Trevor Shackles: A Plausible Scenario Where the 18-19 Senators are a Good Team Looking at the mis-steps the Senators have taken and how they could actually have a good team right now

it's a cool article, and something to think about.....but man I hate playing the "what if" game.

what if we didn't trade spezza

what if we kept chara

what if hasek didn't get hurt

what if we didnt' trade hossa

what if we offered alfi a 2nd year

etc, etc, etc

if nothing else, it makes this season THAT MUCH more depressing.....knowing it wouldn't have been difficult for this team to be very good.

Feb 18 2011, Ottawa was tied for last place when they traded Elliot for Anderson. They started winning immediately after Anderson reported and they moved from last to snag 15th overall in the draft. In the 2012 draft they selected Cody Ceci.

Had they not dealt for Anderson, they might have stayed in last place and had the #1 overall pick. Edmonton tanked and Ottawa lost out on the race to draft Nail Yakupov. Oops, maybe it could have been NuHop rather than Zibanejad.

Trevor Shackles: A Plausible Scenario Where the 18-19 Senators are a Good Team
Looking at the mis-steps the Senators have taken and how they could actually have a good team right now
- Trevor Shackles

dorion to save his job must do. sign and trade Duchene to montreal or whoever needs a centre for nice return.dito for stone. try and keep both but cant risk loosing them for nothing like islanders did with taveras. max offers for stone 8 mil 8 yr. Duchene 9 mil 8 yr. avoid no trade clause

dorion to save his job must do. sign and trade Duchene to montreal or whoever needs a centre for nice return.dito for stone. try and keep both but cant risk loosing them for nothing like islanders did with taveras. max offers for stone 8 mil 8 yr. Duchene 9 mil 8 yr. avoid no trade clause
- bosman

I think stone will get more than Duchene...both from Ottawa and on the open market.

there is also no chance it will be a sign and trade. if both guys want to leave Ottawa they're going to wait to go UFA and then sign with whoever the hell they want, not who gives Ottawa the most assets.

I would argue the Sens are not really half bad, if only Boucher did not so badly misuse his players and if only he relied less on certain "favorites".

The Sens have always been a team that "implodes" from the net outwards. Having bad goalies means that the rest of the team has to provide extra defensive coverage, which eats away at the offensive game, which kills the team.

While Ceci isn't great, I think he is one of the players who is miscast into a high pressure situation due to sheer pigheadedness by the coach and/or management. With less pressure/ minutes he might even be decent defenseman.

As for the Karlsson trade, as much as I think he is a great player and he has improved considerably from the start of the season, I think we won the trade, and will continue to do so going forward. It is time to move on.

All in all, if the Sens were better coached and had a bit better injury luck, they would be a goalie and a defenseman away from being a respectable team. Hopefully they will be able to fill these holes and have a better 2019-20 season.

I am probably one of the few fans that enjoys watching this young Ottawa team but also gets frustrated with how they are playing. They get down in every game, come back to make it close and then blow it.. I think the coaching scheme is the biggest issue.
The biggest issue in Ottawa over the last 20 years is the amount of head coaches this team has had. They need to invest in a proven guy and build a young team around him and that scheme. I would think Alain Vigneault who is from this area, would be at the top of my list but guys like Sutter, Queneville, Tippet and Mclellan also have had some success.
I think once they hire that coach, the GM, Owner and Coach should sit down and decide what type of team they are going to build.
There are some nice pieces here and the glass might already be half full

I am probably one of the few fans that enjoys watching this young Ottawa team but also gets frustrated with how they are playing. They get down in every game, come back to make it close and then blow it.. I think the coaching scheme is the biggest issue.
The biggest issue in Ottawa over the last 20 years is the amount of head coaches this team has had. They need to invest in a proven guy and build a young team around him and that scheme. I would think Alain Vigneault who is from this area, would be at the top of my list but guys like Sutter, Queneville, Tippet and Mclellan also have had some success.
I think once they hire that coach, the GM, Owner and Coach should sit down and decide what type of team they are going to build.
There are some nice pieces here and the glass might already be half full
- vettaco

no coach is going to come in and fix a team that can't afford to bring in talent, or pay their own guys they've developed once it's time for a big contract.

you could have the best coach and GM in the league and it will solve nothing until the "melnyk factor" is eliminated from the equation.

This blog just seems like salt in the wound... what's the point?

This entire post was just.... Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda.

Instead lets deal in with the real world as it is.

In my opinion, you resign Duchene and Stone first thing.
We have some great young prospects coming up. So, we make a few deals to make our team better and build and we continue to develop our young stars.

Chabot is looking like in a few years he could be better than Karlsson, and all the drama is now gone, now that Karlsson is gone as well.

There has been enough BS with this team over the last year, lets try to be positive, move forward and try to build a contender instead of focusing on the drama filled past.

While I do think we need a better coach, we have gone through enough coaches int he last few years. I think we need a new GM who is more aggressive at getting things done, both with trades and signing. Make PD back into a scout where he does his best work.

Im tired of this so called rumor of Ceci traded for Hall.Im of those who think its never been close to happen.Edmonton got Larsson who was and still is waaaay better than Ceci.Its the guy they targeted and its him they got...end of the story.

Im still fine with what we got for karlsson.It could had been better but it is what it is.Tierney is very good 3C at worst,Demelo is very steady defensive dman who is perfect with Chabot.In fact he's much better than methot ever was with Karlsson.Both are still young(24 and 25)and will not command huge salary raise.Then there is Balcers who i view as top 9 winger at worst.Then there Josh norris who's potentially future top 6 C/W and there is 2020 1st round pick in a much better draft than 2019.All of Tierney,Demelo,balcers,norris fill or will fill holes in the roster already existing or will exist when Smith,pajaarvi,boro and cie will go.

Why speculate on what if or not? These players mentionned in the post are gone.Time to move on and cheer for what we got.

This blog just seems like salt in the wound... what's the point?
- riceroni

To show that it was possible

it's a cool article, and something to think about.....but man I hate playing the "what if" game.

what if we didn't trade spezza

what if we kept chara

what if hasek didn't get hurt

what if we didnt' trade hossa

what if we offered alfi a 2nd year

etc, etc, etc
- sensarmy_11

At some point you got to look at the F***ing problem. The guy who's been there during all of this?

Eugene Melnyk

I think stone will get more than Duchene...both from Ottawa and on the open market.

there is also no chance it will be a sign and trade. if both guys want to leave Ottawa they're going to wait to go UFA and then sign with whoever the hell they want, not who gives Ottawa the most assets.
- sensarmy_11

most sign and trades are pre approved. Duchene wants to go to montreal and montreal agrees to 10 mil 8 years or like turris trade and sign, same thing. point being if they don't sign in Ottawa they must be traded before deadline

Islanders, Buffalo and Boston are the teams that have the most potential for a trade involving the Sens. This is one year where trading inside the Conference actually makes a lot of sense.

Little surprised by the Leafs mid season mini-choke. Tavares was minus 4 playing head to head against McKinnon, Marner was -3. Gardiner was booed by fans and benched for part of the second period. I did not watch the game but reports suggest it was pretty ugly.

Could Ceci be the answer to the Leafs' recent problems?

Islanders, Buffalo and Boston are the teams that have the most potential for a trade involving the Sens. This is one year where trading inside the Conference actually makes a lot of sense.

Little surprised by the Leafs mid season mini-choke. Tavares was minus 4 playing head to head against McKinnon, Marner was -3. Gardiner was booed by fans and benched for part of the second period. I did not watch the game but reports suggest it was pretty ugly.

Could Ceci be the answer to the Leafs' recent problems?
- spatso

pretty sure the answer to having a bad group of dmen is not going out and acquiring one who's even worse

pretty sure the answer to having a bad group of dmen is not going out and acquiring one who's even worse
- sensarmy_11

Would you not throw an anchor to a drowning man?

Would you not throw an anchor to a drowning man?
- spatso

With our luck, we would trade him and then Ceci would take off performance wise.

Toronto is interesting right now. Their cap situation is not going to be fun and Marner is looking at a huge pay day, same with Matthews.

They are going to have to get rid of someone. I'm guessing it'll be Nylander.... But who knows.

With our luck, we would trade him and then Ceci would take off performance wise.

Toronto is interesting right now. Their cap situation is not going to be fun and Marner is looking at a huge pay day, same with Matthews.

They are going to have to get rid of someone. I'm guessing it'll be Nylander.... But who knows.
- Maverick1818

gardiner is coming off the books this offseason. they really only need to balance for one season and then marleau comes off too.

if all they're looking for is cap relief, I'd see if marleau could be moved before nylander (not sure if he has an ntc)

gardiner is coming off the books this offseason. they really only need to balance for one season and then marleau comes off too.

if all they're looking for is cap relief, I'd see if marleau could be moved before nylander (not sure if he has an ntc)
- sensarmy_11

That's fair but Mathews should be getting about $12M, Marner is looking at $11M and that's if they don't get offer sheet's.

Kapanen is looking at a huge raise, So is Gardiner and Hainsey and that's not including anyone else. Unless someone takes a big home town discount. they are in trouble.

That's fair but Mathews should be getting about $12M, Marner is looking at $11M and that's if they don't get offer sheet's.

Kapanen is looking at a huge raise, So is Gardiner and Hainsey and that's not including anyone else. Unless someone takes a big home town discount. they are in trouble.
- Maverick1818

Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t sitting pretty, but the only “potential disaster year” is next season. Because Marceau is still on the books when Matthews and mariner get raises it will prove difficult to keep them and have even a shred of depth anywhere else

I think hainsey and gardiner being gone is a foregone conclusion. I honestly think their D will be worse next year than it is this year. Not like “sens bad” but it will be pretty awful

"Why can't we be good right now" were the exact words that Dorion spoke to defend the Zibanejad and a 2nd round pick for Brassard and 7th round pick. This kind of talk makes me weary.