Logan Brown for Derek Stepan straight up. Smith would be in heaven but I think Ottawa would need to add a significant piece to sweeten the deal.

Be nice to have Brown come home. After Brady signs a bridge deal with a poison pill, be nice having him home as well.

The is some concern with deals like Batherson's. The contract fairly compensates him in his current role as a top-6 forward on a substandard squad. $5 million looks affordable for Batherson today.

Assuming Melnyk continues to allow Dorion to assemeble a competitive roster, it is useful to consider many of the current players will eventually slot much lower in the line-up. Batherson's skill limitations render him unsuitable for long-term top-6 forward duty on a better roster. Competitive teams rarely have more than one players with significant deficiency among the top-6 forwards. While Batherson's offense and skating have both improved, his comical footwork will limit his role as a top 6 forward.

The deal will look fine if Dorion cannot acquire more suitable players. However, if he is more appropriately placed on a third line, or his skating stagnates requiring demotion to the fourth, then this contract will be problematic.

Logan Brown for Derek Stepan straight up. Smith would be in heaven but I think Ottawa would need to add a significant piece to sweeten the deal.
- Whatisavailable

Be nice to have Brown come home. After Brady signs a bridge deal with a poison pill, be nice having him home as well.
- BluemanGuruu

It will be 3 year bridge deal or a nice big 6 year deal for Brady. Brown just needs a coaching staff that will put him in a position to succeed, plus stay healthy!!

Team and Logan Brown both need to move on from one another.

It has not worked out for him in Ottawa. He certainly has an NHL skill set. But does he have the work ethic to push himself to next level?
- spatso

Yes true, work ethic and that in term might allow him to stay healthy!

I hope they give l. Brown a chance. At this point after all the time invested ( see what he can bring to the tablefor 20 games)why bother trading unless someone else way overvalues him or ils part of a big game trade.
Nice call on Bath. Its a slightly overpay at this time but hopefully becomes a steal of a deal..
What is Stutzle going to be worth?
- spazzbot

Team has been patient with him but his work ethic never transformed which then was his undoing as he couldnt stay healthy.

As for Drake, thanks! But yes, in years 4-6 the cap hit will be a bargain if he continues his progression.

This article reads like it was written by Eklund.
- Distrad

Oh yes it was, can I have more of what you are drinking? How about you go back and ready my other blogs then tell me I am Eklund living in Ottawa????

That’s because it was.
- Quetzalcoatl

Like I said to the prior reader that said this........
Oh yes it was, can I have more of what you are drinking? How about you go back and ready my other blogs then tell me I am Eklund living in Ottawa????

I will be back later to reply to all the comments, had a quick 10 minutes free to reply. Back to the family on this glorious Saturday, sunny skies in Ottawa, no a could to be seen, love it!

Oh yes it was, can I have more of what you are drinking? How about you go back and ready my other blogs then tell me I am Eklund living in Ottawa????
- Kevin Francis

Anyone who still thinks your Eklund should go back to the blog where you were commenting on the Red Blacks. No way Eklund wrote any of that!!

Anyone who still thinks your Eklund should go back to the blog where you were commenting on the Red Blacks. No way Eklund wrote any of that!!
- forbetterorWORSE

I'd be very impressed with Ek's dedication if he was willing to go that far

Dvorak a hab so he is out for potential OTT trade.

Quick 2am post after a redblacks game... Is this shoebeer?
- Kunger7

I’m not sure, but I was sitting in section UU last night, with some major shoebeering going on… I’ll let you know if I find out anything.

Anyone who still thinks your Eklund should go back to the blog where you were commenting on the Red Blacks. No way Eklund wrote any of that!!
- forbetterorWORSE

Exactly, so it is obvious the reader doesnt ready my blogs or comments.

Dvorak a hab so he is out for potential OTT trade.
- Mithos

Just saw that, impressive! Kids are my focus until they go to bed tonight. Then I will be on here more in the comments.

I’m not sure, but I was sitting in section UU last night, with some major shoebeering going on… I’ll let you know if I find out anything.
- PavohnDatsvares

We were fortunate enough to sit in a suite last night, last week too, lucky to be in a suite when it pounded rain.

I hope you're wrong about Logan Brown but I can easily see why he'd want to get away from a pigheaded Smith and I can see why hockey people familiar with the player would love to snap him up for next to nothing and maybe even take Dorion to the cleaners in the process.. Another really bad move by this franchise would be no surprise.

Since Dorion would love to cover up the stupidity of the proudest day of his life how about Logan Brown and Brannstrom plus next year's first for a fringe, underperforming middle six center or rw with a high and lengthy cap hit? Or maybe a reasonably good middle six center or rw but only under contract for a year and looking for a substantial raise with term?

How about Jordan Martinook or Jesper Fest? It would be really funny if it was Kotkaniemi. How about Nick Bonino or a couple of favourites like Hertl or Dvorak? That will really move the needle!

I can just see Ottawa finally winning the lottery just to put the icing on the cake because this team is not going anywhere without consistent goal tending and will almost certainly be a lottery team this year again.

Brady should for his own sake only take a bridge deal to see what's happening a couple of years down the road. He doesn't need to be in any rush and the whole frustration drama could just be a way to justify not making a long term commitment to the team.
- Whatisavailable

There is so much animosity between Brown and his camp, plus his family too. Dorion and DJ haven't helped the cause. Remember Dorion calling Crookshank after his first goal, things like that where the GM goes out of his way for one player but not for another.

Dvorak a hab so he is out for potential OTT trade.
- Mithos

Looking at what Montreal payed, I;m glad.

melnyk saves money now and trades the players when they get hier salary to cap hit.

You have to stop thinking that melnyk wants to build a contending team, what he wants is the cheapest playoff making team...ever, to cash in on playoff money, building a perennial cup contending team is out of his price range.
- Mithos

There is no doubt Melnyk is calculated!!

This is probably why i have no clue as to salary structure.
My question is why escelate Bath salary so its more money in salary in the later years? I know the cap hit remains the same for 6 years wich is probably the bottom line.
My thinking would be pay more now while the team is gaining momentum. And while Bath is gaing momentum.
Then pay less in later years.
I think that due to mostly negative what ifs. Lets say this rebuild fails to turn the corner. It would be nice to have lower salaries.
Or if Bath fails or succeeds on a individual level a lower salary could have many advantages in later years.
- spazzbot

The flat cap definitely influences the money to escalate later when revenues increase!

I don't believe that Melnyk intends to sustain the burden of player salaries beyond a few years. Every decision seems to suggest that Melnyk is negotiating with a view to selling all or part of his ownership in the Sens.
- spatso

You are right on that for sure. There is a lot going on behind closed doors. Many fans will tell you the ownership here cant change soon enough.

The salary structure of these new contracts is a little strange. When they did it with Matt Murray, I thought they were making it so he would be less attractive to Seattle in the expansion draft.

Now, with these new contracts being back loaded with heavy cash, I think its because:

- EM is going to sell within 2 to 3 yrs, and wants to limit the outlay in real cash without hurting the value of his team and its players

- the Sens don't have much real cash lying around due to the pandemic and are playing it smart with the contracts, hoping for the cash infusion that will come when restrictions are lifted

- the players themselves want the deals backloaded, to get the majority of their money away from the present high escrow

Probably some combination of all three.
- GrimmdaGoalie

You hit the nail on the head with your first 2 points. Well done, well said.

The is some concern with deals like Batherson's. The contract fairly compensates him in his current role as a top-6 forward on a substandard squad. $5 million looks affordable for Batherson today.

Assuming Melnyk continues to allow Dorion to assemeble a competitive roster, it is useful to consider many of the current players will eventually slot much lower in the line-up. Batherson's skill limitations render him unsuitable for long-term top-6 forward duty on a better roster. Competitive teams rarely have more than one players with significant deficiency among the top-6 forwards. While Batherson's offense and skating have both improved, his comical footwork will limit his role as a top 6 forward.

The deal will look fine if Dorion cannot acquire more suitable players. However, if he is more appropriately placed on a third line, or his skating stagnates requiring demotion to the fourth, then this contract will be problematic.
- Jackie Daytona

If you think Drake is destined for the 3rd or 4th line in the future, you truly never watched a Sens game this past year.

This needs to be said about Bruce Garrioch. I can’t sit by and watch a respected beat writer for PostMedia, be allowed to get away with this. I can’t be quiet on something so deliberate. A reader on here, “cross side” I believe posted a comment that made me go and look to see what he said was true. I looked it up Saturday night and thought I will wait to post this, they say don’t post something in anger, sit on it, then after you sit on it if you still feel the same way, post it. After looking into it, this is as close to plagiarism as I have seen in sports coverage in quite some time. In fact, Garrioch’s sports editor needs to be alerted about this. Whoever his editor is. The entire article is about Logan Brown with too much of the same information.

Your Sens blogger posted that Logan Brown could possibly be traded this weekend at 2am Sept 4th. Around 1pm, 11 hours later, Bruce Garrioch writes a column stating far too much of the same information that Kevin posted here on Hockeybuzz but gives it the Garrioch spin in a few different words.

If a Hockeybuzz blogger had done the same thing, every Sens fan would be screaming that he copied Bruce’s info then posted it as his own. Yelling for him to be fired. Far too many hockey fans like to rag about Hockeybuzz and such but I guess it’s ok to do as you want because you write for a newspaper publication. But why is a long time sports writer allowed to do it? I say it’s a double standard that needs to change and Bruce should be ashamed to pull this kind of stunt.

You be the judge. Bruce just happens to mention the same teams that the Sens blogger posted, who are interested in Logan Brown while saying he could be traded. No way that this is a coincidence. In fact this type of behaviour should tarnish the image of Bruce Garrioch. More of these so called professional sports writers should be taken to task with this kind of garbage, but they aren’t. Why? Are they protected?

Out here on the west coast I know if any Vancouver sports writer or Canucks blogger for that matter, did the same type of thing, it would be a full blown kangaroo court scenario.

Take a look at the link below and you tell me if I am off base? Why doesn’t Bruce say, give reference to where he saw which teams were interested in Logan Brown? Instead he claims it as his own work.

https://www.yardbarker.co...omments/s1_16454_35784212