Well, it's good to be back from my 2 week vacation!! Everyone needs one, no matter what type of job you do and it was nice to clear my head of hockey. Although part of the vacation was spent moving into a new house, I also had the chance to be a part of the birth of my new nephew who was born last week. A special congratulations goes out to my brother and his wife as they added another little one to their family at a very healthy 7lbs. and 6 ounces.
Although I haven't been around much hockey these past 2 weeks, I still tried to stay in the loop. Thanks again to everyone for the great e-mails, keep them coming.
When it comes to the Andrej Meszaros situation, I don't see a resolution to the contract talks until training camp begins. Both sides are digging in their heels as Sens GM Bryan Murray remains frustrated with Meszaros and his agent. Ideally Murray would like to get him signed to a multi-year deal but if need be, Murray will sign the young defensemen to a one year deal. I don't expect any type of deal to exceed 3 million per year. As for the rumours of Meszaros heading over to Russia, lets just say it's posturing that is taking place. This would be a massive mistake for a very solid young player as he progresses at the highest level. From what I have been told by a few sources, as training camp approaches, both sides will compromise and get a contract worked out.
I have received many e-mails about the Marion Gaborik rumour as reported by Eklund. After making a few calls over the last 24 hours, there is some interest on both sides as each team tries to put together a quality package. Alot has to happen for either team to make this type of move, but regardless......it says alot that both teams are talking, so who knows where these talks might end up?
Now onto the possible problems in Binghamton. Everyone in upper management with the Ottawa Senators are trying to sweep the problems under the carpet that are taking place with their AHL affiliate in Binghamton. Nobody in the mainstream media here in Ottawa seems to want to take Bryan Murray or Roy Mlakar to task on this matter so I thought I would write a piece about the problems developing in Bingo.
From talking to people very close to the situation in Binghamton, many hockey fans are refusing to renew their season tickets. In fact, a large portion of the biggest hockey fans in Bingo that are a part of the booster club are demanding an experienced head coach behind the bench this coming season or they won't renew their tickets. Don't forget this is a privately owned team and Eugene Melnyk doesn't own the Binghamton Senators or the arena.
Cory Clouston is currently the head coach and is entering the final year of his contract. Clouston failed on many levels last year as coach. For starters, Clouston submitted an incorrect line-up card on two occasions. Inexcusable! Many of the veterans were not happy that Clouston continued to play certain players even though they were not working hard to be rewarded with top line minutes. Meanwhile, Tim and Bryan Murray pushed for certain players to get minutes when they didn't deserve the icetime.
The people of Binghamton deserve better. Dave Cameron was a failure in his two years as head coach, after being an assistant under John Paddock in 2004-05. Lets not forget, that was the year of the lockout in which your Binghamton Senators had 10 NHL players on the roster and choked big time getting knocked out in the first round after being the best team in the regular season. Then again, many players wanted Cameron fired but former GM John Muckler was afraid to tick off owner Eugene Melnyk as it was Melnyk who had a big hand in hiring his former junior team head coach. It was Melnyk who pushed to give Cameron a chance at the next level after being at St. Mike's in the OHL. Therefore, Muckler steered clear of firing Cameron mid-season during his tenure for fear of Melnyk coming down hard on him.
For the past four years, junior coaches that Sens management hired have failed miserably at the AHL level. The AHL has changed over the past five years. There are far more experienced coaches in the AHL than ever yet Ottawa continues to hire on inexperienced coaches. The AHL is a more competitive league than ever. Just take a look at the Philadelphia Phantoms, they recognized a need to hire an experienced guy and they did so in John Paddock. Why can't Ottawa hire former NHL players that want a crack at eventually coaching in the NHL? Look no further than Toronto hiring Doug Gilmour to be an assistant with their AHL team.
The other interesting scenario that is unfolding with this situation is that the NY Rangers could be looking for a new AHL affiliate soon. The Hartford Civic Center was recently sold after the city lost millions of dollars each year while housing the Hartford Wolfpack the Rangers affiliate. It was the NY Rangers that left Binghamton in 1997 and sought out a new affiliate. Binghamton hockey fans endured UHL hockey for 5 years until the Senators came knocking. Well now, it is quite possible that private ownership in Binghamton might be able to make enough noise and force the Murray's, Bryan and Tim, to make a coaching change. Otherwise, who knows where this resentment might lead to in Binghamton? There certainly isn't alot of cities looking to house an AHL team. The only other potential partner for Ottawa would be Syracuse as the Sens want to keep costs to a minimum on sending players back and forth. Syracuse is the AHL affiliate for Columbus at this current time.
The last thing Ottawa needs is to be stuck without an AHL affiliate. They can't afford to have their players that they drafted to be on a team that is being split between two NHL organizations as they did at times in the 90's. We all saw how that worked out as very few players developed at the rate they had hoped for. Since going to Binghamton over 6 years ago, the Sens have developed alot of great young talent that they might have not been able to do otherwise if they had to split an AHL team with another NHL team.
I will continue to dig up more info for all of you on all of these topics and more as the summer winds down. I am curious to hear your thoughts on the Binghamton situation as every NHL team is only as good as the players they develop in the salary cap era.
NOTE - I am a part of a great event that takes place next Saturday, August 23rd at the Playboy Mansion. MMA Fighter Daniel Puder is the host of the event while they raise money for the Cops Care Cancer Foundation. If you want to be a part of the event and would like to attend, go and check out www.puderpro.com for more information on tickets and the foundation that this great cause supports. Click on schedule at his site for a line-up of the weekend events. I hope to see alot of you hockeybuzzers at this event!! We will be doing a feature on Daniel Puder at www.sportstalkbuzz.com on Friday night, so come by and check out the blog at that time.
Be sure to check us out at www.sportstalkbuzz.com as the NFL is just around the corner. We cover all major sports and we encourage everyone to come and register for free at the site and join the discussion. We are still looking for a Carolina Panthers and Kansas City Chiefs blogger for the upcoming NFL season. If this interests you, be sure to e-mail me with a sample blog.
Kevin
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