Jeeezz. We watch this team loose how many one goal games, watch a power play that struggles to set up any momentum, and see every faceoff lost in the final minute of games and we are going to draft a defencemen? Let get real guys. A d-man would be nice, but is not a priority. This team needs a true #1 centre. There are about 10 quality guys available this draft. Not all will be franchise guys, that's the Sens job to pick the right guy.

I'm ok with Karlsson, Ceci, and Cowen going forward. If we can resign Methot, we should be good defence wise for awhile. We need better 5/6 guys. Do that via free agency or trade.

Only way for us to get a prime time centre is through the draft. I hope we aren't picking early in 2016, so may as well take advantage this year.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

one of ottawa's biggest issues, especially when it comes to production, is the COMPLETE inability of any d-men (other than karlsson) to produce or even move the puck with any semblance of skill.

obviously if you get the chance to get one of the big 2 centers you take it.....but i don't think that beyond them you're getting a top line center in this draft......you'll end up with more 2nd line guys. sorry, but ottawa already has a bunch of those guys.

what we don't have is anyone remotely close to being a top pairing calibre d-man to play with karlsson. yes, methot plays there now, but only because he's the best option we have, not because he's a top pairing guy. the sens have nobody on the NHL roster who fits that description, and nobody coming up who shows even the slightest potential of being "that guy". yes, re-signing methot is a nice temporary fix, and he'll be okay.....but he's already 30, so how many more good years can we expect out of him. most guys who play his style of game usually start to break down in their early 30's, and he's already showing signs of some nagging and recurring injuries.

we have NOBODY in our system, other than karlsson, who has the pedigree of a guy like hanifin. the guy could probably step onto our top pair as an 18 year old, and would probably.....actually, likely.....be our 2nd best d-man.

if we grabbed someone like strome or marner.....you're essentially getting another guy to throw into the mixer with zibby, turris, and lazar. none of them will be bonafied top line guys.

I agree for the most part. As i mentioned above though, if they drop down, the odds of drafting a #1C drop a lot. Drafting another 2nd line center isn't really going to help this team too much.
- david22

DING DING DING DING DING.......WE HAVE A WINNER.

that is the absolute LAST thing we should be looking at drafting, we already have 2, with another 2 potentials, on the NHL roster.

if ottawa can't get a bonafied #1 center, the next biggest need is a solid #2 d-man......hannifin

I agree for the most part. As i mentioned above though, if they drop down, the odds of drafting a #1C drop a lot. Drafting another 2nd line center isn't really going to help this team too much.
- david22

I agree. At a certain point you just take the best available player. Not sure Hannifin will go past 3 with the team that will be drafting. Buffalo, Edmonton, and Carolina would be hard pressed to pass on a d-man after the McDavid and Eichle sweeps. I see Arizona where we are and needing a centre. Should be interesting.

DING DING DING DING DING.......WE HAVE A WINNER.

that is the absolute LAST thing we should be looking at drafting, we already have 2, with another 2 potentials, on the NHL roster.

if ottawa can't get a bonafied #1 center, the next biggest need is a solid #2 d-man......hannifin
- sensarmy_11

No one has said they should look at drafting a 2nd line centre. The opportunity this year of getting a solid centre is huge. Especially if the top 3 go as expected. There will be a little more risk than a McDavid or Eichel, but the chance of getting a #1 guy is very good. Of course if things don't go according to plan, you take the best available guy.

DING DING DING DING DING.......WE HAVE A WINNER.

that is the absolute LAST thing we should be looking at drafting, we already have 2, with another 2 potentials, on the NHL roster.

if ottawa can't get a bonafied #1 center, the next biggest need is a solid #2 d-man......hannifin
- sensarmy_11

Marner absolutely has that upside, the last guy who led the OHL in scoring by the margin Marner is in his draft year was Tyler Seguin. He is a wizard out there with the puck, and does everything at high speed.

Now, hopefully we win the lotto and none of this matters, but to me, if we miss on the McEichel sweeps, Marner should be the target.

Hanafin, for what it's worth, would be my second choice.

Marner absolutely has that upside, the last guy who led the OHL in scoring by the margin Marner is in his draft year was Tyler Seguin. He is a wizard out there with the puck, and does everything at high speed.

Now, hopefully we win the lotto and none of this matters, but to me, if we miss on the McEichel sweeps, Marner should be the target.

Hanafin, for what it's worth, would be my second choice.
- TommyDeVito

Marner is following a similar path to Seguin and Duchene. Gifted centres, but have one or two guys ahead of them according to scouts. Great opportunity. I think Strome almost falls into the same category.

This team needs a true #1 centre...

I'm ok with Karlsson, Ceci, and Cowen going forward. If we can resign Methot, we should be good defence wise for awhile...

Only way for us to get a prime time centre is through the draft. I hope we aren't picking early in 2016, so may as well take advantage this year.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

1. I agree that the Sens either need a first line player. We're beating a dead horse that's been beaten beyyyond beaten this team has an excess of 2nd liners/potential 2nd liners [MacArthur, Turris, Hoffman, Zibanejad, Stone, Lazar, Puempel] and 3rd liners [Chiasson, Pageau, Prince, Michalek]. RIGHT NOW Bobby Ryan is a 2nd line player. His production and impact on the game is getting better but since he's come to Ottawa he has been a low end top line player AT BEST. But right now he's a good 2nd line power forward winger.

2. Defense will be a big issue if Methot doesn't resign. This leaves Cowen and Englund on the left side and - unless someone is resigned - likely means a high pick again next year. IF the Sens resign Methot one has to wonder in 3 years when Methot turns 33 heading into his 4th year of a deal, will he be worth $5-5.25M? Will it be possible to build around that?

take the BPA .... simple. We have need up upgrade on D and at forward..... that being said, I still think that one of Cowen and or Ceci has the potential to develop into a steady partner for Karlsson.

I agree that drafting another 2LC is not a good idea, but in order to 'guarantee' that, we need to get in the T3 this year in the draft, or trade for one.

The reality is that we can't trade for one, so we are back to the draft.

Here’s an idea ..... lets pull a Detroit (in that I mean get INCREDIBLY LUCKY) and draft a 1LC in the 6th or 7th round

Let’s not forget there is an outside chance we win the lottery.....

^^^
Cowen & Ceci Top pairing: certainly they have the ability to reach #2. Sens might as well take a permanent marker writing Ceci behind Karlsson. Both right side D and unless 65 gets injuried; that's 5's spot. Cowen was/is expected to play with Karlsson. It's possible but right now it's Cowen - Ceci.

Methot: this is a Dan Hamius clone (pretty much). If the Sens trade him now: they will likely loose more games, get a better pick, and really commit to the rebuild giving their young players opportunity. However, they might not maximize the asset, hinder Karlason, and most importantly have no replacement in the orgainzation.

Scouting: DET is an anomaly. The Sens have picked Hoffman, Stone, Pageau among others late so their not that bad. Overall - Srns need to retain the proper players and restablish a leadership group -- a void left by Alfredsson (less extent Gonchar) leaving

^^^
Cowen & Ceci Top pairing: certainly they have the ability to reach #2. Sens might as well take a permanent marker writing Ceci behind Karlsson. Both right side D and unless 65 gets injuried; that's 5's spot. Cowen was/is expected to play with Karlsson. It's possible but right now it's Cowen - Ceci.
Methot: this is a Dan Hamius clone (pretty much). If the Sens trade him now: they will likely loose more games, get a better pick, and really commit to the rebuild giving their young players opportunity. However, they might not maximize the asset, hinder Karlason, and most importantly have no replacement in the orgainzation.

Scouting: DET is an anomaly. The Sens have picked Hoffman, Stone, Pageau among others late so their not that bad. Overall - Srns need to retain the proper players and restablish a leadership group -- a void left by Alfredsson (less extent Gonchar) leaving
- King_Karlsson

cowen is now 24, and has shown NOTHING to indicate that he'll ever be more than an average 2nd pairing player. i think anyone who is expecting him to be a partner for karlsson is being extremely naive. if it happens, i'll be the first to eat crow (and happily at that), but right now he's nowhere close to being a top pairing guy. right now, he's probably the 4th best d-man, on a crappy defensive team.

cowen is now 24, and has shown NOTHING to indicate that he'll ever be more than an average 2nd pairing player. i think anyone who is expecting him to be a partner for karlsson is being extremely naive. if it happens, i'll be the first to eat crow (and happily at that), but right now he's nowhere close to being a top pairing guy. right now, he's probably the 4th best d-man, on a crappy defensive team.
- sensarmy_11

Let's not ignore the elephant in the room. All the defence talk is essentially trying to get an adequate partner for Karlsson. His career should tell you he doesn't always need a top tier guy. In his time in Ottawa, his best partners have been Kuba and Methot.

I'm personally looking for Cowen and Ceci to be our 2nd pairing. Karlsson is a hard player to play with. I wouldn't draft purely for his future partner. No one predicted that Kuba and Methot would play well with him. It kind of just happened.

Let's not ignore the elephant in the room. All the defence talk is essentially trying to get an adequate partner for Karlsson. His career should tell you he doesn't always need a top tier guy. In his time in Ottawa, his best partners have been Kuba and Methot.

I'm personally looking for Cowen and Ceci to be our 2nd pairing. Karlsson is a hard player to play with. I wouldn't draft purely for his future partner. No one predicted that Kuba and Methot would play well with him. It kind of just happened.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

i personally think karlsson has another step or two to take in his game.....and for no other reason than that, i want to see what he'd be like with an actual top pairing partner.

look at the olympics....he was EASILY the most dominant d-man in that tournament, which probably had a lot to do with teh fact that he was playing with elite level partners (OEL and edler).

the reason that karlsson's 2 best d partners have been methot and kuba, is that the VERY sad reality is that since karlsson has been here, those were probably the 2 next best d-men the team has had. i think karlsson would be UNREAL with an actual high calibre partner....one who had a game that helped support karlsson, but at the same time was a great d-man in his own right.

cowen is now 24, and has shown NOTHING to indicate that he'll ever be more than an average 2nd pairing player. i think anyone who is expecting him to be a partner for karlsson is being extremely naive. if it happens, i'll be the first to eat crow (and happily at that), but right now he's nowhere close to being a top pairing guy. right now, he's probably the 4th best d-man, on a crappy defensive team.
- sensarmy_11

wouldnt be the first time

>>>>>>>>>>> News (might be new for you or not)

Chris Phillips: out a week. Likely isn't get traded but if it's anything less than a 4th I'd keep him - agree?

Chris Neil: really doesn't want to leave Ottawa. The deal happens only if it's to one of the teams Neil doesn't put on his 15 no trades. I'm guessing all of the Canadian teams are on there. With 9 left I have to imagine BUF, CBJ, CAR, ARI, NJ are on there. The other 4 - what would you say?

Marc Methot: Really sounds like he wants to stay here. Talks about his chemsitry with Karlsson and says "you can't find that everywhere". My take: he's certainly raising this point to state a point: Karlsson is much better with me (as I am too). Also take it just as the truth. Methot wanted 5M over 5 years - I'd give him that (try 4.8 or 4.9) but its not worth loosing him over a few hundred 1000 - what do you think?

wouldnt be the first time
- SensnRBs

ouch dude.......ouch

cowen is now 24, and has shown NOTHING to indicate that he'll ever be more than an average 2nd pairing player. i think anyone who is expecting him to be a partner for karlsson is being extremely naive. if it happens, i'll be the first to eat crow (and happily at that), but right now he's nowhere close to being a top pairing guy. right now, he's probably the 4th best d-man, on a crappy defensive team.
- sensarmy_11

He may have turned 24 (two weeks ago) - but he has just passed the 200 game point. 82 game seasons - that means he hasn't even played 2.5 seasons in the NHL. Injuries and his lack of defensive sharpness and consistency has been frustrating for sure (his tenacious play - something really his weapon - hasn't been on full display either) but I still believe that MANAGEMENT still believes he has more upside - though it's hard to argue the point you made. He hasn't reached THAT ceiling.

>>>>>>>>>>> News (might be new for you or not)

Chris Phillips: out a week. Likely isn't get traded but if it's anything less than a 4th I'd keep him - agree?

Chris Neil: really doesn't want to leave Ottawa. The deal happens only if it's to one of the teams Neil doesn't put on his 15 no trades. I'm guessing all of the Canadian teams are on there. With 9 left I have to imagine BUF, CBJ, CAR, ARI, NJ are on there. The other 4 - what would you say?

Marc Methot: Really sounds like he wants to stay here. Talks about his chemsitry with Karlsson and says "you can't find that everywhere". My take: he's certainly raising this point to state a point: Karlsson is much better with me (as I am too). Also take it just as the truth. Methot wanted 5M over 5 years - I'd give him that (try 4.8 or 4.9) but its not worth loosing him over a few hundred 1000 - what do you think?
- AlfieisKing

chris phillips - as long as he's on this team, you have better guys wasting away in the AHL. phillips is barely an NHL calibre d-man at this point, and i don't think his leadership is enough to justify his roster spot. at this point i'd tell him that i was gonna trade him, and if not, buy him out at the end of the year (unless he retires). the only other option IMO is to get rid of two of (weircioch/gryba/boro)...all of whom are better players than phillips. getting rid of those guys, just to keep phillips, seems stupid.

chris neil - he'll be moved to nashville. everything i've read indicates that he'd like to go there, and that they're interested in him. apparantely a team that is interested in him, but he put on his "no trade list" is the rangers.....seems weird that he wouldn't want to go there.

marc methot - i wouldn't mind re-signing him at all.......but i wouldn't give him any more than 3 years on an extension. i'd even pay him an extra couple 100k to shorten the term. i don't imagine that will happen....but it's what i'd want to do.

First of all, Murray's priority should be to thin out this roster to maintain a top 5 pick..

Get more picks for this summer in Florida.

And open up roster spots for the youth like Shane Prince, Matty Puemple ect..

Does BM trade Andy or Methot ? I hope not.

I'm sure he'll be busy selling on or before TD day.

Methot's interview was awesome after the practice (just now)

Here's the sum up points: He wants to stay in Ottawa from what he's saying things very openly. Talks about Lehner's emotion and that he likes to see that compared to a guy that goes home after a lose and sleeps well ("it's ok to get angry" / show emotion). He also talks about CBJ (mentions Johansen) saying "I hate talking about that team" (lol) but says this team has young players "Hoff, Zibanejad, Ceci, Lazar"and mentions the playoff run they had. Methot is very open and honest when he talks. I say if he says he is the new Phillips - slap a A on his jersey (hopefully and sadly Neil HAS to be traded). It just benefits the team too much

He may have turned 24 (two weeks ago) - but he has just passed the 200 game point. 82 game seasons - that means he hasn't even played 2.5 seasons in the NHL. Injuries and his lack of defensive sharpness and consistency has been frustrating for sure (his tenacious play - something really his weapon - hasn't been on full display either) but I still believe that MANAGEMENT still believes he has more upside - though it's hard to argue the point you made. He hasn't reached THAT ceiling.
- AlfieisKing

it's not the fact that he hasn't reached the ceiling yet that concerns me..........it's the fact that he hasn't even come close to perhaps showing the potential to reach that ceiling (and yes i realize that was long-winded, done delibertely, lol).

you'd think that if he had that potential, he'd show flashes of it here and there......we see flashes of brilliance from guys like ceci, zibby, etc....but never from cowen. twitter explodes when he goes a full game without making a game changing mistake......that alone should say something about his play.

i think he'll be a good 2nd pairing guy, and i have no issues with him on the team......i just don't think he'll ever develop into a top pairing guy.

Methot's interview was awesome after the practice (just now)

Here's the sum up points: He wants to stay in Ottawa from what he's saying things very openly. Talks about Lehner's emotion and that he likes to see that compared to a guy that goes home after a lose and sleeps well ("it's ok to get angry" / show emotion). He also talks about CBJ (mentions Johansen) saying "I hate talking about that team" (lol) but says this team has young players "Hoff, Zibanejad, Ceci, Lazar"and mentions the playoff run they had. Methot is very open and honest when he talks. I say if he says he is the new Phillips - slap a A on his jersey (hopefully and sadly Neil HAS to be traded). It just benefits the team too much
- AlfieisKing

this would be my "ideal/dream" situation.......

- sens draft hanifin
- 3 of the follwing 4 are either traded or sent down (phillips/boro/weircioch/gryba)
- methot is re-signed

next year, our D looks like

karlsson - meth
ceci - cowen
"whoever is left" - hannifin

claesson/wideman

2-3 years from now, or D looks like

karlsson - hannifin
ceci - methot
claesson/wideman - cowen

englund

First of all, Murray's priority should be to thin out this roster to maintain a top 5 pick..

Get more picks for this summer in Florida.

And open up roster spots for the youth like Shane Prince, Matty Puemple ect..

Does BM trade Andy or Methot ? I hope not.

I'm sure he'll be busy selling on or before TD day.
- Erik6Karlsson5

1. Down the Stretch: I agree. Can you imagine if the Sens go on a 7 or 8 wins in 10 games stretch. That's my fear. This is why Craig Anderson being out is so great (not really but you get it) - can you imagine if he was the entire season? McDavid or Eichel might be looking at Ottawa real estate

2. Kids coming up: I agree. Sens need to get their kids up here but to do that they need to make roster spots - trading Neil and atleast one other guy. The only way winning is acceptable this year (for fans) is if it means kids are developing and taking big steps

3. Anderson - won't be traded until draft (IF he is). After the way Lehner has been playing it makes it likely in OCT both goalies will be back (unless Lehner is traded in which case 1) he has fell of in the eyes of management 2) return is too good to pass. Methot is either getting traded or signed in next 20 days MAX

1. I agree that the Sens either need a first line player. We're beating a dead horse that's been beaten beyyyond beaten this team has an excess of 2nd liners/potential 2nd liners
- AlfieisKing[MacArthur, Turris, Hoffman, Zibanejad, Stone, Lazar, Puempel] and 3rd liners [Chiasson, Pageau, Prince, Michalek]. RIGHT NOW Bobby Ryan is a 2nd line player. His production and impact on the game is getting better but since he's come to Ottawa he has been a low end top line player AT BEST. But right now he's a good 2nd line power forward winger.

2. Defense will be a big issue if Methot doesn't resign. This leaves Cowen and Englund on the left side and - unless someone is resigned - likely means a high pick again next year. IF the Sens resign Methot one has to wonder in 3 years when Methot turns 33 heading into his 4th year of a deal, will he be worth $5-5.25M? Will it be possible to build around that?

Every time you post I agree with 90% of it, and disagree STRONGLY with the other 10%

Bobby has been one of the best players on the ice in every one of our last 20 contests, for either side.

He is easily a first line player, his stats simply don't reflect that because he isn' playing beside first line talent.

If Bobby Ryan was playing the way he is on Ryan Johansen's wing, he'd have 65 points by now.