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UPDATE:(1:00 PM EST): Looks like the Ottawa Senators have agreed to terms on a one-year deal with gritty center Zenon Konopka. He doesn't provide much in the scoring department, but he's an absolute wizard in the face-off circle and will give the team some much needed tenacity on the third/fourth line.
Last year with the New York Islanders, Konopka tallied just nine points (2G/7A) while racking up a whopping 307 PIM. He logged just over 10 minutes per night with the Islanders - expect that number to trend upwards next season with a Senators club that's looking to roll all four lines hard.
He'll make $700K over the 2011-2012 season.
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Some news and notes from the Ottawa Senators on this Tuesday afternoon. Hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend, whether it was spent celebrating Canada Day on the first or American Independence Day on the fourth!
-No surprise to hear strong talk about the play of both Jared Cowen and David Rundblad. Before camp, the two were expected to draw into the team's defensive pairings units and become staples of the blue line for quite some time. As far as excitement goes heading into next year, I imagine a large majority of it in respect to the fan base focuses around these two studs.
-Early reports out of Ottawa(via OS) suggest that Bryan Murray is trying frantically to keep highly-touted prospect Jakob Silfverberg on this side of the pond. Silfverberg has already committed to finishing out his contract overseas in Sweden, but Murray and the rest of the coaching staff are in love with his game and think he has a legitimate shot at cracking the lineup as soon as next season.
-Binghamton Senators captain Ryan Keller has decided to part ways with the organization, signing on with the Edmonton Oilers organization through free agency. Keller, speaking to local reporters, stated that he loved both the city of Binghamton and the Ottawa Senators organization. Unfortunately, his decision to leave focused around the potential for opportunity elsewhere. Kind of dumbfounding considering his position - forward - and where he's headed - an Oilers organization loaded with scoring talent - but I wish Keller the best of luck. He'll make $625K should he play with the NHL affiliate, or $225K should he play with the Oklahoma City Barons.
-Over the weekend, Bryan Murray and a select few others were working the phones pretty hard, and I mentioned as much on Twitter. Still have no clue in regards to what, but my best guess through speculation is that it had to do with one of two things - the acquisition of a top-six forward, or in regards to the services of Filip Kuba. While the former might seem a bit more desirable on paper, the Senators really should try and sell Kuba in any way they can. There's no room for him on this roster, he's certainly undeserving of the fairly sizable contract he's making, and the organization in general just needs to cut ties with a player they rolled the dice on and failed miserably.
Rumors have linked the New York Rangers to Filip Kuba since last year's trade deadline, so there are teams out there who still think the kid can play. For Ottawa, they'll need to find one of the many teams still below the cap floor to sell Kuba on if they want to make a deal work. Don't expect many - really, any - assets coming back, though.
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Lastly, avid reader
Cup 06 mentioned yesterday on HockeyBuzz that he had a number of thoughts in regards to the week-long development camp at the Bell Sensplex. Here is his first-hand account of what went down - make sure to thank him in the comment box below!
The format doesn’t mesh well with certain players strength’s but you do get a sense of the player’s skill set. Guys like Cowen and Wiercoch did not play all that well given the open ice and lack of traditional positioning. Cowen was frustrated at times, his team was the weakest out of the 6.There were a couple of defencemen who stood out though.
Mark Borowiecki was a force. He scored a couple goals and almost knocked Cowen over the boards and into the bench. He was very vocal on the ice as well, taking a leadership role.
Ben Blood is huge(6’3,232), he was very hard to beat along the boards and can actually move the puck as well. Kirill Lyamin was steady but was nothing fancy. You could see his age(25) gave him an advantage, in that he was very calm with the puck.
David Rundblad didn’t play with any great urgency but you can see how smooth he is with the puck. His head is always up and his puck control is off the charts.
Chris Wideman is a little waterbug of a defenceman but I think he will stuggle physically at the pro level.
As for the forwards, there were a few standouts. The three guys who most impressed me were Mike Hoffman, Stefan Noesen and Stephane Da Costa. Hoffman controlled the play everytime he was on the ice. His vision was outstanding , he constantly finds the open man and can thread the needle. His skating and agility are top notch. He had great chemistry with Noesen and Mark Stone on the winning team. I can see why the Sens drafted Noesen when they did. He plays a hard nosed game and always goes to the net hard. He is very hard top knock off the puck and showed some decent speed (deceptive quickness) as well. Da Costa plays a similar game to Hoffman. He controls the play and finds open men with great accuracy. He set up Claesson on a beautiful pass after weaving through his defender. He was drilled by Blood but bounced back to his feet very quickly. Silfverberg looked good out there, he is strong along the boards, unfortunately I did not get to see his wicked shot, and he played more of a playmaker role. I can see why the Sens want him in the NHL next year. He is built for the NHL game and looks like he could play on any line in any role you would ask of him. The Sens are trying to convince him to stay in North America this coming season.
Mika Zibanejad was kind of invisible. He did have a beautiful breakaway goal; he tucked the puck back away from the goaltender and roofed it. He looks big enough for the pro game. If I was a betting man I would say he will spend another year in Sweden. Rumor was that he will sign a contract by next week. The Sens want to give a long hard look in the fall. If anyone has any questions about some of the other players feel free to ask. I will try to answer the best I can.
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