Building a Cup Contender for Next Season!

Hey everyone, I just thought I'd quickly introduce myself. My name's Ryan and I'm a second year Arts student (hahah I know, nothing to be bragging about, I'm just not to sure what I want to do. But recently I've been interested in getting a Real Estate licence as both my parents are in the business) at the University of Ottawa. I've been following Silver Seven since the beginning of the prospect camp this season and have thoroughly enjoyed the amazing coverage you guys provide daily, so thank you! It's my first time posting on here but after reading that my favourite non-sens player, Rick Nash, is on the trading block I began brainstorming on how to acquire him. As I was thinking of that a bunch of other scenarios popped up in my head that I wanted to share with you guys!

*Warning this will be and extremely long post! Now after the jump!*

This morning I read the article on TSN stating that Rick Nash could be traded and right next to it was TSN's stupid daily trade rumours article and the picture was of Jeff Carter. So I began to think... Why not get both Rick Nash AND Jeff Carter? Before everyone almost as a heart attack thinking we'll have to give up our whole team for these two players, this is how I look at it...

Jeff Carter's contract: approx. $5.27 million for 10 years (last season being 2021-2022) he's under contract from age 27-37.

He was traded last summer for:

Jakub Voracek who was 21 with 134 points in 241 games. A former 2007 1st round 7th overall draft pick.

+

2011 1st Round draft pick 8th Overall (Sean Couturier was drafted)

I can only assume that Columbus will be looking for a package that contains something similar to what they gave away for Carter as they are now looking to rebuild and need younger assets. So I created a package containing this:

Zibanejad + 2012 1st Rounder + 2013 2nd Rounder

Many people will think this is too much to give away but this is my rational. Since Ottawa addressed their 2nd line center role, by trading for Turris, they're set for quite a while. It can be argued that Mika can play wing but we have many other top 6 potential on the way (Puempel, Noesen, Prince, Pageau, Silfverberg and Petersson). Zibanejad was drafted 6th overall compared to Voracek's 7th overall. Mika is also three years younger than Jakub was at the time of the trade. The first rounder Ottawa sends them will hopefully not be as high as the one Philly gave to them. I've read from scouts that after the first 10 picks in this years upcoming draft that the talent level takes a drop. So I decided to add the 2nd round pick the next season as a sweetener. I didn't add another first rounder as we still need to draft top level prospects OR if the senators are a serious contender next year they have the first rounder to possibly trade at the deadline to get the proper pieces to win the cup.

Now on to Nash...

Rick Nash's contract: approx. $7.8 million for 6 years (last season being 2017-2018) he's under contract from age 27-33.

Columbus will be looking for quite a haul for Nash, so I tried my best and came up with this:

Michalek + Foligno + Stone

By adding Carter and Nash there is no need to keep the inconsistent Michalek. He's having a good season and his value is at it's highest since he's been a Senator so it's the perfect time to trade him. I hate trading Foligno as he is great for the community but being a low-end 2nd liner or high-end 3rd liner doesn't leave him a lot of room in the lineup. He's still very young and I could see him providing great leadership and possibly getting an A for a young Columbus team. Stone hurts to give away as he is our hidden gem even resembling Rick Nash talent wise. I'm just not totally confident his junior success will transfer into the NHL as it's easy for him to play in the dirty areas now but once Chara comes hacking down on him I'm not too sure he'll be able to keep up. Though he is one of our best prospects.

So this would be the trade:

Michalek + Foligno + Zibanejad + Stone + 2012 1st Rounder + 2013 2nd Rounder

=

Nash + Carter

Giving away two roster players, two high-end prospects, and two high draft picks is always a lot but getting back two guaranteed first liners seems like a no-brainer to me. Moving Carter to the wing and having a top line of Carter-Spezza-Nash would be one of the best top lines in the league. We'd have all three players at least until the 2015-2016 season when Spezza's contract is up. It's also nice to have Carter in case Spezza gets injured and we need a first line center. This would be the first dominant first line the Senators have had since a season before Heatley left. Nash and Carter jerseys would sell like crazy too (I'd buy both!).

Ottawa has approx $28.5 million in cap space for next season. with this trade the only player we're giving them still on contract is Michalek who's cap hit is $4.3 million. Taking that away then adding Carter's $5.27 million and Nash's $7.8 million would leave Ottawa with $19.73 of cap space.

This would all have to be done before the trade deadline obviously. But there are still a few other moves I would make. In order to continue to ice a competitive team in the future I would:

Trade Kuba for a 2nd round pick or a defense prospect.

Trade Gonchar for a 2nd round pick or a defense prospect.

I can't picture either of these players helping us win a cup and I believe we may as well part ways with them now since they do have some value. I hope my idea of the return for them is reasonable. Taking off Gonchar's $5.5 million would give Ottawa $25.23 million of cap space.

With this cap space I would then do this to ill our defense:

Offer Erik Karlsson $6.5 million for 8 years (last season being 2019-2020) would be under contract from age 21-29.

I believe $6.5 for Erik is fair and also setting him up with a long contract leading him up to his prime. When the contract ends and he's 29 Ottawa can then decide if they want to resign him (and for how much) or if they want to trade him while he's in his prime.

Offer Ryan Suter $6 million for 6 years (last season being 2017-2018) would be under contract from age 27-33.

Hopfully he doesn't get offered much more than that, but we do have the money to add another million on to that. Solidifying our top D pairing for the next 6 years is also a good idea.

After adding these two contracts on to our cap hit we have available space of $12.73.

After all of these moves I believe our roster would look like this for next season:

Carter - Spezza - Nash

V - Turris - Alfredsson

Greening - W - X

Condra - Smith - Neil

I believe our first line and fourth line will be one of the best's in the league and that's what stanley cup champions have, depth through all four lines. I put those players on the fourth line because I feel we have a lot more players coming in with offensive upside and it would be a shame to hide them away on the fourth line. Condra, Smith and Neil will still spend a lot of time on the PK so the 4th line minutes will give them a rest.

Here our my candidates for the vacant spots, in order of likelihood.

V + X = Petersson, Silfverberg, Butler, Filatov

W = Da Costa, Regin*, O'Brien*

Possibly Bring Back = Konopka*, Daugavins*

Rookie Potential = Puempel, Noesen, Prince, Pageau, Culek

* = must be resigned

I personally would like to see Petersson on the line with Turris and Alfredsson, I feel like Petersson would be an appropriate fit to fill in for Alfie once he decides to retire. Da Costa I believe will be ready to take take the third line spot and adding Greening and Silfverberg on his wings I believe will create perfect line chemistry as Da Costa and Silfverberg use their talent to get pucks to the net and Greening crashes and bangs in front. Using Daugavins or Butler as the 13 forward would be a safe bet.

Suter - Karlsson

Cowen - Y

Z - Phillips

This one we saw coming but both Cowen and Phillips could be argued as above average for the pairing they've been set too. This can never be a bad thing as defense is known to win championships.

To fill in the holes I would say:

Y = Free Agent

Z = Borowiecki, Lee*, Wiercioch, Gryba

We need a better defenseman for our second pairing than what we have currently in the system and looking at the free agents that are available this summer I've compiled a quick list:

Wideman, Rozsival, Stuart, Hunwick, Kubina

Any of these 5 players are capable of playing 2nd pairing minutes and are better defensively than Gonchar. I feel as if our blueline got a whole lot tougher having any of these guys also. With $12.73 of cap space it should only cost about $3-$4 million to sign one of these players and we definitely have the money to do so!

For the spot open in the last pairing I decided to give Borowieki a chance just because I imagine him and Phillips being a Volchenkov-Phillips tandem but...umm... third pairing version. They would be great on the PK and could shut down some top opponents! I would then keep Lee on as the 7th defenseman as he is capable of playing a regular shift when needed.

Anderson

Lehner

One word: Draft.

So that's my idea on how to make the Senators a premium cup contender by next year! I know most of this would never happen but it's fun to imagine. Let me know what you think of my trade proposals or who you would rather keep or trade!

Thanks for reading,

Ryan