Ottawa Senators Fans Vote, Are Afraid of Change
Last week we linked to the Ottawa Sun's "You Be The Boss Survey," where readers were to vote on who in the Sens organization should stay or go. Well, the results are in. After a season that found the Ottawa Senators struggle to score goals, sink to the bottom of the Eastern Conference in points, and ultimately miss the playoffs, you would expect the team's fans would want heads to roll and major changes to this seemingly ineffective roster.
Not so, say readers of the Ottawa Sun.
In fact, out of everyone in the organization, there were only three people that fans want off the roster. One is goaltender Alex Auld, who finds himself as one of three goalies fighting for the starter position - 53.3% of those polled wanted Auld to be traded. The second is defenseman Jason Smith, whose $2.6 million per year contract is wanted axed by a whopping 70.1% of those surveyed. Close behind Smith was the oft-scratched Christoph Schubert - 67.9% of those polled wanted him out of the roster. Though no majority wanted to shake up the core of the team, Jason Spezza received the most dissatisfaction of the Big Three with just over 30% of those polled wishing he'd be traded.
But the poll wasn't only to find out whose play the fans didn't like - it was also there to indicate the players that exceeded expectations. According to fans, the biggest steals on the team were Nick Foligno and Ryan Shannon. 22.7% of readers felt that Foligno deserved a raise for his 2008-09 play, and 19.6% felt the same way about Ryan Shannon's 35 games with the Sens this season.
Perhaps most interesting is the apparent division amongst fans with regards to GM Bryan Murray. Though Peter obviously counts himself as a Murray supporter, only 52.2% of voters believed Murray had done a "good job" this season. That's in stark contrast to coach Cory Clouston, who received a near-unanimous 97.5% of possible "good job" votes.
It's very refreshing to see that the fans in Ottawa aren't calling for the heads of the entire organization to roll after such a dismal season, but it is still a bit puzzling that they are not wishing for more changes.