Andy Sutton solves several problems

by MadCash on Jul 9, 2010 9:59 PM EDT

So the dust has settled, post-July 1 and there seems to be a sense of mild nervousness 'round these parts in regards to the back end. 1 proven defensive defenseman (BigRig), another pretty good option in Kuba and a couple "might be's" in Campoli having a solid season/Carkner improving/Lee maturing.
The fact that Andy Sutton hasn't signed, especially with the "crazy" money being thrown around (seriously...Dan Hamhuis is all of a sudden a 5 million dollar defenseman? For what...35 points). I'd be thrilled if BMurray gave Sutton a 2 year deal at 2 million per. He's a fairly safe replacement for Anton and clearly benefitted from playing alongside 65.

Sign Mount Sutton!

Poll

Alfie will score how many goals this year?

15-20

11 votes

20-25

52 votes

30-35

29 votes

40+

4 votes

96 votes | Poll has closed

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We'd need some cash to sign him first.

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 10, 2010 3:26 AM EDT reply actions

But you can go over the cap until the start of the season.

So that gives Brian Murray 2 months to move Filip Kuba.

by GelatinousMutantCoconut on Jul 10, 2010 3:12 PM EDT reply actions

While true...

I don’t think painting ourselves into a corner in being forced to make a trade to get under the cap is a good strategy. It hasn’t worked well for Boston, and we just saw Hjalmarsson stolen from the ‘Hawks because of salary cap constraints. If someone were to tender Regin while we had cap issues, we’d just be digging ourselves an even deeper hole. Going over the cap is just a bad idea.

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 10, 2010 4:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Totally agree

Other than the fact that Regin can no longer be tendered, there still exists no reason to take on more salary, especially on the blueline.

Phillips and Carkner (or Campoli) may not be the league’s best shutdown guys, but they compare favourably to some teams’ stay-at-home top-4 guys.

Seabrook and Hjalmarsson were effective, but now the Hawks are probably rockin the Seabrook / Vishnevskiy duo
Pronger and Coburn are … well nobody compares to that
Gill and Gorges might be better, but big Hal is getting older and older as we speak
Wallin and Dougie Murray have some size, but don’t play any better than Phillips / Carkner
Zbynek and Orpik probably have us beat
Maybe Volchenkov and Colin White do also
Erskine and Schultz don’t compare, so hopefully Gonchar and Karlsson can keep up with Green and Poti, if we’re copying the Washington model
Myers and Rivet are formidable, as are Chara and Stuart
Komisarek and Beauchemin should be better, and likely will be

Now that I look at it, maybe we do need a better option than Carkner on line 2.

by Spezzal Teams Playa on Jul 10, 2010 6:32 PM EDT up reply actions

I think Cowen is going to get a legit shot at that spot in training camp based on what Murray has said so far

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 10, 2010 6:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Even with that comfy bonus cushion

Would you call that a wise move?

I’m all for a 9-game tryout, but see no reason to kickstart Cowen’s UFA eligibilty with the bodies we have in place.

Maybe Lee and Campoli watch from the press box until Halloween, but spending the whole 1.3M on young Jared this year seems foolish to me.

by Spezzal Teams Playa on Jul 10, 2010 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions

A wise move? I don't know

My own belief is that Kuba is now expendable with Gonchar and Karlsson already on the roster. I don’t think Karlsson plays well with Kuba, and I’d rather have him with a physical partner like Cowen, which would give us:

Phillips-Gonchar
Cowen-Karlsson
Campoli-Carkner

But the key here is that Cowen MUST be ready to play full time in the NHL. Otherwise there’s no point. It’s a big jump from the WHL to the NHL, no matter how good he looked in development camp, and I remember Karlsson’s early season struggles before finding his game.

I believe giving him the shot is wise; handing him a job before he’s ready would be a disaster. He’s got to earn that salary on the ice for sure.

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 10, 2010 10:12 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd be happy with that.

As long as Cowen isn’t being rushed.

But I would put Karlsson with Phillips, and Cowen with Gonchar, just so we don’t have two guys still learning the ropes on the same pairing.

by GelatinousMutantCoconut on Jul 11, 2010 12:20 AM EDT up reply actions

I'd also be happy with that

… if I thought we could get fair value for Kuba. His cap hit is rather high, and he has become rather redundant, but I’d sooner line Carkner up as a fourth line winger and retain our blueline depth, than trade Kuba for a 4th-liner.

Here’s hoping Gonchar stays healthy all year, but just in case, Kuba is affordable as 3rd-pairing guy who sees PP minutes.

by Spezzal Teams Playa on Jul 11, 2010 2:21 AM EDT up reply actions

I think Cowen will play with Phillips

Gonchar-Karlsson
Cowen-Phillips
Campoli-Carkner
(Lee)

That assumes we trade Kuba. If we’re keeping Kuba, which I think is the most likely scenario, we’re looking at a 1-2A-2B defence scenario like so:

Gonchar-Karlsson
Kuba-Campoli
Cowen-Phillips
(Lee, Carkner)

And I’m also open to the possibility of Brian Lee making a serious statement in this year’s training camp. I’m not suggesting he’ll give Karlsson a run for his roster spot, but he could certainly challenge Campoli and Carkner for theirs, and might make it more difficult for Murray and Clouston to justify keeping Cowen on the NHL roster.

www.silversevensens.com

by Peter Raaymakers on Jul 11, 2010 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Ok, i was just on Cap Geek.

Assuming the moves I would like to see happen were made:

Peter Regin re-signed, 3 years 2 million per.
Nick Foligno re-signed 2 years 1.250 per
Andy Sutton re-signed 3 million per
Marty Turco signed 2 years 3 million per
Pascal LeClaire Bought-out 2 years, 1.267 per
Filip Kuba bought-out, 2 years 1.233 per.

That leaves 600,000 in cap space for a 21 man roster (13 forwards, 6 defensemen, 2 goalies)

Regin-Spezza-Alfredsson
Michalek-Fisher-Kovalev
Ruutu-Kelly-Neil
Foligno-Smith-Winchester
Shannon

Phillips-Gonchar
Sutton-Karlsson
Lee-Carkner

Turco
Elliot

Now, here’s the kicker: I put Kuba as a buy-out as a worst case scenario. If Brian Murray manages to trade Filip, not exactly a far-fetched proposition, that means an extra 1.233 in cap space, 1.8 in all. That leaves enough to re-sign Campoli or fit in Cowen or Weircoch’s rookie deals.

by GelatinousMutantCoconut on Jul 10, 2010 3:24 PM EDT reply actions

That's some pretty impressive juggling

It also leaves the team absolutely no room for injuries or trades.

Buying out players who are perfectly viable doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. It’s something that should be done as a last resort, and Kuba’s contract is one of our best values. Leclaire’s is a little hefty for what we’ve gotten, but it’s also the last year. Buying them out just adds more dead weight to our salary cap.

The major revamp to this team is coming next year when we have some real salary room to play with. I think your scenario hamstrings the team more than it helps us.

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 10, 2010 4:45 PM EDT up reply actions

You only really need 0.500 to 1.000 as a cushion.

My scenario leaves that…

But at the same time, i have no problem whatsoever being patient. It may not seem like it…but I truly don’t.

I believe in building through scouting and development.

The thing is…Brian Murray has made it clear that he wants this team to compete now. The Gonchar signing confirms this. Who knows how long Daniel Alfredsson has as a top-6 forward?

The ideas listed above are short-term improvement to help the team to compete next year.
is it a Cup-winning team? No, of course not. It wouldn’t beat any team that would come out in the West. But it would have a good chance of coming out of a turbulent East where the powers (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New jersey, Boston) all have significant issues.

The Kuba buy-out as just a worst-case scenario. I’m very sure that there’s a few teams out there that would take him in exchange for a pick.

by GelatinousMutantCoconut on Jul 10, 2010 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, I'm with you on the thought process. I just don't agree. :)

As far as what-ifs go, this is a lot more logical than some of the other stuff I have seen.

The thing is, I feel that a healthy Sens team would have come out of the East this year. As soon as Montreal knocked out Washington, the field was wide open. And we took the Pens to six games without Michalek, Kovalev, or Kuba. I don’t know that such a severe overhaul is needed when we can just wait a year.

What I’d really like to see is the team take Kovalev’s freed $5M and throw it at a good, young RW to play on the first line so Alfie can finish his career on the 2nd line with Michalek and Fisher. Poaching someone like Bobby Ryan or Chris Stewart from a team not happy with the contract they had to give them this year would be a huge coup for Murray.

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 10, 2010 6:30 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah, that would be great!

by GelatinousMutantCoconut on Jul 11, 2010 12:21 AM EDT up reply actions

I have another one!

Nick Foligno and pascal LeClaire for marc Savard and Tim Thomas!

It’s also too tight for your liking…leaves 1.8 in cap space with 13 forwards, 5 defensemen and two goalies . So that’s 1.8 for one or two defensemen..

But look at this line-up!

Regin-Spezza-Alfredsson
Michalek-Savard-Kovalev
Fisher-Kelly-Neil
Ruutu-Smith-Winchester
Shannon

Phillips-Karlsson
____(Cowen?)-Gonchar
Lee-Carkner

Thomas
Elliot

by GelatinousMutantCoconut on Jul 12, 2010 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Are you buying out Kuba in this one also?

That’s actually pretty appealing. I hate Tim Thomas’ cap hit for two more years when he’s already 36, though.

Also puts a lot of pressure on Cowen and Lee. Still, if this happened, I don’t think I’d complain much. Until next year when Lehner is ready and Thomas can’t be moved because of his NTC and salary bloat! :)

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 12, 2010 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm never ging to live that down, am I? ;)

Kuba GETS TRADED in this scenario :p

Instead of Cowen, you could sign a cheap veteran. Willie Mitchell is intriguing. He may have to end up taking something like 1.5 million. Even a guy like Sutton might have to dip that low…that’s where we come in!

I’m not worried about Lehner. At least one year in the AHL, and then two years as a bacck-up. It did wonders for Rask.

I REALLY want this to happen now…

by GelatinousMutantCoconut on Jul 13, 2010 2:50 AM EDT up reply actions

Probably would have slipped under the radar

But since you encouraged me to think about it, maybe that will become your legace. I’d feel the same way if I saw you eating a tuna sandwich at the office, that one time.

I say embrace it. Make it your own.

Now that you’ve added an avatar (cool pic of you ruining your own chances of ever hoisting it, btw), you know where to go to add a signature, so may I suggest something along the lines of, Buying out Kubas since July 2010</em, or maybe Now you can throw away all those pesky Kubas and bulky Leclaires, or how bout Have you got unused Kubas just collecting dust? We pay CA$H for your unwanted Kubas! We even pay you cash for your broken Kubas and Leclaires, or maybe You’ll love my nuts.

I’ll bet you can put up a poll and find that a hundred people would also like to buyout Kuba, but if you want to be known as the Buyout Kuba Guy, who are we to argue.

Now that I’ve finished messin witcha, I’m so happy to see other Sens fans who would embrace Marc Savard as the league’s best second-line center (pending Malkin’s defection to Sid’s wing). I say concussion, schmuncussion – the dude comes cheap (like say, Kuba and Lee?), costs nothing (as in he couldn’t afford to give Carrie Underwood the wedding of her dreams), and can spend more time on LTIR than Mike Rathje, if worst came to worst.

I don’t care if Kelly has to move to wing, we’re talkin’ bout Marc-friggin-Savard for a bag of pucks. Make it happen.

by Spezzal Teams Playa on Jul 13, 2010 3:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Only a hockey fan

… would misspell the word legacy in that manner. I’d claim it was a typo, but the ‘r’ and the ‘t’ buttons make that less than believable.

by Spezzal Teams Playa on Jul 13, 2010 3:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Also

Way to not close my italics tags properly, nor hitting Preview to see how jumbled that paragraph would look.

by Spezzal Teams Playa on Jul 13, 2010 3:25 AM EDT up reply actions

I'm ok with being the Buyout Kuba Guy,

It’s better than being known for tuna sandwiches. Of course, I’m biased in that regard, being vegetarian. Although In elementary school I was known as chicken boy, and not because I was often scared….

Being 19 at the time, I figured this would be my best chance to touch the Cup. I was never a hockey player myself. And the security guard wouldn’t let me hoist dear Stanley. And unless Newell Brown or Jesse Winchester win a Cup, it won’t be returning to my area.

Buying out Kubas since July 2010

by GelatinousMutantCoconut on Jul 13, 2010 4:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Also, Kilger may one day tire of putting out fires

Of course he’d probably have to return to the Panthers, so even then, Newell Brown would be a better bet, eh Big Tuna?

by Spezzal Teams Playa on Jul 13, 2010 8:05 PM EDT up reply actions

I think Alfie will score 26-29 goals...

Where’s that option?

Anyway, Sutton would be great, but we need cap space—and we can’t keep buying players out, because that cap space would be better used paying actual players next season. I’m not ready to give up on Leclaire yet, either. And I don’t think Turco gives us much more than Leclaire would.

If the Senators are interested in trading Kuba, then there is plenty of room to sign Sutton. But I don’t think there is any other significant cap space that can be made.

www.silversevensens.com

by Peter Raaymakers on Jul 10, 2010 6:32 PM EDT reply actions

Probably not true at all

But I thought I read somewhere that no team can have more than two players in buyout at a given time (Alfie’s faux-buyout, not withstanding).

by Spezzal Teams Playa on Jul 10, 2010 6:34 PM EDT up reply actions

I only did a quick search

But I haven’t seen anything indicating a limit to buyouts per team. That’s a category I’d not like to lead the league in.

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 10, 2010 6:51 PM EDT up reply actions

We are currently tied with the Yotes

Phoenix was allowed to buyout O’Sullivan and Nokelainen, while already carrying the last year of Scatchard’s deal.

Unless, of course, that team’s owners can do whatever it is they want.

Either way, I see no reason to buy anyone else out at this point, even if the calendar still read June. My grasp of the CBA has already proven tenuous, but I think the window closed a week and a half ago.

by Spezzal Teams Playa on Jul 10, 2010 6:54 PM EDT up reply actions

The Kuba buy-out is just a worst-case scenario..

I don’t think it would actually come to that.

Maybe I’m a hardass and have become the same type of “what have you done for me lately” fan that I’ve always hated…but to me Kuba and LeClaire are not providing enough in comparison to what they’re being paid. I don’t mind if we went into next season with them on the roster, but if Brian Murray wants to really make this team better, then he can upgrade their positions. I’m confident that a buyer could be found for Kuba…but no one is going to trade for LeClaire.

by GelatinousMutantCoconut on Jul 11, 2010 12:24 AM EDT up reply actions

I'm not a Kuba fan myself, simply because he plays smaller than his size.

But modsuperstar pointed out in the comments in this article that Kuba is well worth the money we’re paying him.

As for Leclaire, I’m convinced he’s a $3.8M backup. I can’t wait for him to be off the books, but then again, I’m drinking the Lehner Kool-Aid. Leclaire will be gone this year, and he won’t harm the team in the meantime. During the season, he’ll flash #1 talent, but ultimately not deliver it consistently. If he does, that’s even better for us. Either way, it’s not worth our trouble to buy him out in my opinion. He at least brings something to the table, unlike Cheechoo.

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 11, 2010 3:25 AM EDT up reply actions

After this year, rather.

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 11, 2010 3:25 AM EDT up reply actions

I actually feel the same way as Kuba,

He does live up to his salary it’s true…I think I said that he didn’t earlier…but that was an error.

I just think that a more physical defenseman is more appropriate for his spot. If Cowen can make this team…and Kuba gets paired with Carkner…that’s not a bad case scenario to me.

by GelatinousMutantCoconut on Jul 12, 2010 2:00 AM EDT up reply actions

Bryce Salvador

How does that work for you Senators fans in a trade with New Jersey. Over at In Lou We Trust, we have been discussing ad nauseam about what to do with our glut of Defensive defensemen and our need for an offensive defenseman.
Bryce Salvador for Filip Kuba, straight up. Salvador is 34, making $2.9MM for the following two seasons, and is definitely a defensive defenseman.
What do you guys think? Thanks for your time

"What in tarnation's goin' on 'round here?!?" - Yosemite Sam in reference to Ilya Kovalchuk not yet signing

by Skuba7 on Jul 13, 2010 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions

We Need More Than Six D!!!

Basing possible trades on only six dmen is a recipe for disaster, because teams usually need eight or none dmen to make it through the year.

So we are better off with Cowen and Lee starting in the AHL and filling in when the inevitable injuries come along. Only when Cowen and Lee are legitimate NHL dmen can you trade away Kuba. In Lee’s case that probably ain’t gonna happen.

by Marvellous on Jul 13, 2010 2:20 PM EDT reply actions

Trade D for D

And you should be all set, no?
Perhaps a trade with your buddies in Edmonton, Kuba and Shannon for Souray and a 2nd Rounder?

"What in tarnation's goin' on 'round here?!?" - Yosemite Sam in reference to Ilya Kovalchuk not yet signing

by Skuba7 on Jul 13, 2010 11:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Sadly, that's not a trade we can afford

We’re too close to the cap. I believe we should trade Kuba for a draft pick because our younger guys are ready to step up… but we’ll see if that actually happens in training camp.

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by Mark Parisi on Jul 14, 2010 12:00 AM EDT up reply actions

SADLY?!?!

Is this Don Brennan?

Two years ago, I would have been interested in Souray. Now, not so much. He might be able to bounce back from all that injury madness, but I don’t want to take that risk with my team.

I’d rather Kuba and Shannon for a second-rounder straight up. EDM can keep Souray.

www.silversevensens.com

by Peter Raaymakers on Jul 14, 2010 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions