You can follow me on Twitter @ShackTS
Short (and late) version of Thursday Think Tank!
Arbitration Dates Set
We now know the arbitration dates for Mark Stone and Cody Ceci:
If Stone is not signed by August 3rd, then I will be extremely worried. They cannot let him get to arbitration, because then he’s almost as good as gone. I don’t want to think about the possibility of Karlsson, Stone, and Duchene all walking via free agency.
I have no idea what to expect with Ceci, although I would be surprised if it went all the way to arbitration considering Dorion’s love for him. We have a few weeks to see if they can get re-signed.
Rip off the bandaid
Just do it already. Trade Erik Karlsson. As I’ve said before, I don’t want him to leave the organization, but we’re just delaying the inevitable here. Of course, if Pierre Dorion is able to get a slightly better return by waiting for a few more weeks, then that’s worth it.
But just for our collective mental health, we need to stop thinking about this and move on. And people need to stop with the suggestion for them to wait until the trade deadline to get a better return. If they wait that long, other teams will be trading for 15-20 games of Karlsson instead of 82, and that means the offers will be even lower.
Even this past trade deadline when they could’ve had Karlsson for two playoff runs, the offers apparently weren’t that great, so don’t expect that to change a year later. In the end, I am sick of the speculation, and I am sick of not knowing what is going to happen.
Coyotes utilize cap space
The Arizona Coyotes traded for the contract of Marian Hossa, which makes that their third player (alongside Pavel Datsyuk and Dave Bolland) who will not be playing for the team but is getting paid by them.
Arizona didn’t get a ton for taking on the contract, although Hinostroza and Oesterle are serviceable depth players. I’m a bit surprised that they weren’t able to get more in terms of draft picks, but I guess GM John Chayka wanted some NHL-ready assets. It isn’t a massive addition for the Coyotes, but it’s a smart move to utilize their cap space to their advantage.
It’s unfortunate that the Senators can’t do that, because it would be nice to recoup some draft picks by taking on a not-so-great contract. However, considering Eugene Melnyk is interested in giving up Bobby Ryan, I doubt he would want to be adding another bad contract. I’d be shocked if the Senators ever did something like this, but it’s smart business.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»