The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Oh man, I just spent 45 minutes doing a post and it completely disappeared on me. Boo-urns! I'll recap what I wrote in point form:

- Sad to see Chara go. But he wanted a big payday, not to play in Ottawa. Redden offered to take a paycut if Chara would play for the same amount, but he declined. I have no interest in having players not wanting to play for the Senators. It's too bad he couldn't stay, but sometimes that's how it rolls.

- I had no idea who Joe Corvo was when he signed a four year deal. Good numbers but zero playoff experience, which is what Ottawa needs. Ottawa should have tried to sign local boy and three time Stanley Cup champ Aaron Ward but the Rangers picked him up.

- Like the Gerber signing, Hasek had to go. Gerber turned down more money from St Louis to play for the Sens as he sees as a contender, exactly the type of guy you want on your team. Considering there wasn't much else out there, this was a good acquisition.

- Spezza signed for too much ($9M for two years). He deserved a raise, maybe to $3M or so, but $4.5M is too much for someone only 23 years old. He won't take less when this contract is up and Ottawa's salary cap room will suffer for it later on.

- Havlat will be dealt. He, like Chara, wants a big money deal by exploring free agency, which is why he'll only sign a one year deal. Again, there's the door, maybe you can split a cab with Zdeno. He'll need to be replaced though, and this is where a Mike Peca signing would be ideal. Peca wants to play in the Eastern conference, had a good playoff run, is friends with Muckler and played for the 67s in his junior days. Seems like a no brainer to me.

A lot of players need new deals like Neil, Schaefer and Emery but there shouldn't be any problems. Except a couple of new faces signed before it's all done.