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I’ve asked for your questions for a new mailbag, and you have delivered! In turn, I did my best to answer all of the ones that were not duplicates. There will be two more parts to this mailbag, so if you don’t see your question on this one, stay tuned for an answer in the next few days!
Here is part one:
Crimsoninja: Hey T-Shack, who's one under the radar Sens player or prospect that's a lot more talented than most non-Sens fans realize?
For someone on the roster, I’ll say Christian Wolanin. I’ve been a huge fan of his over the past two seasons, and I’d place him as the second best defenseman on the team already. He has been getting some love from the fans, but I don’t think people are realizing that he can easily be a top-four defenseman at worst and a top pairing player at best. I’m very excited about his future.
As for a prospect, I’ll say Angus Crookshank, Ottawa’s 5th round pick last draft. The UNH freshman has gotten off to a great start to his NCAA career, as he ranks 15th in the league in points per game amongst his age group:
He hasn’t gotten any coverage this season from fans, but he could quickly rise up prospect rankings if he keeps up this production.
Gramps28: Do you sometimes miss the old NHL? I do.
It’s hard to exactly know what the “old NHL” entails because I’m a 90s baby so I’m not as familiar with the tough hockey from the decades prior. Fights can be entertaining to watch, but so is skill on highlight-reel goals. I like the game right where it is.
Watsonnostaw: Huge fan of your work, Trev! Been reading your blogs religiously. As of now, what would your expansion draft protection list look like for our Sens? Stone included (No Duchene)
I love to hear that, I really appreciate it! For this, I’ll include Stone but assume that Duchene and Dzingel get moved. It’s hard to talk about expansion just because the team could look vastly different, but I’ll give it my best go.
Forwards (7): Stone, Tkachuk, White, Batherson, Tierney, Pageau, Brown
Defense (3): Chabot, Wolanin, Lajoie
Goalies (1): Gustavsson/Hogberg/whoever is the starter
It all depends on what prospects properly develop because those are the players that are going to take up the majority of the protected players. On forward, Filip Chlapik and Rudolfs Balcers could be on the list, and on defense, Christian Jaros and Dylan DeMelo could be options as well.
MJL: Why are you so biased against Cody Ceci? He's a player that coaches trust in a top 4 role.
I’m not “biased” against Cody Ceci, that’s not how bias works. He has never been an effective top-four defenseman in his career, and the fact that he gets those minutes is what is so infuriating. If he was treated as a sheltered 6th/7th defenseman (which he might be decent at somewhere else), then I probably would not talk about him as much. If your only argument as to why he is actually good is that he gets a lot of ice time, you’re appealing to authority way too much.
Over the past four seasons, he ranks 209th out of 214 defensemen in relative shot share, meaning that when he is on the ice, the Senators have been 4.54% worse than without him on the ice. The fact that he could have been involved in trade packages for some legitimately great forwards makes his presence on the team that much more frustrating. That’s the Senators fault and not his, but it’s fair for fans of the team to be upset with how he has been handled.
Streit2ThePoint: Do you think Seattle will have a legit shot at the playoffs as an expansion team?
It all depends on if GMs are dumb enough to give them too many assets again. Even after the draft, nobody expected Vegas to be good, but they still should not have been given all the free assets they received. Dale Tallon was a huge part of that by giving up Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith for nothing, while some of the other decisions weren’t as easy to criticize without the benefit of hindsight. The expansion rules aren’t inherently unfair for the rest of the league, and I feel like it’d be very hard for another team to do what the Knights did. I think Seattle will be something like an 80-point team in their first season.
Nucker101: Who on the current Sens roster would be most likely be featured on a cover of GQ?
Ooooh, this is the kind of curveball that I like to see in a sea of questions about Stone, Duchene, and Dzingel. The first player that came to mind, who already has magazine cover experience, is Cody Ceci.
The man knows how to look good on camera, making up for his other abilities:
Jean-Gabriel Pageau would also be a good choice,
as he has some experience as well.
And I can’t forget newly acquired Anders Nilsson either, as you can never go wrong with a tall Swede:
I’d still say the most likely is Ceci though.
2Real: Patrick + 1st + Farabee for Stone
I’m not sure if the person asking this is a Flyers or a Senators fan, but if the first round pick is in 2018, you have to take this if you are Pierre Dorion. That will easily be a top-5 pick, plus Patrick is an NHLer that has a high ceiling and Farabee is also an elite prospect. It would really hurt to lose Stone, but that deal would be way too much value to pass up on.
BingoLady: If the S
Yes.
Fuzy (Noah Luden with similar question): Do the Sens trade Dzingel? If they to who? I would like them to trade Dzingel to Edmonton for a 1st and a prospect.
I feel like they will. There haven’t even been any substantial talks between the two sides, and Dorion doesn’t seem very urgent about keeping him around. I’d love to keep him in Ottawa, but then again, this is probably a career year and if he is going to get upwards of $5.5M or even $6M, then that’s a bit rich. I definitely think Edmonton is a great target, even if they aren’t willing to give up this year’s first rounder.
Considering the cost of previous top-six rental wingers at the deadline, I don’t see why a 1st and a prospect would be untenable.
DAN: If the Sens can only afford to sign one of Mark Stone or Matt Duchene...which would you choose and why?
Ha, this was a question that I posed to my readers just last week. With a difference in money, it makes the conversation a bit more interesting, but even if we’re taking that into consideration, the easy answer is Mark Stone. He is certainly going to be the next captain of the team if he stays, and he fits the ideal mould of what a hockey player should be: energetic and upbeat with his teammates, worries about his defensive game first, and does the little things extremely well.
There isn’t a single area of Stone’s game that I can critique, as his skating has risen to average at the bare minimum. Because of his excellence in all areas of the game, I feel like he is going to age more gracefully than Duchene, as he won’t be reliant on just one facet of his game. Duchene, on the other hand, is not a great defensive player, so if he loses a step offensively, then he could become a diminishing asset rather quickly. I’d still love to have him around for the long-term, but I’m much more comfortable giving Stone an eight-year contract.
Nick: If you could delete an a-hole from Sens Twitter, who would it be?
Why can’t we all be friends?
Baron: Is Pierre Dorion now the worst GM in the league? (Please no excuses because of Melnyk)
I definitely would have had Peter Chiarelli below him before, but now he’s a lot closer to taking the throne. We still do have to give him a bit of a break because of Melnyk, just because I really don’t think Dorion would have traded Erik Karlsson if there was a different owner in charge. At the same time, his pro scouting has proven to be worse than average, and he’s not the right man for the job in order to create the next great team in Ottawa. Other GMs who might be in consideration for the worst are Dale Tallon, Jim Benning, and Marc Bergevin, but I think Dorion is clearly in the bottom five.
Fred Page: Does Guy Boucher get re-signed at the end of the season? If not, thoughts on Sheldon Keefe?
I would put the chances of him returning at 0%. His contract is up at the end of the season, and hiring a new coach will give Dorion a longer leash because it will be a “reset” of sorts. As for the Toronto Marlies coach Keefe, I have been talking him up since last season too, so I would be pretty excited to see him come to Ottawa. Someone such as Joel Quenneville would obviously be a dream scenario, but that is never going to happen.
So instead, they need to find an up-and-coming coach who is willing to think differently in this new age of hockey. I think Keefe can be that coach, and his results speak for themselves.
Gordie (similar to Andrew and Andre too): Will the Sens re-sign both Matt Duchene and Mark Stone?
My thoughts have changed a lot on this over the past nine months, so ask me next week after a new development and I might give you a different answer. However, as of now, I’m more confident that Stone will stay. I was unaware of this, but apparently Stone confirmed the fact that he and the Senators were close to a long-term extension before settling before arbitration, so there might actually be a willingness for him to stay, especially if he is promised the captaincy. I’m a bit worried because a deal was officially allowed to be announced on January 1st and nothing has happened yet. But I still feel like Stone is going to stay.
As for Duchene, I’m leaning towards thinking he is going to get moved. If he is unwilling to stay or is asking for over $9M, Dorion will have to trade him before the deadline in order to recoup some assets. I’d happily pay him $8M per season, but he’s been so good this season that he’d be wise to ask for even more. It probably bumps up his chances of staying if Stone also stays, but I also don’t think Duchene is going to settle for a less than ideal situation. I’d be pretty shocked if both get re-signed.
Joe A: Do you think the Senators move to Lebreton Flats? Or they move to Houston?
I firmly believe the Senators will get an arena at LeBreton at some point. Whether that includes Eugene Melnyk in any capacity is a different story. Plus it’s unclear when this will actually happen. I can’t see why the league would be okay with moving on from such a strong Canadian hockey market like Ottawa though.
Mark Borowiecki and Ben Harpur: How are we still in the NHL?
Beats me.
Thanks again for all of your questions, stay tuned for parts two and three of the mailbag!
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