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Senators Add Latendresse, Lundin; Lose Carkner, Konopka + Trade!

July 1, 2012, 2:29 PM ET [75 Comments]
Travis Yost
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
UPDATE: Nick Foligno and Marc Methot have been swapped, per TSN. Not sure I like this move re: value. More later.

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The Ottawa Senators swapped a pair of assets on the first day of free agency, adding blue liner Mike Lundin -- formerly of Tampa Bay -- and forward Guillaume Latendresse -- formerly of Minnesota -- in the process.

The addition of both players are smart money acquisitions for Bryan Murray, as he's paying just a shade over $2M combined for the pair to come to Ottawa. At times, Lundin's proven to be a solid defensive defenseman, and he could certainly eat some of the minutes vacated by now-departed Matt Carkner. We'll touch on him in a bit.

Latendresse, however, is the sexier signing so far. In his career, Latendresse has shown an abundance of top-six skill, but has watched his productivity curtailed as an NHL player for two reasons; (a) He's a poor skater compared to the league-average, and (b) injury woes have forced his games played totals in the wrong direction.

It'll be interesting to see if Latendresse can turn it around in Ottawa -- lord knows the skill is there. To earn TOI on this roster, though, he'll have to be both productive and active.

Ottawa's pair of losses came as no surprise, although Matt Carkner's exodus from the organization was a bit wild. The Senators only offered Carkner a one-year deal, and did want him back in a depth role. Carkner felt he could get more on the open market, and he did -- twice. Colorado announced his signing earlier, but embarrassingly enoug, didn't get pen on paper.

Hours later, the New York Islanders swooped in and gave Carkner a three-year deal. As much as I liked Carkner the player, that's a pretty ridiculous term for a sixth/seventh defenseman.

Earlier in the day, Zenon Konopka inked with the Minnesota Wild. Great FO guy could produce on Minnesota's fourth-line, but there's not a whole lot else there. He's expected to draw an AAV of $925k.

That's all for today. I'm on a boat off the coast of Port Canaveral and departing shortly. Keep sweating that Rick Nash deal.

Thanks for reading!
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