Yup.
Dorion is going to over pay FOR Fiala and then over pay HIM on his next deal. The same way someone else will with Kadri.

It was a weird offensive season last year with record points being put up. I'd call it a "weak goalie cycle". Yes there were a few Vezina all world characters. But there were way more dud net minders that let in everything thrown at them.

it's like in baseball....when the ball is flying out of the park the pitchers are crying about juiced balls and hitters get fat contracts. The next year (like this one) hitting is down, the ball isn't flying and bunch of pitchers are gonna get overpaid.
- Octavarium

I'm also worried about Dorion overpaying for Fiala, mostly because I assume he'll look at him as an 80 point player instead of a 55-60.

But.. the more I read, the more I think it may not be a given it would blow up in Ottawa's face. It would plug a major hole on the RW, and it wouls signal to some of the core that they are trying to address the teams stagnation.

Also, while his numbers were lower in each of the two previous seasons, both of those were shortened years. Anyone know how much he played with Kaprizov this year?

Minni is in a weakened position, so it would be nice if that would effect his cost, but that only seems to effect Ottawa more than other teams.

Yup.
Dorion is going to over pay FOR Fiala and then over pay HIM on his next deal. The same way someone else will with Kadri.

It was a weird offensive season last year with record points being put up. I'd call it a "weak goalie cycle". Yes there were a few Vezina all world characters. But there were way more dud net minders that let in everything thrown at them.

it's like in baseball....when the ball is flying out of the park the pitchers are crying about juiced balls and hitters get fat contracts. The next year (like this one) hitting is down, the ball isn't flying and bunch of pitchers are gonna get overpaid.
- Octavarium

It's amazing how many of these sports pundits have only one name on their minds for Ottawa. Minnesota is going to clean up on Dorion who will do a Fiala deal because for him it's now become the safe thing to do.

Have to disagree with your dismissal of Giroux. He finished with the 2nd most playoff points on the Panthers (8Pts/10GP), including the 2nd most playoff goals (3G), plus we went >55% in the faceoff circle. There are many reasons for why FLA lost in 4 games, but I don't see much evidence that Giroux was the root cause.

Unfortunately, the smoke around Fiala is getting to be too much. I just hope Dorion doesn't get absolutely fleeced, and give up something he really shouldn't.
- khawk

I think the panthers had 25+ p.p. in no way am i blaming giroux for the loss although he was brought in as p.p specialist. But if the p.p fails in post season likely will your team...particullarly this year and likely moving forward
I just dont see the need to bring in an expensive vet on the downhill slope. Imo money could be better spent.

I think the panthers had 25+ p.p. in no way am i blaming giroux for the loss although he was brought in as p.p specialist. But if the p.p fails in post season likely will your team...particullarly this year and likely moving forward
I just dont see the need to bring in an expensive vet on the downhill slope. Imo money could be better spent.
- spazzbot

I haven't noticed any camera shots lately of Brady and his dad cheering on Matthew.

I got power finally!

Did anyone hear the ridiculous Dorion interview today on TSN1200? It really is a circus.

I hope everyone in Ottawa is doing ok.

I haven't noticed any camera shots lately of Brady and his dad cheering on Matthew.
- Whatisavailable

I doubt they would go to Edmonton lol

It's amazing how many of these sports pundits have only one name on their minds for Ottawa. Minnesota is going to clean up on Dorion who will do a Fiala deal because for him it's now become the safe thing to do.
- Whatisavailable

Kevin posted in here months ago about Fiala, Nashville traded him, he was a problem in the locker room and soft. He wont go into the traffic areas. Then he gets rewarded by playing with Kaprizov this year, has his best production ever then disappears in the playoffs again like he always does. It's Dadonov 2.0, PD paid him crazy money but forgot that Huberdeau and Barkov were his linemates. PD will get sucked in again. Book it.

I got power finally!

Did anyone hear the ridiculous Dorion interview today on TSN1200? It really is a circus.

I hope everyone in Ottawa is doing ok.
- LawyerSens4Life

I cherry picked what I wanted to hear LOL.
#7 pick in play. Ok......you would have screwed it up anyhow
he said something to the effect of not being after a player like Fiala. He doesn't want to trade for someone who he has to resign for a huge deal. He wants someone with cost certainty and under control. It's all well and good to want one of those players but they often aren't up for grabs. It might cost him #7 ++.

I agree with the consensus about Fiala. Several months ago, it seemed possible to get him for a reasonable deal but coming off the year he had, it will cost too much via trade, plus you'd be forced to sign him to a long term deal. I haven't watched him nearly enough to gauge a good scouting report on the guy, but if he doesn't perform in the playoffs, you might want to pass.

If the team can sign Giroux for decent deal, that would be a good push for the forward group and addresses the RW with a guy who can also play C. You still have a vacant LW slot as I don't think Formenton has the stuff to be an NHL top six. I wonder what Calgary's cap situation may be like next year with both Gaudreau (UFA) and Tkachuk (RFA) looking for new deals. Likely wishful thinking but could solidify the top six and obviously a bit more attractive that Fiala. The contracts would likely be scary.

One thing Dorion has to address before any moves are made is the contracts of Murray, White and Zaitsev. Those three guys account for 15 million dollars per year. None of these players bring anything of value to the team. That is huge money for a budget team that could be very easily spread out in more effective ways.

Dorion should be set up for a very active summer, but I fear it will be underwhelming yet again with either a lack of moves or the wrong moves. He obviously has some handcuffs off with Eugene gone (firing McGuire) so there is potential for him to make positive changes but it's hard to be positive with his track record. Likely spend all summer with the Norris negotiations and forget about the rest of the roster.

I agree with the consensus about Fiala. Several months ago, it seemed possible to get him for a reasonable deal but coming off the year he had, it will cost too much via trade, plus you'd be forced to sign him to a long term deal. I haven't watched him nearly enough to gauge a good scouting report on the guy, but if he doesn't perform in the playoffs, you might want to pass.

If the team can sign Giroux for decent deal, that would be a good push for the forward group and addresses the RW with a guy who can also play C. You still have a vacant LW slot as I don't think Formenton has the stuff to be an NHL top six. I wonder what Calgary's cap situation may be like next year with both Gaudreau (UFA) and Tkachuk (RFA) looking for new deals. Likely wishful thinking but could solidify the top six and obviously a bit more attractive that Fiala. The contracts would likely be scary.

One thing Dorion has to address before any moves are made is the contracts of Murray, White and Zaitsev. Those three guys account for 15 million dollars per year. None of these players bring anything of value to the team. That is huge money for a budget team that could be very easily spread out in more effective ways.

Dorion should be set up for a very active summer, but I fear it will be underwhelming yet again with either a lack of moves or the wrong moves. He obviously has some handcuffs off with Eugene gone (firing McGuire) so there is potential for him to make positive changes but it's hard to be positive with his track record. Likely spend all summer with the Norris negotiations and forget about the rest of the roster.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

Agreed.

My big hope is that they move Zaitsev in the summer for an addition by subtraction scenario.

After that, I wonder if Edmonton would be interested in Matt Murray with half his salary/cap hit covered by Ottawa. If not, I wouldn't be surprised if the team would hope to save money on his deal by future LTI absences.

Dorion's comments about adding a top 6F and a top 4D is just a re-hash of what he has said in the past. The team is not looking to spend more than the salary cap minimums until the season ticket base is greatly increased.

One trade option that could have real potential involves MTL & Colin White, which was strongly rumored at the trade deadline. The 'obvious' player of interest going the other way would be Josh Anderson. For MTL it would cut a bit of salary/term, and bring in another middle-6 C. For OTT it would allow them to part ways with White (which they clearly want to do), and bring in a "big-body" RW with 20G upside, who plays the kind of physical game that Dorion/Smith are just 24/7 obsessed with.

One trade option that could have real potential involves MTL & Colin White, which was strongly rumored at the trade deadline. The 'obvious' player of interest going the other way would be Josh Anderson. For MTL it would cut a bit of salary/term, and bring in another middle-6 C. For OTT it would allow them to part ways with White (which they clearly want to do), and bring in a "big-body" RW with 20G upside, who plays the kind of physical game that Dorion/Smith are just 24/7 obsessed with.
- khawk

Josh is not a top 6 RW, his stats points to him being a 3rd line RW, his cap is 5.5m for another 5 years vs 4.5 for 3 years for White, that is a hell of a dangerous gamble OTT would be taking, Josh would be 33 when his contract ends and he is already struggling to put up goals and points. So ya, Dorion is dumb enough to trade for him and proly add in OTT 7th OA.....

Every Sens or hockey fan needs to listen to this podcast that Ian Mendes is on! The first half of it is absolutely exploding! It basically says the Ottawa media on all platforms failed the teams employees and this fanbase!

https://dcs.megaphone.fm/...c7f1bad33f4aa118d446a2cff

Every Sens or hockey fan needs to listen to this podcast that Ian Mendes is on! The first half of it is absolutely exploding! It basically says the Ottawa media on all platforms failed the teams employees and this fanbase!

https://dcs.megaphone.fm/...c7f1bad33f4aa118d446a2cff
- Kevin Francis

they are called the access media, meaning they do what the team wants em to do/write/report to get access, they have no journalistic integrity

Josh is not a top 6 RW, his stats points to him being a 3rd line RW, his cap is 5.5m for another 5 years vs 4.5 for 3 years for White, that is a hell of a dangerous gamble OTT would be taking, Josh would be 33 when his contract ends and he is already struggling to put up goals and points. So ya, Dorion is dumb enough to trade for him and proly add in OTT 7th OA.....
- Mithos

Just to be clear, I'm not really endorsing this trade idea... just that I could see it being feasible, if Dorion was looking to move White and 'kind-of' address the top-6 in the process. In fairness, his stats actually do point to him being a top-6-RW in terms of goals (T-31st), points (T-44th), points-per-game (49th), shots (T-39th), ice time (32nd) and PP ice time (T-36th)... just not a great one. But he's definitely a #2RW, by virtually any definition that you want to use. People tend to grossly over-estimate what a "top-6" forward actually produces... you can say he's struggling to put up goals, but in reality he scored goals at the same pace as Stutzle last year.

Great tweet by Simmer today at TSN1200.

Great discussion on the Sens D depth chart.

Chabot _________
Sanderson Zub
Holden Hamonic
Brannstrom JBD
Del Zotto Thomson
Zaitsev

The season really hinges on finding that top 4 D man.

they are called the access media, meaning they do what the team wants em to do/write/report to get access, they have no journalistic integrity
- Mithos

If you are on Twitter, check out my stuff over the last day!

they are called the access media, meaning they do what the team wants em to do/write/report to get access, they have no journalistic integrity
- Mithos

But yes you are correct!

Great tweet by Simmer today at TSN1200.

Great discussion on the Sens D depth chart.

Chabot _________
Sanderson Zub
Holden Hamonic
Brannstrom JBD
Del Zotto Thomson
Zaitsev

The season really hinges on finding that top 4 D man.
- Kevin Francis

....and getting rid of zaitsev. Top4 d and getting rid of zaitsev is more important than a forward.

....and getting rid of zaitsev. Top4 d and getting rid of zaitsev is more important than a forward.
- GrimmdaGoalie

Oh big time, there is no way under any circumstance that he can be in Ottawa next year, even if you bury him in Belleville, enough is enough!

Another great tweet on my Twitter timeline.

With all the speculation and uncertainty regarding the Sens, I would love to see ownership & management sit down with “all” local media sources and just have one day to answer everything truthfully, respectfully, and to clean the slate to start next season. Own it and move on.

One trade option that could have real potential involves MTL & Colin White, which was strongly rumored at the trade deadline. The 'obvious' player of interest going the other way would be Josh Anderson. For MTL it would cut a bit of salary/term, and bring in another middle-6 C. For OTT it would allow them to part ways with White (which they clearly want to do), and bring in a "big-body" RW with 20G upside, who plays the kind of physical game that Dorion/Smith are just 24/7 obsessed with.
- khawk

It actually wasn't Anderson, I have info that proves it wasn't him, but these 2 sources are longtime people that I trust and wont risk posting the info, so I don't lose those sources. But it was Montreal that pulled out last minute, that is all I can say.

Have to disagree with your dismissal of Giroux. He finished with the 2nd most playoff points on the Panthers (8Pts/10GP), including the 2nd most playoff goals (3G), plus we went >55% in the faceoff circle. There are many reasons for why FLA lost in 4 games, but I don't see much evidence that Giroux was the root cause.

Unfortunately, the smoke around Fiala is getting to be too much. I just hope Dorion doesn't get absolutely fleeced, and give up something he really shouldn't.
- khawk

I really get the feeling that Giroux resigns in Florida!

Interesting story but it is just hard for me to wrap my head around McGuire being the knowledgeable good guy.He always came across as arrogant on TV IMO. If you listened to what he said he tended to repeat the same facts about players year after year after year. He never could mention Sean Couturier without saying “He scored 96 points two years in a row for Drummondville”. Is that knowledge or trivia? Not a fan.

If Dorian is really the heavy I feel bad for the Ottawa fans. Maybe we could do an incompetency swap with Fletcher from Philly.
- Djapana

I have a few friends that are Flyers fans, your comment is pretty funny, looks like both fanbases have idiots as GM's!

I agree with the consensus about Fiala. Several months ago, it seemed possible to get him for a reasonable deal but coming off the year he had, it will cost too much via trade, plus you'd be forced to sign him to a long term deal. I haven't watched him nearly enough to gauge a good scouting report on the guy, but if he doesn't perform in the playoffs, you might want to pass.

If the team can sign Giroux for decent deal, that would be a good push for the forward group and addresses the RW with a guy who can also play C. You still have a vacant LW slot as I don't think Formenton has the stuff to be an NHL top six. I wonder what Calgary's cap situation may be like next year with both Gaudreau (UFA) and Tkachuk (RFA) looking for new deals. Likely wishful thinking but could solidify the top six and obviously a bit more attractive that Fiala. The contracts would likely be scary.

One thing Dorion has to address before any moves are made is the contracts of Murray, White and Zaitsev. Those three guys account for 15 million dollars per year. None of these players bring anything of value to the team. That is huge money for a budget team that could be very easily spread out in more effective ways.

Dorion should be set up for a very active summer, but I fear it will be underwhelming yet again with either a lack of moves or the wrong moves. He obviously has some handcuffs off with Eugene gone (firing McGuire) so there is potential for him to make positive changes but it's hard to be positive with his track record. Likely spend all summer with the Norris negotiations and forget about the rest of the roster.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

Great post as always! Agreed on Fiala and Giroux. But the most pressing thing is the deadweight contracts....if that part isn't fixed, then this team is right back to where they were last year at the beginning of the season! Norris said he wanted a deal done fast, but then PD who says he never negotiates, said at his end of season presser that they tried to get a contract done with Norris to start the season. PD is an idiot, don't tell the fans one thing then do the opposite when its convenient for you.