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

I don't think I'm going to be saying anything controversial here when I say the Sens aren't going to be in the post-season this year. The gap they've created themselves is too deep and their play this season doesn't lead you to think there's any hope of turning things around.

This doesn't mean that I'm not disappointed with the club and I expected this to happen. Far from it. I mean, if you look at their respectable 5th place finish last season, the play of young players like Erik Karlsson and Peter Regin in the playoffs, I had a sense the team was heading the right direction. And it also appeared the team was starting to get healthy again. If they can take the defending champs to six games without guys like Milan Michalek and Filip Kuba in their lineup, shouldn't they be better now that they're healthy? Even owner Eugene Melnyk was predicting a berth in the Stanley Cup finals this season.

So with the bad start to the season, many are calling for the team to be "blown up". Trade this guy, trade that guy, etc. "Tank" the season and get that lottery draft pick. Much easier said than done. And I think a lot of people forget that you still need a roster of players to play the games, too.

First off, anyone asking for Jason Spezza, Mike Fisher, Daniel Alfredsson, Sergei Gonchar or even Alexi Kovalev to be traded can forget it, because all of these guys have no movement clauses (and if some of these guys are playing poorly, why would another team want to inherit the Senators' messes?). Now you might think GM Bryan Murray erred in handing out these no movement clauses, but for the first three players on the list, they held all the cards after a trip to the Cup finals. I think most of the fan base would have been upset if the core of guys who got the team there weren't re-signed. And as for Gonchar and Kovalev, well, it's part being a small-market Canadian team having to up the ante to sign free agents to get them to play for Ottawa. Of course, the Kovalev signing seemed like a gamble at best when that contract was signed. At least it's up this season: we have another two years to witness Gonchar's play continue to deteriorate.

The only players other teams I think would trade for, especially in the salary cap world where trades are near impossible without matching dollar for dollar, are young guys like Karlsson, Foligno and prospects like Robin Lehnner and Jared Cowen. That would have bad idea written all over it, as the Sens seem to finally be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel with their drafting. The Muckler era did not produce any elite player talent and Murray's drafting seems to be rounding into shape. I think trading away any of the young players for a quick fix would be a mistake.

Regardless of how the Senators end up in the standings this year, we'll see a lot of new faces for the 2011-12 season. Contracts are up for Leclaire, Kovalev, Ruutu, Phillips among others, and that equals about $15 million in cap space. Another $2 million is expected to be added by the league, so that's some money that Ottawa can play around with.

There will be changes no question, but the "blow up" a lot of fans are asking for this season won't be happening. This summer Ottawa will be in a position to retool their club, get a decent draft pick this year, all at the cost of a post-season berth. It may suck they'll miss the playoffs but, it may be for the long-term well being of this club.