Contract negotiations are exactly that: negotiations. Reports of "stalling" is nothing more than them not being constantly moving forward because one side or the other is sticking to their guns on something. That's what negotiations are all about: ongoing talks about *everything*, and sometimes it takes time to get past a point or two. In this case, it could be total money, money per season, length, NTC/NMC, and so on.
I'm glad that all the contracts weren't all done immediately; that would mean one side had caved in and the other had "won" everything, rather than a back-and-forth where things get hammered out over time to a point where both sides are satisfied but neither has "won it all" as that would, IMO, likely mean the team had caved to everything the player had demanded. That's not the type of GM I want.
Lazar might be here for the start of the season, but I don't think he's staying. It won't be optimum for his development, but too many young players (Lazar, Stone, Hoffman, Boro, Zbad, Chiasson) would be a mix to do well with.
I'm just hoping for NO JUGGLES after the preseason.
RW is an interesting spot for us. Ryan, Chiasson, Condra, Neil & Lazar are all RW. I'd assume JGP can play there's too but I recall seeing him on the left side if not at C.
Lazar is a big question, but Chiasson, IMO, is a bigger one. He could be a top 6, or he could be the next Conacher.
I'm sure I've done this before, but here's my lines:
MacArthur - Turris - Ryan
Michalek - ZBad - Chiasson
Hoffman - Legwand -Lazar
Greening - Smith -Neil
Stone/ Condra extra.
Reports today about Methot and Ryan negotiations stalling and of course now hearing that. Methot can be traded before the season. If you do that, who is good enough to play with Karlsson???
At the end of last season, I can't recall if it was GMBM or the The Paularus who said it, it was mentioned that it might be Zibanejad who gets a shot at the #1C role. I thought it was odd at the time, and I still do when I think about it, but between Zibby and Legwand I can see either one getting a shot at #2C behind Turris but I don't think either one of them would get more ice time than #7.
How the wingers line up on the top three lines will be interesting though. I'm not convinced we'll see 16-7-6 together right away because we already know they click together and I can see 9 - (blank) - 6 being tried out while giving Stone a chance with MacArthur and Turris.
I'll say it now: Ceci starts the season in Bingo unless we see a trade before the season starts. He's the only one who doesn't need to clear waivers.
About Ceci: I always thought he stood out because the rest of the D sucked so bad. That's not to diminish his capabilities as I think he did really well with the Sens, but IMO talent needs to be seasoned. Give him some more time in the AHL, it won't hurt. Him coming up was a bit of a departure from a strategy, not too long ago adopted from the Wings: no matter what you play at least a year (or two) in the AHL. I liked that strategy as it made them continuous contenders. We shouldn't rush our prospects especially not our better ones.
With Lazar it's a different story as he isn't eligible for the AHL, but I doubt the situation for the Sens is thus at the moment that we need him. He'd have to seriously outplay his competition at camp to warrant him staying in Ottawa this year. IMO he can only stay (longer than 10 games) if a trade makes room for him.
At the end of last season, I can't recall if it was GMBM or the The Paularus who said it, it was mentioned that it might be Zibanejad who gets a shot at the #1C role. I thought it was odd at the time, and I still do when I think about it, but between Zibby and Legwand I can see either one getting a shot at #2C behind Turris but I don't think either one of them would get more ice time than #7.
How the wingers line up on the top three lines will be interesting though. I'm not convinced we'll see 16-7-6 together right away because we already know they click together and I can see 9 - (blank) - 6 being tried out while giving Stone a chance with MacArthur and Turris.
I'll say it now: Ceci starts the season in Bingo unless we see a trade before the season starts. He's the only one who doesn't need to clear waivers.
of course, a big question this year will be how does Turris do in the #1 ctr spot. I think this will have a lot to do with how well whoever the #2 ctr is does. If someone can step in and be a threat, then Turris isn't carrying the load himself. If no one does, could be a very long year for Kyle.
-- Edited by Russell on Wednesday 3rd of September 2014 12:59:12 AM
You can laugh all you want but it's a line I would feel comfortable playing against any other line for starters. They're positioned 8th most productive line according to: http://leftwinglock.com/line-production/index.php?gametype=ALL . Ok, that's producing at half the rate of the number 1, but Ryan was playing hurt most of the season and was tried several times in other combinations. So yes elite is maybe a tad bit much. But if you look at it from the context of the rest of the team (which we were doing after all), it's the best playing together.
I think it was Yost who wrote that maybe our elite line should be broken up, combine that with breaking up the least elite line and something like this would be the result.
Wait... when did we get an elite line?
LOL! I was thinking the same thing when I first read that
I think it was Yost who wrote that maybe our elite line should be broken up, combine that with breaking up the least elite line and something like this would be the result.
At the beginning of last season we didn't expect 16-7-6 to be a line combination as *everyone* expected Ryan to be on Spezza's wing. We'll have to see how this season works out, but I'd be surprised if the Turris line is tinkered with in regular season unless there are serious problems elsewhere. In the pre-season, we'll see every and any combination because that's what the pre-season is for, but when the regular season starts things change.
I think it was Yost who wrote that maybe our elite line should be broken up, combine that with breaking up the least elite line and something like this would be the result.
Macarthur - Turris - Stone Hoffman - ZBad - Ryan Michalek - Legwand - Neil Greening - Smith - Chiasson
or dare I propose:
Macarthur - Turris - Stone Hoffman - ZBad - Ryan Greening - Legwand - Chiasson Michalek - Smith - Neil ?
or how about a youth-line:
Macarthur - Turris - Chiasson Hoffman - ZBad - Stone Michalek - Legwand - Ryan
but that would leave us with the dreaded:
Greening - Smith - Neil
Sigh, guess I'm holding of on opinions on the lineup until training camp or even preseason...
-- Edited by labru on Friday 25th of July 2014 03:38:29 AM
But he's also not getting moved. No one is burning his fingers on that contract unless Ottawa is taking something very unpleasant in return, yikes. Or combine it with something decent, double yikes.
I seem to be only guy who likes Greening. I think we need Greening and what he brings. Especially in playoffs. He was a piece of theat Calder cup winning team. Do I want him to be better? Yes!!!!
Greening just has a bad contract. The underlying numbers suggest that he's never been the guy that is expected with such a contract. Even if you're not a fancy stats person, just ask Pierre. I think I like Greening, the way I like Cowen; not because of what they've done or their contract, but because of potential. Just how much patience do you have with these kinds of players though? I won't mind too much for next year, but at the trade deadline or before next draft some decisions need to be made.
Greening is 28 so it's not like he's going to improve
labru wrote: Ottawa still has all its compliance buyouts, right? What's the window on that? Start of the new season? September 1st?
The compliance buyout window was between the draft and July 1st (UFA season), and it was only for contracts that were signed before the last CBA so Greening's current extension would not have been eligible.
I seem to be only guy who likes Greening. I think we need Greening and what he brings. Especially in playoffs. He was a piece of theat Calder cup winning team. Do I want him to be better? Yes!!!!
Greening just has a bad contract. The underlying numbers suggest that he's never been the guy that is expected with such a contract. Even if you're not a fancy stats person, just ask Pierre. I think I like Greening, the way I like Cowen; not because of what they've done or their contract, but because of potential. Just how much patience do you have with these kinds of players though? I won't mind too much for next year, but at the trade deadline or before next draft some decisions need to be made.