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I asked for your questions, and boy were you eager for this mailbag. I received tons of questions in just 24 hours, and I’m going to do my best to get through all of them. I apologize in advance if I couldn’t get to yours or if I can’t go as in-depth as I would like, but there were over 50 responses for this. Some questions were similar so I lumped them together, but overall I liked the variation of questions.
There will be a few more parts to this series, so stay tuned if I have not answered your question yet! But here is part 1:
Any chance in your mind that the Senators don't finish as a bottom 3 team? Will Anderson finish the season with the Senators?---DC
With the way the NHL works, there’s always a chance that weird things happen. The Senators are definitely a bottom-3 team in the league, but it wouldn’t take that much for them to be a bit higher than that. If they are able to get a bit better goaltending out of Anderson, Nilsson, and Hogberg, plus some young players such as Batherson, Brannstrom, and Brown are able to make an immediate impact, then perhaps they fall into the bottom 5-10 range. They are still going to be very bad though.
Considering Anderson has been quite bad for two seasons and is 38, I can’t imagine any team trading for him before the 2020 deadline.
Mark Stone said in an interview soon after Karlsson was dealt that there was no reason in this new NHL for a rebuild to take years. The Rangers seem to subscribe to that notion as well. Why are the Sens going old school with their rebuild by taking 3 years to achieve unparalleled success?---Voice of Reason
I don’t think it’s really “old school” to take three years for a rebuild at all, that’s pretty normal. The Rangers have already missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, so they’re actually at the tail end of their rebuild anyway. I agree that a rebuild doesn't have to take forever, but all franchises are at different stages when they begin their rebuilds, and Ottawa is at the very bottom. If they were able to keep Mark Stone and Matt Duchene, then it would have been a lot easier to get back to respectability, but now they have to find elite scoring talent rather quickly.
They have tons of good prospects coming up, but this rebuild will still take a few more years, which is totally normal.
Do you think that the Senators will re-sign Chabot to a 7-8 year deal or will they try to give him a 2-year bridge contract?---Chris R.
They’ll do everything in their power to get him signed to an 8-year deal, and if they can’t, that is a massive failure. However, I’m a bit pessimistic that Chabot will want to go max-term in Ottawa, so perhaps a 2-year deal is more likely. There hasn’t been any talk about contract discussions between Chabot and the team, so it’s hard to say where things will be heading over the next year.
Why would Chabot want to sign long term? He must want to see where the org is really going over the next 5 years---jsontheisle
I totally agree. I’m not sure why any players would want to sign in Ottawa long-term just because there is so much uncertainty. The organization badly needs somebody to commit to them just because there will be a strong domino effect---if Chabot signs for 8 years, there’s a much better chance that Tkachuk and others will want to stay as well. But yes, if I were him, I would wait until next summer to sign because I would want to see more progression from the franchise. Then again, hockey players are quite loyal and risk-averse, so perhaps he will want to stay where he is.
Will the Sens name a captain this season and who are the odds on favourites? And best candidates?---Riceroni
There’s no real need to name a captain just yet because there are hardly any established players. I don’t want the next captain to be a veteran who is only going to be here for the next year or two, I want it to be a cornerstone for the future. If they were going to pick, Brady Tkachuk, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Mark Borowiecki, Thomas Chabot, Colin White, and Bobby Ryan seem like the only options, with Pageau probably being the favourite.
I would wait until 2020-21 to hand out the ‘C’ though, where it could be someone such as Tkachuk or Chabot.
Who wins a Kyle Okposo for Bobby Ryan deal? Who throws in a sweetener and what might it look like?---cjp2112
Man, that’s a tough question. Okposo is cheaper ($6M vs. $7.25M) and one year younger but also has 4 years left instead of 3. Ryan had a better 2018-19 season with 0.54 points per game (0.37 for Okposo), but Okposo’s previous two seasons were better. I think Okposo is probably the better player right now, but I wouldn’t want that extra year considering where the Senators sit. They can handle Ryan’s big cap hit because they have so much room, but in four seasons, Okposo’s cap hit could have big implications for them when they are actually trying to win.
Neither player is nearly as good as they used to be, clearly. I doubt Buffalo would make this deal either because of Ryan’s salary, and I think the Sabres would actually have to add in a sweetener based on that extra year on Okposo’s deal---which again, would make Buffalo pass on that.
Who do you think is the most underrated prospect in the organization?---Sensfan90
I don’t think he is an elite prospect or anything, but if I’m going with the spirit of the question, I’ll say Jonathan Davidsson. The 22-year-old Swede almost made the Blue Jackets out of camp last season, and he might even challenge for a spot in Ottawa this October. He will most likely be playing in Belleville to begin with, but he has spent 3+ seasons in the SHL against men and can probably contribute in the NHL sooner than people realize.
He will probably be more of a third-line player, but I hardly ever hear his name in prospect discussions even though he has done decently well in the SHL (21 points in 37 games last season and 31 in 52 the previous year).
Will Logan Brown be a #1C?>---Rick
It depends what you mean by “1C.” If you’re asking whether he can be a top-31 centre in the league, then yes, I think there’s a possibility. If he does reach that peak though, I see him as more of a lower-end 1C, similar to someone such as Ryan Johansen who fits in fine on the first line but does not exactly compare to elite first liners like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, and Patrice Bergeron.
I think he will ultimately fit in as a 50-60 point player just like Kyle Turris was, meaning I would like to see Ottawa get another high-end centre above him (Quinton Byfield?) if they really want to succeed after the rebuild.
What/who do you think ownership will look like next year? In 3 years? 5 years?---LCD
Ownership will be the same next year. In three years, there’s a chance that Melnyk has sold. In five years, I think he has to have sold by that point just because he isn’t going to have any money left to operate this franchise. I can see the Cirque du Soleil group coming in and buying the team, but whether that happens in a year or in five years remains to be seen. I would imagine the next owner will be a group of people but don’t get your hopes up about it happening any time soon.
It’s been a long process and it could still take longer.
Will the Senators score more than 200 goals?---Baron
The Senators lost 77 goals between Stone, Duchene, and Dzingel, and their total goals scored last season was 242 (17th overall). Losing that many would put them 35 below 200, however, players such as Batherson, Brown (Logan and Connor), and Duclair will make up for some of that, so I think Ottawa will be hovering around the 210-220 mark. It won’t be pretty, but there should be some players that step up their game.
You can only have one of each pair:
A) Brown or Batherson?
B) Chlapik or Abramov?
C) Thomson or Bernard-Docker?---PavohnDatsvares
A. Batherson. They are both the same age and Batherson scored 62 points in 59 AHL games, whereas Brown had 42 in 56. I like both of them, but Batherson has been more impressive since being drafted.
B. A year ago I would’ve said Abramov, but Chlapik has proven himself in the AHL while Abramov has not. Abramov’s height is always going to be something that people think will hold him back, and until he keeps proving himself, people will be doubting his abilities. I might have a vastly different answer in the winter, but Chlapik is the far safer pick right now.
C. This one is really close. I’ll have to go with JBD, but you can’t go wrong by picking Thomson, either. I just like that JBD has the experience in the NCAA already and thrived, although Thomson might be just as impressive against men in Finland.
Part 2 of the mailbag will be here shortly!
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