Robin Lehner's deal is done, and so likely is the Ottawa Senators off-season.
Not to rehash what we have already rehashed three or four times already, but Robin Lehner's three-year, $2.225MM AAV deal is
pretty good. You're getting a goalie who
projects as a .915 net-minder over the next three seasons. At the rate they're paying him, that's a great trade for the organization.
I've said this in the past, but I much prefer decent goalies and/or cheap, young, potential-to-be-great goaltenders on RFA deals. In many respects, I think it's the best way to create the optimum 23-man roster. Now, if you're gift-wrapped the likes of Henrik Lundqvist or Tuukka Rask, you obviously bite the bullet. In the event that you aren't given one of the two or three elite players at the position, going the other route seems quite sensible.
The main reason for this is because those many, many dollars saved can be allocated to fill holes at other positions. Take Ottawa for example. I think the team genuinely is excited about the forward group heading into this year, even without the likes of Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky. I kind of agree. Even if only one of Mark Stone/Mike Hoffman/Prospect Y really pan out in a big way, the team should score a decent number of goals. The team's already pulling one extremely productive line, and there's every reason to be excited about what Mika Zibanejad, et al. can do with a bump in minutes. Even if the goal-scoring doesn't come as easily as it done in years past, I think they'll pull decent goal-rates. Part of that is because, again, I think the team has injected some two-way talent into the lineup that could mitigate some of the goals against issues suffered last year.
On the other hand, the defensive corps is nightmarish, still. And the massive cap space the team still has is an asset to acquire some talent, provided they use it. Of course, I'm extremely skeptical that's going to occur.
Lehner's deal -- backloaded, of course -- means that Ottawa's giving their 1B goaltender just $1.5MM in real dollars for next season. The contract locks up their 23rd and final man on the roster, and also ensures that this team will be dead-last in spending next year at $54.3MM. The only team currently behind them is Calgary, and the Flames only have 20 players signed. Even if you add three players at the CBA league minimum to the Flames roster, they're going to jump ahead of Ottawa.
What makes the $54.3MM and 30th in league spending even more insane is the trade rumor stuff floating around about the availability of Colin Greening. The team, in all seriousness, should look to move Greening for some sort of future asset. His contract isn't ideal and, again, it's backloaded. In the event that Greening was moved for a future(s), the team's payroll for 2014-2015 would drop to about $51.5MM, which would be dead-last by a mile instead of a half-mile.
This season's going to be interesting for a number of reasons, one of which should be what the likes of free-agents-to-be Bobby Ryan, Clarke MacArthur, and Marc Methot decide about their future in the city. I kind of sense that of the three, Methot's the most likely to stay. The other two, hard to say at this point. Ottawa certainly has the available space to out-offer any other team in the league for their services. We'll see if they actually do.
-- 
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»
