In this salary cap world of the NHL, a team can get away with one really bad contract and still function. However, once you add a second one, you are tying your hands greatly and it makes things tough.

As the Senators look to rebuild, or retool, the first step has to be to find a way to remove either Bobby Ryan or Dion Phaneuf and their albatross contracts from the equation before they can think about making other moves.

It is easier said than done, but with Phaneuf having 3 more years and Ryan 4 more at over $7M each per season, the Senators cannot possibly move the pieces around to make themselves a legitimate competitor. It would be a different story of either was, or seemed capable of, coming close to providing value for money, but both are vastly overpaid and one has to go.

Moving Alex Burrows or Jean-Gabriel Pageau or Zack Smith would be cost cutting moves for the present, but don't do much to solve anything in the long term.

With the decisions on Erik Karlsson and Matt Duchene looming and Mark Stone likely to get a long-term, big money extension, budget or not the Senators need to move at least one of the big salaries to be able to keep all three core players in the fold.

Ideally, because he has the extra year and also because he is living up to his contract less than Phaneuf, Ryan would be the ideal one to move, but his injury history (his hands have to be jello by now) and the fact that he hasn't done a heck of a lot will make it tough. They will probably have to eat some salary and also give some further incentive to have someone take that contract. He did show during last spring's playoffs that he can be effective in certain situations, but that hasn't translated back to this season, injuries or no injuries.

Phaneuf is more serviceable and might garner some interest, but again the Senators will likely have to eat some of the contract.

But before Pierre Dorion can even think about extensions, he needs to jettison one of his high-paid anchors, and soon so he can show the guys who have decisions to make, Karlsson, Stone and Duchene, that there is indeed a direction and a light at the end of the tunnel, not just to be competitive, but to be a contender.

Otherwise, who can blame them if they decide that they are better off somewhere else.

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