Will Brady get over 100 points like his brother did in his 6th season?

What I would like to see in the first half of the season
1) Better overall team defence. Stop looking like the Keystone Cops in exiting their own zone.
2) Norris makes his debut and we see no more of the shoulder (or other) injury.
3) The team remains relatively healthy .... Norris, Chychrun, Chabot .... I'm looking at you.
4) Solid and reliable goaltending. Doesn't need to be spectacular or anything ... just solid .... and healthy.
5) I think the goals will come as this team fills itself out .... Norris + Pinto. I don't overestimate Pinto's abilities, but a solid centre group is key to making the playoffs.
6) Finally, I would like to see a better game plan from the coaching staff .... a defensive structure for the whole team (bring down the goals against), and at least some semblance of being able to adapt and change during a game.

Are there any other examples of a player remaining unsigned due to cap mismanagement like this, as opposed to just a gap in negotiations.?

Lineup at practice today .....

Tkachuk-Stutzle-Giroux
Joseph-Greig-Batherson
Kubalik-Chartier-Tarasenko
?? -Kastelic-Kelly
I assume MacEwen on the 4rth line wing.

Chychrun-Chabot
Sanderson-Zub
Brannstrom-Hamonic

Slice it however you want, that is not a playoff team. No centre depth with Norris and Pinto out. And a 4rth line that is slow, can't score, and is unplayable. But Dorion and Smith will play it. Better hope we don't get any d-man injuries.
- OttawaB

Quite a glass half empty view here.

Any team that loses their 2nd and 3rd line centres would look weak at that position. Because of that, you have guys like Greig and Chartier playing up the depth chart instead of in the bottom six, where they belong. That would help the apparent, “unplayable” 4th line. Best way to create depth is to get top guys in to push other guys down. Hopefully that happens once the Pinto crap ends, and Norris is healthy.

The wing depth is strong. Should Pinto and Norris be out for any significant time, you’ll likely see one of Stu, Brady, or Giroux drop to the second line to spread out the depth a bit.

It should also not be overlooked at how well-rounded the defence should be now. I have not felt as content with the defence since the Phillips-Redden days. If Sanderson takes a step, Sens might have one of the best 6-man units in the league. That’s a big if though.

With that said, Norris does make me nervous. I wasn’t a fan of the signing with the shoulder injury history, and it’s been very rocky since that signing. I would have preferred a bridge. If it is looking like the injury might be a 1-2 month thing, Dorion will likely need to get a body and deal with the cap implications later in the season.

I'm not that worried about the Norris situation.
I've almost planned for him not to be here.
And even without him I think they're solid.
The buyout on that isn't awful if we have to head down that road.

I guess we can sign Formenton now?
Seems like there's zero ruling or direction on this topic.
The only thing I've heard is that the victim settled.
Again.

I guess we can sign Formenton now?
Seems like there's zero ruling or direction on this topic.
The only thing I've heard is that the victim settled.
Again.
- Octavarium

Probably waiting for the final report to be released by the London police investigation. At least that is my best guess. But then there was that pesky report from the reporter in St Louis (?) who "knew" that 5 guys were to be suspended but he would not name names. So who knows what is going on.

As for the Sens ... they have not placed Norris on LTIR. So is he ready or not ready?

If he can't go tomorrow, then the Sens will start with 11 forwards and 6 d-men. They do not have enough cap space to bring up another body to fill out the roster. And we still do not know if MacEwen is ready to start (injured and did not practice today).
Not a sign for a team that wants and needs to get off to a good start.

Watching nick paul on the top unit, man so useful. Clears the bodies on the PP down low behind the net.... then amazing passing as usual and he scores around so many bodies in the middle of the net

Let's not kid ourselves, we have a great core but need solid role players and what is going on with Norris and Pinto pisses me off

We still going with “this isn’t asset mismanagement” at this point?

- $5 mil in dead cap
- three one way contracts exposed to waivers
- a couple mil in one way contracts being payed in the AHL
- can’t ice a full roster
- Pinto still not signed and will take at least a week to play, two to catch up once he is

There’s no way this guy makes it to the end of the season.

We still going with “this isn’t asset mismanagement” at this point?

- $5 mil in dead cap
- three one way contracts exposed to waivers
- a couple mil in one way contracts being payed in the AHL
- can’t ice a full roster
- Pinto still not signed and will take at least a week to play, two to catch up once he is

There’s no way this guy makes it to the end of the season.
- CooCooKaChoo

There has certainly been some mismanagement on the part of Dorion but I struggle to put the waiver decisions in the same group as buyouts and cap allocation.

No one took Sokolov or JBD. The only team that took Thompson immediately waived him again. If folks think waiver choices keep this team from pushing for the playoffs, then I don't know what to tell them.

I guess I can see it from a "last straw" perspective but literally every other NHL team had multiple guys cut from teams and placed on waivers. It's an annual training camp thing.

Not having Norris in the lineup escalates the Pinto situation. It is unfortunate that a solution has not been worked out. That is certainly on Dorion. Tarashenko better have a really good year. That was really the move that caused the cap crunch.

Will Brady get over 100 points like his brother did in his 6th season?
- PogBoi

Sometimes I forget how young Matthew Tkachuk is. Something tells me Brady will score between his career high of 83 points and 100 points. I do believe he will score a career high (knock on wood - health health health! I'm sick of injuries on the team)

Will say this.... Matthew was a +57..... +57!!!! in his final year with Calgary. He wasn't even top 2 in that category. That's unreal. No one in the NHL last year even came close to that - even on that amazing boston team. So if Brady will score 100 points either the PP will have to be red hot (calgary was top 10 that year) or the line has to have amazing chemistry again