you realize that him and his brother are going to get their contracts set to where as soon as they hit ufa and in an earlier then normal year they are going to go to the blues. This is widely talked about. Armstrong may even try and trade for mathew earlier. SO i wouldnt mark him as your captain andyou should expect to lose him the moment he becomes UFA> I am not trying to be an ahole i am stating fact its their dreams to come home and play for the blues like thier dad did who is still a blues employee
- BlueTaco

Thanks for stopping in, as I said to another user posting, nice to see Blues fans in here. As for Brady, I hear you that he will eventually end up in STL but as long as Ottawa can ice a contender he will be here for at least the next 4 years and I truly think he will be longer as long as ownership follows through on their promise of the 5 years of unparalleled success by spending to the cap ceiling.

I don't wander into Sens articles too often (good young team though, some damn nice pieces.) Just wondering if Blues fans make garbage "trade proposals" for your Tkachuk like they do Calgary's?

No, a washed up Tarasenko isn't getting you Matthew, use your half empty head.

Edit: oof, I guess they do, the guy above me.

The Blues don't have the young talent needed to get Matthew. Kyrou and Thomas are 2nd and 3rd pieces of a trade. Not happening.
- eternal_flames

There only hope is to wait for UFA status for either brother, or for both at one point.

all I can say as a BLUES fan since birth CGY & OTT please sign them long term so we never see another Tkachuk again in a BLUES sweater!
- bird diggler

Well Matthew is 2 years away from being a UFA, Brady 4 years!

I believe that this franchise has in place the makings of a perennial cup contender two or three years down the road.

A lot will depend on enough players deciding that it's worth giving up a lot of money to be part of something special. Make no mistake all of these guys have put in the work in their young lives to get to where they are and they deserve to make whatever decision best suits them.

That being said you only get one career as a player in the NHL and as a Sens fan I'm really hoping that Brady will be a leader or one of the leaders of a bunch of guys that really want to make something special and win a few cups over the course of the next decade.

Then there is Melnyk. If he goes off to the Caribbean and leaves hockey decisions to hockey people all should be well but if not then he will just make a mess.

Take a three year bridge, Brady, and see which it is. You only get one career. Don't let a fool screw it up for you; but I really really hope you'll be passing that cup on to the next guy in a couple three years.

Rookie Game -
Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators
Sat. Sept. 18, 2021. 4pm
More details to follow

Senators Intersquad Game -
Sat. Sept. 25 - 10AM
More details to follow

**Naturally as the province allows larger indoor group gatherings, we will find out if fans can attend**

In year's past the Intersquad game is part of Fan Fest Day outside of the Canadian Tire Center.

I will have this up on my twitter page as well!

Make sure you all check out the story I re-tweeted out on JG Pageau! It's on my twitter account.

Why would the blues ever trade anything for Matthew when they can be patient and just land him as an ufa in a few years. Im gonna go out a limb and say losing in Calgary for his entire career is probably not one of his longterm goals. Lmao
- bluenote31

These kind of posts are entirely bizarre.

You can go around the city of Ottawa or Montreal or Toronto or Edmonton or Calgary or Vancouver or Winnipeg and on multiple neighbourhood rinks you will find local NHL players beginning to ramp up their summer skating getting ready for training camp. In smaller communities like Kelowna and Halifax you would be able to ice an all star team getting ready for the season.

Other than for Tavares signing for $12m in Toronto has any player ever signed anywhere because they primarily wanted to play for their home town? Obviously, the Leafs probably regret having signed him for that number.

Love the posts suggesting Austin Matthews will jump at the chance to play for a team without an arena or fans at the end of his contract with the Leafs.

The Blues have topped out and are in serious decline without much talent in their development process. They are rapidly moving into a significant rebuild mode. They are a mess and not a serious contender to sign anyone. Does anybody think any professional player in any sport plans his career around playing for his home town during the peek years of his talent? Just does not work that way.

it takes more than a 5 year window to win a cup.... hell took Washington well over a decade after Ovechkin joined before they win a cup, regular players start to decline in their early 30s, super stars can last into their mid to late 30s, OTT has no superstars so their target should be the early 30s of their core players then rebuild or retool depending on talent level of their younger players, you will lose tons of fans if you do 5 year rebuild every 5 years....

it takes more than a 5 year window to win a cup.... hell took Washington well over a decade after Ovechkin joined before they win a cup, regular players start to decline in their early 30s, super stars can last into their mid to late 30s, OTT has no superstars so their target should be the early 30s of their core players then rebuild or retool depending on talent level of their younger players, you will lose tons of fans if you do 5 year rebuild every 5 years....
- Mithos

Yes! Rebuild cycle is more like 10 years including time for bottoming out, rebuilding, learning to contend and finally contending. Tampa and Colorado are the templates on how to do it. Recognize there will be hiccups and the need to adjust. Folks saw Colorado dealing Duchene as a backward step. However, it turns out that it was just one more moment of huge addition of talent into their system.

Patience seems to be a really important ingredient in the process.

Sorry about the five posts! I was using my phone and it wouldn't show the posted comment. lol

Sorry about the five posts! I was using my phone and it wouldn't show the posted comment. lol
- jaz258

I don't even read anything on here if it's not posted at least 3 times.

These kind of posts are entirely bizarre.

You can go around the city of Ottawa or Montreal or Toronto or Edmonton or Calgary or Vancouver or Winnipeg and on multiple neighbourhood rinks you will find local NHL players beginning to ramp up their summer skating getting ready for training camp. In smaller communities like Kelowna and Halifax you would be able to ice an all star team getting ready for the season.

Other than for Tavares signing for $12m in Toronto has any player ever signed anywhere because they primarily wanted to play for their home town? Obviously, the Leafs probably regret having signed him for that number.

Love the posts suggesting Austin Matthews will jump at the chance to play for a team without an arena or fans at the end of his contract with the Leafs.

The Blues have topped out and are in serious decline without much talent in their development process. They are rapidly moving into a significant rebuild mode. They are a mess and not a serious contender to sign anyone. Does anybody think any professional player in any sport plans his career around playing for his home town during the peek years of his talent? Just does not work that way.
- spatso

Maybe he wants to play in his hometown maybe he doesn't. The point is it would be smarter to wait the two years and just try and sign him vs trading assets now imo. I think the bigger point is he will probably want to play for a contender at some point and be sick of losing in Calgary. The blues may not even be a contender and then may not be in the running for him. Or maybe he is just cool with always losing and will go for most money as a ufa. Who knows

It's becoming increasingly clear that regardless of whether the Senators are considering a Eichel trade offer, at this point he remains THE major domino holding up any number of other potential trades involving scoring C. There's just way too much overlap in terms of the teams involved like NYR (Strome), CGY (Monahan), and ANA (Henrique) and players the Senators have been linked to already... where OTT might even be a 3rd team in on the deal. Plus, even teams who are fully removed from the Eichel situation will likely wait to see if there's a market-changing situation that could increase the value of their C asset (e.g. Dvorak, Hertl).

Dvorak is probably the best option available to them right now, especially if they're starting to talk in terms of a multi-year competitive window. He'd be a very good fit in terms of age profile, has solid two-way ability, is an established 15-20G scorer with potential for more, and is nicely cost-controlled for the next 4 years at $4.45M AAV. The offensive ceiling may be an issue, but an eventual C trio of Norris-Dvorak-Pinto would be an undeniably strong defensive group to contend with.

Pierre McGuire Sens Senior VP of Player Development will be on TSN1200 at 1:40PM EST! Make sure you all listen in!

The Sens need to stay away from any more 2-way forwards. This team has more (up and coming) 2 way forwards than you can shake a stick at. Their is not a single player on this team that looks to be able to develop into a point or more per game player. You can only get away with not having someone like that if you have Vezina nominable goaltending if you expect to make or succeed in the playoffs which we also do not have. 19th in league scoring last season and 28th in league goals against. This is why I really want the sens to bring in Eichel.

This team for some reason seems focused on bringing in offensive defensemen and defensive forwards... what's with that?

Sorry about the five posts! I was using my phone and it wouldn't show the posted comment. lol
- jaz258

No worries! Good to have you part of the discussion!

Maybe he wants to play in his hometown maybe he doesn't. The point is it would be smarter to wait the two years and just try and sign him vs trading assets now imo. I think the bigger point is he will probably want to play for a contender at some point and be sick of losing in Calgary. The blues may not even be a contender and then may not be in the running for him. Or maybe he is just cool with always losing and will go for most money as a ufa. Who knows
- bluenote31

Yes exactly, will the Blues be a contender in 2 years. Again, time will tell.

It's becoming increasingly clear that regardless of whether the Senators are considering a Eichel trade offer, at this point he remains THE major domino holding up any number of other potential trades involving scoring C. There's just way too much overlap in terms of the teams involved like NYR (Strome), CGY (Monahan), and ANA (Henrique) and players the Senators have been linked to already... where OTT might even be a 3rd team in on the deal. Plus, even teams who are fully removed from the Eichel situation will likely wait to see if there's a market-changing situation that could increase the value of their C asset (e.g. Dvorak, Hertl).

Dvorak is probably the best option available to them right now, especially if they're starting to talk in terms of a multi-year competitive window. He'd be a very good fit in terms of age profile, has solid two-way ability, is an established 15-20G scorer with potential for more, and is nicely cost-controlled for the next 4 years at $4.45M AAV. The offensive ceiling may be an issue, but an eventual C trio of Norris-Dvorak-Pinto would be an undeniably strong defensive group to contend with.
- khawk

You make a great point about Dvorak, but again, Eichel is the biggest domino right now. I am still working on a few things in regards to a 3 team rumoured trade.

The Sens need to stay away from any more 2-way forwards. This team has more (up and coming) 2 way forwards than you can shake a stick at. Their is not a single player on this team that looks to be able to develop into a point or more per game player. You can only get away with not having someone like that if you have Vezina nominable goaltending if you expect to make or succeed in the playoffs which we also do not have. 19th in league scoring last season and 28th in league goals against. This is why I really want the sens to bring in Eichel.

This team for some reason seems focused on bringing in offensive defensemen and defensive forwards... what's with that?
- TDBSenatoR

You make a great point on the defensive forward note. They do have incredible depth with guys that play the 200ft. game. They need a top flight forward/center with high end skill, produce 75-90 points for a season! Agreed!

You make a great point about Dvorak, but again, Eichel is the biggest domino right now. I am still working on a few things in regards to a 3 team rumoured trade.
- Kevin Francis

OTT is one if not the only team with a plethora of "spare" quality prospects to trade for Eichel, the only thing is if they do to make certain he is 100% healthy and in shape.

OTT is one if not the only team with a plethora of "spare" quality prospects to trade for Eichel, the only thing is if they do to make certain he is 100% healthy and in shape.
- Mithos

Easily the one team in the NHL with the best young assets to pull off the trade!

Easily the one team in the NHL with the best young assets to pull off the trade!
- Kevin Francis

The 1 problem is Eichel is under contract for awhile. I dont think the Sabres feel an urgency to move him unless the price is right, then come on down.

The 1 problem is Eichel is under contract for awhile. I dont think the Sabres feel an urgency to move him unless the price is right, then come on down.
- spazzbot

Eichel gets a NMC next July they got till then to trade him if they want ANY good pieces coming back

Eichel gets a NMC next July they got till then to trade him if they want ANY good pieces coming back
- Mithos

He can still be traded if he agrees regardless. But like alot ofteam Sabres need a #1 C. There is no pressure on them moving hin

“I can give you really good internal reports on the training habits of all our players but in particular, , who I’ve been tracking pretty much regularly, and he’s been training on Long Island. , and I haven’t spoken with Nick yet, but from everything I’ve been able to discern I guess he’s had a phenomenal summer. I’ve been in touch with and I know he’s had a really proactive summer. So there’s a lot that I can say that’s really positive about our group right now and I’ve heard so many good things about all our players but those are the ones that I know a little bit more about right now,” McGuire said.

McGuire said he made the decision to jump back into hockey management when ESPN was awarded the American hockey rights beginning this coming season. While McGuire admitted other teams inquired, he knew Ottawa was where he belonged once they reached out.

From TSN article