Kevin Francis: What I think about Brady Tkachuk/Ottawa at Montreal tonight/Injury updates

Good blog. The selfishness by the organization (Melnyk) to only accept max term deals should raise a red flag for everyone. Hopefully, they smarten up and just agree to a bridge deal, which will probably work better in the long run, and we can focus on the on ice product.

If there is no room for movement, trade Brady for a decent package.

The captaincy should not go to the player with the longest contract....

I agree with a lot of your article however, you do have to protect the teams salary structure as well. Calgary will be handcuffed by Matthew's qualifying offer after his bridge deal. Toronto is handcuffed by the big three salaries. Look at the Karlson deal, are you glad he's not a Sen right now?

If it turns out the Sens offered 8X8mil or 3x6mil in a 4.5, 6.5, 7mil structure and BT wants more, is that the owner's fault?

If you use Eugene's prior actions on some players against him, then you need to use the Tkachuk negotiation style against BT as well.

I agree with a lot of your article however, you do have to protect the teams salary structure as well. Calgary will be handcuffed by Matthew's qualifying offer after his bridge deal. Toronto is handcuffed by the big three salaries. Look at the Karlson deal, are you glad he's not a Sen right now?

If it turns out the Sens offered 8X8mil or 3x6mil in a 4.5, 6.5, 7mil structure and BT wants more, is that the owner's fault?

If you use Eugene's prior actions on some players against him, then you need to use the Tkachuk negotiation style against BT as well.
- InglewoodJack77

IF that were true, then sure... the problem is there's virtually no account of Tkachuk turning down any kind of 3yr deal. Whereas there's an avalanche of evidence to support the case that the team has refused to offer anything but 6yr-8yr deals. So you can't really blame Tkachuk for that, if it's just not what he wants to do.

I will reply to comments after work today and I will be in the comment section during the game tonight!

At the end of the day its a business for all sides. Winning changes all attitudes towards the product. Its been a very long time since winning has been here. And likely another year or 2.

I said quite some time ago that if I were Brady I would insist on a bridge deal because Melnyk can't be trusted.

I've also said that if Brady is out for money that's fine and he's perfectly entitled to it and there should be no hard feelings but once again sign him to a bridge and trade him for a good return.

We don't know why there is no deal. Melnyk is an Ahole but so are Brady's dad and brother and they appear to be heavily influencing Brady in these negotiations.

I like Brady and would love to have him on the team for as long as it makes sense for him but if he has other plans than Ottawa then find your best deal.

I know this a great oversimplification but so is this article.

Another thought that has occurred to me is that Brady might just want to live in a place where normal people are living normal lives rather than the authouritarian lunatic asylum that Canada has become. I can't understand why any American player wouldn't want to move home ASAP.

C German Rubtsov (former 1st round pick in 2016) is on waivers from Philadelphia... might be an idea to give him a look. It would effectively be like replacing Logan Brown with another 2016-drafted, waiver-eligible young C, who is probably in dire need of a change of scenery.

http://www.mynhldraft.com...t-Profiles/German-Rubtsov
http://www.nhl.com/ice/dr...&sort=finalRank&year=2016

Something like this may be necessarily, given the news that Colin White is out 4-6 months, needing surgery.

Brady wants to be a stl blue. Dont blame him. Not sure what blues would be able to offer. Seems like you all want a lot for a player who had the exact same numbers at kyrou with 4 more minutes toi a night.

I do not think anything really changes around the Sens and Melnyk until the Lord finally calls him home. I believe his debt load makes it impossible for him to sell the team.

So, I think everyone just needs to be patient and focus on the emerging talent

You can't count on Melnyk other than to always do the worst out of every possible option. We cannot dismiss the possibility that the best long term option for Senator fans would be for them to trade Tkachuk.

Folks need to simply accept that Melnyk does not have the money to fix the deficiencies and this pattern will continue until someone comes along to recapitalized the team.

It is not helpful to argue that Melnyk is acting in bad faith. He is severely limited by a very small purse.

Brady wants to be a stl blue. Dont blame him. Not sure what blues would be able to offer. Seems like you all want a lot for a player who had the exact same numbers at kyrou with 4 more minutes toi a night.
- BlueTaco

Would say he likely isn't ready to commit long term to a franchise/ owner who has done little to put together a competitive team.

Would say he likely isn't ready to commit long term to a franchise/ owner who has done little to put together a competitive team.
- Gerk

This is exactly what is going on .. he wants bridge so he can see what owner does to improve the team and in 3yrs we don’t have a #1 Center I don’t blame Brady for wanting out ..
PD says oh we’re gonna get a top line Center and top 4D and ends up signing Ennis and Del Zotto so ya wonder why Tkachuk says fk your 8yr poop lol

Bruce Garrioch
@SunGarrioch
·
1m
Will do this again to help all those who don't get it: If you sign Brady Tkachuk to a THREE YEAR bridge deal you may as well give him four years because you're going to march him right into unrestricted free agency anyway. #Sens

Garrioch is not an especially sharp knife.

There is a monstrous difference between a 3 and a 4 year deal. With a 4 year deal you are locked in to the UFA date.

With a 3 year deal you have 1 more kick at the can to get a long term deal in place.

So, if they cannot find common ground on a long term deal, they can still deal Brady at any time during the 3 year period and the team he is traded to (eg., Rangers) will be able to negotiate a new deal.

Sometimes, you wonder if Garrioch has ever printed anything other than what the Sens front office has dictated.

Bruce Garrioch
@SunGarrioch
·
1m
Will do this again to help all those who don't get it: If you sign Brady Tkachuk to a THREE YEAR bridge deal you may as well give him four years because you're going to march him right into unrestricted free agency anyway. #Sens

Garrioch is not an especially sharp knife.

There is a monstrous difference between a 3 and a 4 year deal. With a 4 year deal you are locked in to the UFA date.

With a 3 year deal you have 1 more kick at the can to get a long term deal in place.

So, if they cannot find common ground on a long term deal, they can still deal Brady at any time during the 3 year period and the team he is traded to (eg., Rangers) will be able to negotiate a new deal.

Sometimes, you wonder if Garrioch has ever printed anything other than what the Sens front office has dictated.
- spatso

I see the sense or logic in a 3yr term from both sides but I think the fans and the team are wary of the 3 yr deal because of what happened with Stone. I do agree that of Brady signs a 3yr deal he will be traded in that 3rd year because his plan is only to sign the QA to get to UFA status as quickly as possible. That means only 4 more years of Brady. This is what his brother seems to heading toward in Calgary.

Meylnk is a no win situation. If he tries to play hardball (which he should do, which the Leafs should have done with Nylander and Marner) then he is just coming off as being cheap and difficult. It's a flat cap area for the next 3 years Brady should not be asking for a lot of money per year. And he is at MOST a 25 goals per year guy, which isn't worth $8.4 IMO.

Bruce Garrioch
@SunGarrioch
·
1m
Will do this again to help all those who don't get it: If you sign Brady Tkachuk to a THREE YEAR bridge deal you may as well give him four years because you're going to march him right into unrestricted free agency anyway. #Sens

Garrioch is not an especially sharp knife.
- spatso

He's not only a dull knife... he's become the whole damn jug that "team kool-aid" is being served from.

Will do this again to help all those who don't get it: you can't force a human being to sign an 8 year labour contract throughout the prime of their career, when you haven't shown any willingness at all to spend the cap floor.

Melnyk/Dorion really have become the insecure BF of the relationship, who's proposing marriage after 3 months of dating, while also holding a gun to their head. How about instead of running a proactive smear campaign against Tkachuk's intentions for ~2025, maybe just focus on putting an NHL-quality roster on the ice for the next 3yrs, and win some damn games so Tkachuk doesn't feel like he'd have to leave Ottawa just to make the playoffs.

I see the sense or logic in a 3yr term from both sides but I think the fans and the team are wary of the 3 yr deal because of what happened with Stone. I do agree that of Brady signs a 3yr deal he will be traded in that 3rd year because his plan is only to sign the QA to get to UFA status as quickly as possible. That means only 4 more years of Brady. This is what his brother seems to heading toward in Calgary.

Meylnk is a no win situation. If he tries to play hardball (which he should do, which the Leafs should have done with Nylander and Marner) then he is just coming off as being cheap and difficult. It's a flat cap area for the next 3 years Brady should not be asking for a lot of money per year. And he is at MOST a 25 goals per year guy, which isn't worth $8.4 IMO.
- GrimmdaGoalie

I agree entirely. Any team who wants to be a serious Stanley Cup contender wants and needs players like Tkachuk. But Tkachuk does not have the full skill set of an elite forward. If the Sens are looking to the future, trading Tkachuk for the right piece may be an extremely positive option.

It makes no sense to fight with him or do anything that diminishes his asset value. Move on to the next level and set up to ensure that it is possible to achieve maximum value in any trade negotiations.

Never be afraid of what initially appears to be the worst option. Sometimes, if you dig deeper, you will discover that your worst case scenario is often the best route to follow.

First as a Sabres fan looking in I just want to say you write very good articles and I always make sure to click on every new one when I see one up. At this point if it's really about years the ownership should just suck it up and give him a Rasmus dahlin type contract so they can negotiate one more time later on. Keeping a young guy out of camp and possibly out of the first games of the year is just stupid. I get they want to lock him up for a long time it makes sense but if he's not willing the team needs to suck it up and get him on the ice so he can get up 2 game speed sooner than later. Rasmus dahlin was signed at the 11th hour and he's just starting to look promising again and he only missed 3 days due to travel restrictions from Sweden. On Brady's side if he is demanding less years than he needs to take like 7 million. You can't ask for the 8-year package money if you refuse to sign for 8 years. I enjoy watching Ottawa and I hope my Buffalo can even be a little bit like they were last season, enjoyable to watch again. Even though I don't expect much wins from Buffalo I would like to see an Ottawa like effort

Re garrioch. He is a cheerleader nothing wrong with that.in fact is much needed in this market .

Morning presser DJ said Gustavsson was his starter tonight, now it's Forsberg!

I’ve been saying this whole off-season, the ones calling for Brady to be traded, will be the same dopes chanting his name in the stands when he returns.

I called us a fickle fan base, and everyone got mad at me. Lol

Let’s look at this through Tkachuk’s eyes:

Dorion: We’d like you to commit to 8 years?
Brady: You guys serious about winning?
Dorion: Yes we’re gonna bring in a top 4 D, and a top 6 C and/or RW. And we’re gonna start spending money on the roster to ice a contender.
Dorion: Brings in Del Zotto, Holden, Sanford, and Ennis.
Brady: *Sigh* Maybe a bridge deal would be more appropriate until you put your money where your mouth is.
Dorion: No. It has to be 8 years.
Sens fans: F him! Trade his a$$ to Buffalo.

Morning presser DJ said Gustavsson was his starter tonight, now it's Forsberg!
- Kevin Francis

Me the interview I listen, he said Forsberg probably all the game

Fantasy segway again,

Anyone think Kuemper is worth a high pick in a fantasy league, like 45 overall area.

Bruce Garrioch
@SunGarrioch
·
1m
Will do this again to help all those who don't get it: If you sign Brady Tkachuk to a THREE YEAR bridge deal you may as well give him four years because you're going to march him right into unrestricted free agency anyway. #Sens

Garrioch is not an especially sharp knife.

There is a monstrous difference between a 3 and a 4 year deal. With a 4 year deal you are locked in to the UFA date.

With a 3 year deal you have 1 more kick at the can to get a long term deal in place.

So, if they cannot find common ground on a long term deal, they can still deal Brady at any time during the 3 year period and the team he is traded to (eg., Rangers) will be able to negotiate a new deal.

Sometimes, you wonder if Garrioch has ever printed anything other than what the Sens front office has dictated.
- spatso

So after a 3 year deal, he'd still be an RFA, correct?

Me the interview I listen, he said Forsberg probably all the game
- Crosside

The pregame radio one, he is now saying Forsberg. Earlier today it wasnt though. Dont know what changed, we knew Murray wouldnt be travelling with the team today.

So after a 3 year deal, he'd still be an RFA, correct?
- david22

Yes.