It's going to be a wild, wild summer in Ottawa. You got the sense it would only go down this way after the team missed the post-season in a year where they were expected to do serious damage in the Eastern Conference.
They finished the year with 88-points -- not a horrible campaign, but well below expectations. And the sense you get from the team is that changes in some capacity are coming.
The thing that surprised me the most, really, was just how unanimous the TSN crew was when talking about Jason Spezza's future with the team last night. To a man, they agreed that Spezza would be shuffled out this year, and this kind of falls in line with what I suspect the team thinks about his game in general. Right or wrong, you could largely sense that both management and coaching weren't thrilled with the captain, especially early on. To his credit, he dialed it up in a big way in the second-half of the season. But, he was so woeful in the early parts of the year, I'm not sure Ottawa's washed the taste out of their mouths.
Both Brent Wallace and Darren Dreger more or less dismissed any notion that Ottawa would be retaining Jason Spezza long-term, and both expected him to be dealt in the summer. I'm still not entirely sure that's what the team's going to do -- wanting to trade an elite point-producer is one thing, and finding a team that can (a) fit his new contract under the salary cap; and (b) provide the assets necessary to grab such a marquee talent is another.
And, there's the matter of Jason Spezza's no-trade clause, of course.
All this to say, I don't really think it's much of a debate that this team -- in a vaccuum, anyway -- moves on from Jason Spezza this summer. But, the market's going to dictate a lot of what they can do. And, I'm sort of skeptical there are going to be many teams lining up at the door, ready to provide what Bryan Murray asks.
Three teams I could see, though? St. Louis. Anaheim. Edmonton. The first two have been already linked. The third is an organization that I'll talk about on TSN 1260 today -- no-trade clause aside, I'm betting Edmonton will be very interested should he become available.
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Speaking of movement: Ales Hemsky spoke to the Citizen's Ken Warren on Monday morning. He gave sort of an interesting answer to a question on his future with the team:
By all accounts, Hemsky loved playing in Ottawa, specifically on Jason Spezza's wing. I'm inclined to believe he'll give the Senators a serious discussion about staying here long-term. From an Ottawa side, offering the extension should be a no-brainer. He played to the tune of 53% Corsi% after the deal, scoring 17-points in 20-games. He basically looked like the Hemsky of old -- before Edmonton sucked the life out of him anyway.
But, that quote sure makes it sound like Hemsky's going to see what's out there, and that's sort of a punch to the midsection if you're a Senators fan. You know Ottawa's not going to make the most competitive offer because they're poor, and you know Ottawa's not going to be able to sell 'Cup contender!' when running against the likes of San Jose, or Anaheim, or a half-dozen other markets that can bring in Hemsky and just let him go to work.
Ugh.
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The Ottawa Sun
handed out grades to the organization today, and as has been a theme for a few weeks now, they took another run at head coach Paul MacLean. It's hard not to notice this stuff. They gave MacLean a worse grade than the defense, which was an absolute nightmare for 82-games.
It's not that I totally disagree with their assessment. It's that, whenever the Sun finds a target and starts gunning him/them down with regularity, you wonder if they have the green light to do this sort of stuff from above.
Do I think that's the case here? Yes. I do think that's the case.
Going to be interesting to see what happens with MacLean. I still think he'll be back, but I'm like 51-49 on that outcome. If he does come back, that hot seat is going to be scorching to start the year.
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