for $5.5M, but for how many years? This contract is "the big one" so it's not going to be for 3 years, but rather a desire for at least 5. He's injury prone and he's never played a full season (last year was the most ever, at 75 games out of 82), so he reminds me of 9MM: great player, but how long can he stay at least reasonably healthy. Also, the rumour is that he wants to play with Spezza, so signing him means keeping Spezza. Want to sign them both for at least 5 years? I imagine that's what it will take.
All the contracts need to be looked at together, not individually and complain "The team is being cheap; pay them what they want because I'm a fan and I want all of them" is unrealistic. Hemsky + Spezza this year, Methot + Ryan + MacArthur + Anderson + Lehner + Zibanejad next year.....where's all the money going to come from, as that's going to push to the top of the cap if they are all paid what people seem to think they are worth. There are already lots of complaints about the ticket price increases for next season.
TheLehner and Zbad need better seasons than last year's if they are going to hope to get an offer sheet that is big. I don't see that happening at the moment even in the worst the-sky-is-falling scenario.
On ice, losing Chara was a huge blow at the time, and has continued to be. His presence could have made a major difference over the last few years when our blueline has been struggling badly.
Team reputation wise, and team morale wise, losing Alfie was VERY bad. I still don't put all the blame for what happened there on management or ownership, though. There was a lot of blame to go around, and I just hope that they can find a way to recover from it.
Also, offered Alfie 4.5M. He signed for 5.5M. Now Hemsky is asking for 5.5M and the team says no. He was also a point a game player. This money puck BS is insane. Horrors for Lehner to get an offer sheet and Zibanejad comes up next year
We made it to the finals without Chara but he could have made a difference in the Anaheim series. Alfie hurt the reputation of the organization as a whole, and IMO, as long as Melnyk wants to be active with the team operations and speak out in public (note I didn't use "meddle") and does not delegate or commit to the team financially, this will continue. Murray's holding things together with dental floss. Plus if my ticket costs went up 25% and they're not investing that into team budget, it may be hard to renew the 4 seats next year. And don't tell me that the increase is going to the building. That's another bucket and it's all revenue generators.
i dont know. the Alfie thing was such a black eye for the organization. we know now that the players were not happy about the way alfie was treated and it affected team moral last year. that kind of thing gets around the league. has to make FA's think twice, not to mention current players with contracts coming up.
On ice it is Chara, and I don't have a doubt in my mind about that. He was entering the prime of his career, he's been dominant since he left, and he's been an anchor for the B's blueline and team. Alfredsson was at the end of his career and it was more sentimentality than pure hockey contribution (on ice or off) that riled fans.
there was some penny pinching going on in the chara deal too. remember the thing about them both accepting 6 million? said they could sign both him and redden at more than that.
