How would a Lockout/Strike affect our prospects?

by spez_dispenser on Jan 7, 2012 12:20 AM EST

I know no one wants a work stoppage to happen for the NHL. But if it did, could there be some benefit for a rebuilding team?

I remember the last lockout ended up being a very strong opportunity for Spezza. He had played a couple of years with minimal ice time in he NHL, and the Sens jumped on the opportunity to put him in the AHL, and let him really dominate that league.

How would this opportunity affect our current crop of prospects? I know we couldn't send Zibanejad to the AHL last year, it was NHL or SWE. Do the rules differ for his second year? While he's likely to be able to hit the NHL running next year, if he got to spend the duration of a lockout/strike down in the AHL learning to play the game on the smaller ice, in an environment where he could dominate, the eventual return of the NHL would see Zibanejad truly arrive in style. Same deal with Silfverberg.

Mark Stone is, I believe, going to be too old for the CHL next year. He, too, would get a chance to learn in Bingo. A top line for them of Silfverberg - Zibby - Stone could help Bingo return to being a Calder contender.

And what about guys currently on the roster? How much NHL experience means that a player can't play in Bingo during a lockout? It could probably help Butler a good deal, for one. I'd like to see Filatov join that mix, but he's made his feelings about sticking with Bingo pretty clear.

Meanwhile, the Sens would be freed from any pressure to rush Puempel, Noesson and Prince to the big leagues. All three could return to their CHL clubs and really dominate in a final season down there, as Stone has been this year.

Anyone else we think could benefit from a work stoppage?

This FanPost was written by a member of the Silver Seven community, and does not necessarily reflect the beliefs or opinions of the site managers, editors, or Sports Blogs Nation, Inc.

Tweet Comment 11 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I think we could probably implement that plan whether or not there's a work stoppage

Silver Seven - The Daniel Alfredsson of Ottawa Senators Blogs

by Mark Parisi on Jan 7, 2012 10:34 AM EST reply actions

in a way

the 2004-05 lockout cost the Sens big.
They were annual favorites to challenge, they were ,
and that missed year cost a year of Alfredsson, Havlat, Hossa, Chara, Redden, Volchenkov, Phillips, Fisher, all together, all in prime or near-prime form.

The subsequent cap made it so the team’s window became smaller. Hossa moved for the cheaper Heatley, and Chara and Havlat were lost the year after.

Here, a lost year in a <developing/rebuilding> mode, won’t hurt as much. The clock may start on the professional (RFA/UFA status) contracts of Zibanejad, Silfverberg, Stone, Puempel, Noesen, Pageau, and Prince, but the clocks were likely to start anyway.

The drawback is that we lose one of the few years left of Spezza and Michalek in their prime, and Foligno is sorta like in Havlat’s situation, one year closer to UFA status.

I wouldn’t say we would benefit, per se, since Karlsson and Cowen, Smith, Condra and Greening, no matter where these guys play, it will be lesser than developing at the NHL level.

But it hurt alot more when we were , that’s for sure.

"If you aren't diving, you aren't trying"-Jordin Tootoo
PekKarlsson: The genetic mutant solution to all of Nashville and Ottawa's problems. Shea and Alfie approve.

by PekKarlsson on Jan 7, 2012 11:21 AM EST reply actions

Flyers fan here, just want to chip in my perspective

And agree entirely. In 04-05 we had a young Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Patrick Sharp awaiting their inclusion into the NHL side. You could say that the lockout gave them the opportunity to dominate a relatively strong AHL, and the Phantoms ended up winning the cup that year. That was the positive the Flyers could take out of the lockout.

The downside was that the 03-04 Flyers were one of the best Flyers teams that has taken to the ice. The 04-05 Flyers would have been great too. Additionally, thanks to the lockout we missed out on a year of Simon Gagne’s prime (when he came back afterwards he was a 40+ goal scorer). Thanks to the lockout the salary cap got put in place and began to call an end to our high spending days.

If a lockout happened again, you could say it would be nice for the likes of Sean Couturier to be in the AHL and play top minutes. Perhaps a similar argument could be applied to Brayden Schenn. But the Flyers then miss out on a year of Claude Giroux, James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek as they emerge into players. It would signal the end of Kimmo Timonen and Jaromir Jagr and would add another year of age to Danny Briere.

Essentially, if your team is good now, a lockout is a bad thing. Prospects can develop with or without the lockout. The biggest loss is missing out on a chance for the cup (and of course, no NHL hockey is a terrible thing…)

Simon Gagne AND Mike Richards may move between towns, wear new jerseys and call different arenas home but, at the end of the day, they will both always be Philadelphia Flyers.

One day Sean Couturier will win the Conn Smythe. You heard it here first.

by PursuitOfLappyness on Jan 8, 2012 1:13 AM EST up reply actions

interesting perspective

i agree completely.

Hurts a contender more than a rebuilding/developing team. But in either case, players should develop wherever, and you lose a year of NHL players in their prime/near-prime. And obviously, no NHL hockey, so net negative all the way around.

"If you aren't diving, you aren't trying"-Jordin Tootoo
PekKarlsson: The genetic mutant solution to all of Nashville and Ottawa's problems. Shea and Alfie approve.

by PekKarlsson on Jan 11, 2012 5:57 AM EST up reply actions

Stone has another year in chl

Hes only 19 this year, next year will be his last of eligibility in the dub

by NISHY on Jan 7, 2012 6:53 PM EST reply actions

It could hurt the prospects as well

There’d be more of a crunch in talent hitting the AHL, the SEL, etc You’ll have some established 3rd and 4th liners taking up a roster spot in Bingo that might go to the likes of Puempel, Noesson and Prince (where they’d have stronger development than in the CHL).

by B_T on Jan 9, 2012 1:01 PM EST reply actions

It would not be good for the prospects

Beacuse if there’s another lockout the NHL is toast.

by RogerTheShrubber on Jan 10, 2012 9:19 AM EST reply actions

Touché

Silver Seven | Twitter | Facebook | E-mail | eBay

by Peter Raaymakers on Jan 11, 2012 10:41 AM EST up reply actions

There's good and bad

In 2004-05, it wasn’t just Spezza: All of Spezza, Vermette, Kelly, Volchenkov, Schubert, Neil, McGrattan, and Emery were on that team. It was an opportunity for them to get to know one another in a developmental league, and all of those guys were present during the big 2007 Stanley Cup Run—perhaps because they’d found some chemistry together, and because that group meshed well with the existing core on the NHL squad.

It might work again. At the NHL level, we probably have less to lose, although it would mean that Daniel Alfredsson would almost certainly be retired by the time the league resumes. That’s not a good thing.

Silver Seven | Twitter | Facebook | E-mail | eBay

by Peter Raaymakers on Jan 11, 2012 10:45 AM EST reply actions

That makes me wonder if there were a notably higher number of retirements in 04-05 than usual

by B_T on Jan 11, 2012 11:22 AM EST up reply actions

Lockouts suck for everyone

I’d rather not talk about lockouts, because they suck for everyone. The NHL wouldn’t be toast with another lockout. Who gets ultimately lost in the shuffle is the fringe fan… alot of thios fringe fans get fed up and leave… Thos fans are the ones we want to attract to build the game.

Us diehards are just suckers for this game and we aaaaaalllllways come back.

by Marvellous on Jan 11, 2012 1:30 PM EST reply actions