There are myriad reasons why the Daniel Alfredsson situation last summer was a full-blown public relations nightmare for the Ottawa Senators. I have argued this in the past, but the reason why I think the fan base was so jaded over the captain jumping ship wasn't because the team simply played contract negotiation hardball -- it's because they played contract negotiation hardball
and were disingenuous about the entire process.
Had the Ottawa Senators simply made the point that Daniel Alfredsson wasn't good enough to warrant a fairly lucrative two-year deal, I think more people would have understood the team's stance. It's sadistic and cold-blooded, but it's a legitimate reason for not paying the guy -- even if it's probably not reality. Instead, the Ottawa Senators pretended like they offered a blank check to the player to put some positive PR-spin on the whole mess, which the player went on to refute just a few weeks later. So, the squabble really just made Ottawa (again) look like a penny-pinching organization that tried to nickel-and-dime the franchise's most storied player, lying through their teeth in the process.
Last summer, the team basically transitioned from "underdog team on the rise!" to "higher-ups are driving this 18-wheeler right off of a cliff" in a matter of months. The only salvageable point was that the team -- even despite a weird obsession to spend in the bottom-third of the league and sniff the cap floor -- looked really good on paper. That fell apart this year, of course. The team wasn't horrible, but in a year where they expected to contend in a terrible Eastern Conference, they missed the playoffs. Unacceptable. I get it.
Now, it's hard to know what the team's goals were or are because the goal posts have moved so many times on this in the last twenty-four months, but I think there's an understanding in the organization that this team should be winning right now. So, when Paul MacLean's job was saved -- and make no mistake, it was saved; by the late season winning streak, and player exit interviews -- the club had to find another scapegoat. A guy to pin the blame on for all of Ottawa's struggles.
The best thing about the Ottawa Sun
getting the green light from ownership (and contractual leaks from either ownership or management,
like this tidbit) is how cloak and dagger it's all going to be. If you read through the Sun's piece today, or their piece a week ago, or any of the implied stuff that went on throughout the season, all you'll see are allusions to Ottawa's "leadership" problem, which can more or less be deduced to "Jason Spezza is not a leader, and that's why we lost!".
I can't, for the life of me, understand why Ottawa's going in this direction. It's brainless, least common denominator stuff coming from the top that's trying to just quickly shovel dirt on this year's 88-point dead body. And I just don't get it, because there are so, so many legitimate reasons and a laundry list of data points to support such a trade. Like this, maybe:
Yes, something as simple as scoring these days can probably tell a better story than some indistinguishable and meaningless buzz-phrase like 'leadership'. This doesn't even delve into the obvious issue of extending a guy who has had a litany of back injuries and, very likely, will want some type of long-term deal that span ages 31-38. Nor does it delve into the fact that
other players like Chris Neil and Chris Phillips were supposedly retained to provide additional 'leadership', and they're shouldering precisely 0.00% of the blame here. Unlike Jason Spezza, both are terrible at hockey, and it's galling they're getting a clean sheet in this whole mess.
Instead of talking about why the team might benefit from such a move, we are going to be treated to a summer of character assassination. And he's going to be shipped out of town for a package that's almost certainly going to help long-term, but probably not improve the team in 2013-2014.
These were the years the Ottawa Senators were supposed to compete for the Stanley Cup, yes? Or at least pretend to contend for it?
Instead, the organization is coming apart at the seams. Ownership's hellbent on being somewhere between $12MM and $15MM below the cap ceiling, and
trying to sell snake oil to the fans in the hidden expense department. Even with a very respectable crop of talent on the roster, there's no reason to believe this club can compete in good faith -- not with the handcuffs ownership has applied to management, and the trickle-down effect that's having on the coaches and the players.
Perhaps Ottawa's public relations department, in at least some semblance of an attempt to repair the good they once built up (and immediately dusted off), could try something called open and honest disclosure. Or, if they maintain a real interest in playing things close to the vest, they could try not speaking (and not contradicting each other) for a few weeks. Yes, perhaps that would help this organization's appearance.
Instead, Jason Spezza's going to be gunned down in cold blood, metaphorically speaking anyway. Does he deserve it? Of course not. But, it's all fish in a barrel once it's blessed from above.
-- 
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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