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Gord Wilson: "If you've got that hardest shot competition in mind, who might replace [last year's winner] Christoph Schubert?"
Daniel Alfredsson: "Well, it's not going to be Chris Kelly, I'll tell you that."

about 1 month ago Darrennewyears_tiny DarrenM 23 comments 0 recs  | 

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And stay down, Kelly

Cannot play with 'em, cannot win with 'em, cannot coach with 'em. Cant do it.

by Andrew J on Feb 4, 2010 12:54 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

BURN!

That’s how a captain calls out his teammates. I wonder if Kelly was sitting right next to him at the time.

by PeterR on Feb 4, 2010 1:20 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Nah, Chris Phillips was next to him

You can watch the interview at the link I provided. It’s got some good moments.

Silver Seven: the Daniel Alfredsson of Ottawa Senators blogs.

by DarrenM on Feb 4, 2010 1:37 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Alfie’s funny!

"I was thinking it would be cool to see a game on the road. I have been looking all over this atlas but I don't see Vancouver anywhere. What state is this sh*t in!?"

- Dallas Stars Forum

by eightyseven on Feb 4, 2010 4:20 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Call me uneducated :)

"I was thinking it would be cool to see a game on the road. I have been looking all over this atlas but I don't see Vancouver anywhere. What state is this sh*t in!?"

- Dallas Stars Forum

by eightyseven on Feb 4, 2010 4:36 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Buy out Cheechoo's contract?

Gotta love Alfie.

A serious question: what do you think about buying out Cheechoo’s contract?

He’s got one year left paying him $3.5 million but his cap hit is $3.0 million. If I understand the rules correctly, we would him 2/3 of this remaining salary spread over twice the period of his contract. So that would be $1.17 million cap hit/salary for 10-11 and 11-12. It’s a lot to eat, but maybe worth it?

by Sens Fan In NYC on Feb 4, 2010 2:52 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Hard to say...

Ottawa’s still paying for Emery and Hartsburg, and, as previously mentioned, spent a lot of money on Heatley. They’ve also struggled to sell tickets this year, and didn’t have a playoff run last year. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Cheechoo, for sure.

Silver Seven: the Daniel Alfredsson of Ottawa Senators blogs.

by DarrenM on Feb 4, 2010 3:00 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I think they'll buy him out

But Melnyk’s not going to enjoy it. Still, he could pay Cheechoo 2/3 of his salary not to play, or he could pay him his full salary to keep playing, and keep struggling.

The bottom line, for Melnyk, is all the same: He will spend to the cap, and whatever he spends on Cheechoo (either way) will count against the cap. So it’s a net zero expenditure, and one that will make his team better. The idea of paying someone not to play is unpalatable, but Melnyk’s a businessman and I think he knows it’s for the best.

by PeterR on Feb 4, 2010 3:13 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Agreed

He will be bought out, and one of Ruutu/Kelly/Neil (guessing Kelly) will be traded for a low draft pick/prospect. The team has too many RFAs next year to wait for Cheechoo’s contract to simply come off the books, and he’s not tradeable. He’s a good guy, but Ottawa is too close to the cap to keep him on the roster.

Silver Seven - The Daniel Alfredsson of Ottawa Senators Blogs

by Mark Parisi on Feb 4, 2010 3:34 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Ruutu, I guess

It would be shame to trade Kelly. He’s a little overpriced but brings quite a bit. They paid Neil too much, but he’ll never get traded now. So it’ll be Ruutu I guess.

by Sens Fan In NYC on Feb 4, 2010 4:04 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Welcome to the blog

Personally, I don’t see any urgency in trading any of those three players. They’re all paid a fair bit, granted, but they’ve actually taken over as the third line, and they provide good value for money as it is. Kelly’s got 25 points, Ruutu’s got 18, and Neil has 14, which is pretty good production for money, and for a third line.

Ruutu’s also the cheapest, at $1.3M, and you’re not going to find many players who are as effective as he is (being pesty, hitting, drawing penalties, killing penalties, and even putting up the occasional point) for significantly less than that.

by PeterR on Feb 4, 2010 4:16 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I would rather not trade any of them

But who else are you going to move? Cheechoo’s salary won’t cover all of our RFA’s and Volchenkov. Murray has to clear some salary (especially if the cap goes down at all) and Z Smith can play Kelly’s minutes for cheaper.

Silver Seven - The Daniel Alfredsson of Ottawa Senators Blogs

by Mark Parisi on Feb 4, 2010 4:46 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I don't know if a move is necessary

Cheechoo’s buyout would free up, I’m guessing, $2M. Some of that would be eaten up by his replacement (maybe a rookie, at ~$800k), which would leave just over a million above Volchenkov’s current cap hit. If his cap hit exceeds $3.5M, then it’s probably a contract that’s too much for him. I love Volchenkov, but I’m not sure he’s worth more than that. Still, his contract could be $5M, $4M, $3M, $2M, and his cap hit would still be a very manageable $3.5M, and he’d be 31 when his contract expires—still another contract or two before his career is done.

by PeterR on Feb 4, 2010 4:58 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Ok, let's say his cap hit is $3.5M

That’s an increase of $1M over his hit now, so that’s $1M left from buying out Cheechoo. Let’s say Z Smith has a cap hit of $.5M next year, and sadly, Chum is not re-signed, clearing up another $.625M. That leaves $1.125M and the following RFAs:

Nick Foligno
Peter Regin
Jesse Winchester
Ryan Keller
Martin St. Pierre
Alexandre Picard
Chris Campoli
Brian Lee

Ryan Shannon is also UFA.

So you’ve got potentially nine guys to make offers to and only about a million dollars to do so. At the very least, you want Foligno, Regin, and Winchester back for sure. Even if you let everyone else walk, you still need a body to replace Shannon and one to replace CampoLeeCard. Let’s say it’s Daugavins and Cowen. Shannon’s departure frees another $.6M off of the books. That gives you $1.725M to play with.

Assuming Cowen’s entry level deal is similar to Karlsson’s, that’s a cap hit of $1.09M. That leaves $635K to spread across your three kept RFAs. That’s about a raise of $211K per player. Foligno comes in at just over $1M and the other two at just under. Your total cap space for next year is right around $1M — assuming the cap doesn’t decrease.

That’s not a lot of room to maneuver if someone gets injured. Especially if Murray makes any kind of trade this year. Someone else’s salary has to come off the books. I would prefer it’s Kuba, but that means keeping another RFA or hoping that Weircioch can somehow make the team. Chris Kelly is the easiest player to replace and would provide the greatest cap relief. That makes him in the most likely to be traded in my eyes.

Silver Seven - The Daniel Alfredsson of Ottawa Senators Blogs

by Mark Parisi on Feb 4, 2010 5:33 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Why pay more players to go away when other guys with smarter contracts are expendable?

Do they really need the minimal cap space that buying out Cheechoo would give them, immedicately this summer? Why not wait till next year and have all 3.5M to work with? It could be the difference between 2 mediocre signings and a good one.

Cannot play with 'em, cannot win with 'em, cannot coach with 'em. Cant do it.

by Andrew J on Feb 4, 2010 7:10 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

That's a good point

I forgot about the fact that we could just take the hit next season, and have that much more to work with the season following. Might justify the move.

by PeterR on Feb 4, 2010 7:31 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

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