Jared Crozier: Senators putting all eggs in Chabot's basket?

This smells cheapo Melnyk big time! I wish they could go get a veteran top-4 D for 1-2 years and not rely on 2 kids like Chabot & Claesson...even the great and mighty Karlsson had to play half a season in the AHL!

I hope spatso doesn't read this... He'll lose his chubby

The fact that you named Ceci in the same category as Lazar, Cowen, Lehner. Just goes to show he should have been the one who was open for the expansion draft.

With that being said, it is what it is and our management system isn't competent enough to make anything useful happen, trade or signing wise. So, moving forward I actually think with how well Chabot has developed already, I think we start the season with him and EK and then Dion and Ceci on the next pairing and see how they do, if it doesn't work we can switch it up. But Chabot has had trial by fire before and came out no problem.

Lets see what he's got.

This smells cheapo Melnyk big time! I wish they could go get a veteran top-4 D for 1-2 years and not rely on 2 kids like Chabot & Claesson...even the great and mighty Karlsson had to play half a season in the AHL!
- Raven33

It may be bold to say, and it's impossible to say just how well he will develop, but at this point in his career Chabot is better than even Karlsson was.

I hope the team gets Chabot to live with Karlsson while he's with the big club. It would be great for his development.

hope the team gets Chabot to live with Karlsson while he's with the big club. It would be great for his development

Plus, you know, his fiancee's friends.

so we made the ecf and one goal away from eliminating the (defending) stanley cup champs and we do basically nothing in the off season except lose a quality defender and sign a 4th liner and will come in well under the cap for this season talk about ALL IN

so we made the ecf and one goal away from eliminating the (defending) stanley cup champs and we do basically nothing in the off season except lose a quality defender and sign a 4th liner and will come in well under the cap for this season talk about ALL IN
- sensmelon

I'm sure we will give up future assets to acquire some cheap depth players. Don't worry

I don't come to this thread very often. It is pretty obvious why hardly anyone else visits anymore. The Sens put on a wonderful run to the EFC. TSN lists the Sens as having 4 prospects in the top 50 playing outside NHL.

Chabot is named MVP and best Dman at the WJC. Colin White had a fabulous WJC as well. Harpur has shown he is close to being NHL ready. Reports on Jaros are very positive. Logan Brown and Chiapik made the TSN 50 top prospects list.

Yet, you guys sit around and whine and complain about wanting more veteran players.

Hard to believe you could gather so much negativity in one place.

Except for Logan Brown none of these guys are teenagers.

Jacques Martin once said fans spend way too much time trying to figure out who is going to make the team. He said the players figure it out on their own. You drop the puck at training camp and after a few days the players that will make the team begin to separate themselves from the guys that won't.

Karlsson has good numbers when he played with Claesson. Harpur is a nice puck handler. Jaros is only 21, captain of Slovak WJC team and a physical presence playing against men. Chabot skates like the wind.

And you guys whine and whine about Ottawa needing to sign another veteran Dman.

Will all of you just take a few anti depressants, cheer up and maybe I will come back and visit again at some point. Hell I find some of the Leaf trolls more positive than you guys.

so we made the ecf and one goal away from eliminating the (defending) stanley cup champs and we do basically nothing in the off season except lose a quality defender and sign a 4th liner and will come in well under the cap for this season talk about ALL IN
- sensmelon

Some fans will blindly cheer anything. Your frustration is justified. Sens seem stuck in limbo...or purgatory...between rebuilding and winning now. On one hand you have prospects that may be good nhlers someday. Maybe not. On the other you have a team that is competing now with an elite dman like Karlsson. Yet management is neither rebuilding this team or committed to improving the roster in an effort to win now and build on their season just passed. Imo the worst thing a team can have in pro sports is a lack of some clear direction the team is heading for. Karlsson is an elite dman in his prime and his best years are now. To waste these years and not go all in makes no sense. Having the best dman in the game and surrounding him with nothing but b listers and unproven talent is just unfortunate.

On behalf of a "Leaf troll", who lives in Ottawa, I think Sens fans are in a tough spot... it's a difficult scenario right now:

Great post-season run, credited to a defensive minded coach who values vets over kids, with a dirt cheap owned, and virtually no infrastructure in hockey ops.

The temptation will be to take the if it aint broke don't fix it approach. We can live without Methot because it's the system not the players (other than Karlsson). So save that $5M. The coach will play Nate Thompson more than Colin White. If Chabot isnt defensively responsible out of the gate, he'll get 6min a night, and the development of both will be stunted. Even when they do play, they'll be asked to play a style that is the opposite of what made them such highly rated prospects.

Boucher deserves a ton of credit for last season's success, but year 2 was when the wheels fell off in Tampa - when the players tuned out and didnt want to play the system any more. Will be interesting to see how this year plays out...

I would play all the kids a ton, which Melnyk would love because they are on ELC's but that's not the way Boucher operates. All that said, how can one complain about how far they went last year...

On behalf of a "Leaf troll", who lives in Ottawa, I think Sens fans are in a tough spot... it's a difficult scenario right now:

Great post-season run, credited to a defensive minded coach who values vets over kids, with a dirt cheap owned, and virtually no infrastructure in hockey ops.

The temptation will be to take the if it aint broke don't fix it approach. We can live without Methot because it's the system not the players (other than Karlsson). So save that $5M. The coach will play Nate Thompson more than Colin White. If Chabot isnt defensively responsible out of the gate, he'll get 6min a night, and the development of both will be stunted. Even when they do play, they'll be asked to play a style that is the opposite of what made them such highly rated prospects.

Boucher deserves a ton of credit for last season's success, but year 2 was when the wheels fell off in Tampa - when the players tuned out and didnt want to play the system any more. Will be interesting to see how this year plays out...

I would play all the kids a ton, which Melnyk would love because they are on ELC's but that's not the way Boucher operates. All that said, how can one complain about how far they went last year...
- grim

We will be fine, we also have Claesson. Worry about your own defence (the rest of your team is awesome).

We will be fine, we also have Claesson. Worry about your own defence (the rest of your team is awesome).
- DutchSenators

Wasn't intended to be rip, just opining about the dynamics, which I find interesting, and somewhat conflicting. Not worried about "my" defense, will be improved simply by not having to play Marincin and Marchenko as much as last year.

Gotta agree with Spatso and 'the leaf troll' a bit.

There is a lot of negativity on this site. PD was up for GM of the year and has an awesome background in finding talent. If he thinks Chabot is ready... he is more qualified than anyone on this site to say so.

Personally, I think Chabot gets a few games to start the year and ends up in Belleville until Xmas.... Claesson is good enough to hold down the fort.

As for the owner being cheap.... he spent near the cap last year and will be again this year. with the contracts coming, you need to leave some room to maneuver.

Summer funtime on these sites lead to a lot of criticism, just due to lack of anything else to do.

Gotta agree with Spatso and 'the leaf troll' a bit.

There is a lot of negativity on this site. PD was up for GM of the year and has an awesome background in finding talent. If he thinks Chabot is ready... he is more qualified than anyone on this site to say so.

Personally, I think Chabot gets a few games to start the year and ends up in Belleville until Xmas.... Claesson is good enough to hold down the fort.

As for the owner being cheap.... he spent near the cap last year and will be again this year. with the contracts coming, you need to leave some room to maneuver.

Summer funtime on these sites lead to a lot of criticism, just due to lack of anything else to do.
- SensnRBs

I believe the Senators are consistently in the middle of the nhl spending average for a ling time now. Mediocrity is good . Middle of the road doesnt offend many people

Chabot being ready for the NHL doesn't mean that he's ready for 20min/gp playing beside Karlsson. A veteran stopgap of some kind seems like an obvious solution to me to cover off the minutes that Methot had been playing, but Dorion appears to have a lot more faith in the team's young defencemen - even to the point of possibly trading Phaneuf after losing Methot in the expansion draft. That suggests that Dorion firmly believes that at least one of Claesson or Harpur is ready for top-4 NHL duty.

Regardless, at this point I think what you see is what you're going to get from the defence situation, barring any major new trade developments. But one thing is for certain - with an available spot beside Karlsson, and all of Chabot, Phaneuf, Claesson, Harpur, and Borowiecki playing LHD, there will be quite a dogfight in training camp to see who's able to step up.

The negativity around here is warranted.

Replacing Mrthot's 20+ mins per game from within reeks of cheapness. Ottawa's front office, starting with Melnyk, is Mickey Mouse.

Can one of Chabot/Claesson/Harpur step in and fill the hole? Possibly. Should we count on it? Not at all.

It is absolutely ridiculous to tell your fanbase that one of these three guys - where the most experienced played 13mins/game for 33 games - is going to fill the #2 spot on this team.

Sure, it could happen and that would be great. But expecting it to happen is just so fckn dumb. Fans can see right through it and we all know it all comes down to money. Any cap team would never rely on one of these 3 guys to fill that hole, while leaving a crapload of cap space on the table.

A competitive cap team would aquire another D and worry about the logjam later. If a few of our prospects turn out tl be studs, we can always trade someone away. Dmen are always at a premium.

Or sit out the Free Agent overspending frenzy and see what your prospects can do (i.e. Claesson, Harpur, etc.) If none of them work out, you can add a piece midseason for much less money. I think they're on the right track. Besides, we know that EK's play substantially brought up Methot's level of play. There is every chance it will do the same for the new guys.

A competitive cap team would aquire another D and worry about the logjam later. If a few of our prospects turn out tl be studs, we can always trade someone away. Dmen are always at a premium.
- Charliebox

well said all of you. i felt like i sparked a flame here which isn't a bad thing but in the long run it makes sense to wait and give the young guns a good look and acquire a piece or two at the deadline if necessary on the "cheap". After an incredible playoff run you just cant help but be jealous while watching lesser teams ante up and worry later. I know it is foolish to think the sens would ever overpay to fill holes in the fa frenzy but a splash would have been nice to see in the dull off season and of course considering the previous success. I think either route is fine and probably waiting is better considering we have some nice pieces but you cannot deny the cheapness of this organization whether for good or bad. what do i know though, i just come here for work deuces mostly, and i still miss travis . sorry not sorry

Not sure why people can't post their opinions of improving a team one goal away from the final. Isn't it logical to try and improve on that result? Not doing anything to add and losing a top 4 d-man and replacing him with nothing is eye brow raising to some.

No one is saying things like "tank", "blow it up", "we suck", etc. Fans just want the good momentum to continue.

Regarding Chabot and since he regarded as the next big thing, I'm surprised no one has brought up Karlsson's rookie year. That season he played isolated minutes and even had a stint in the AHL. I'm not sure why anyone (in the organization) thinks Chabot will provide more than that. To me, that's a little risky and could be cause for concern.

The fact that you named Ceci in the same category as Lazar, Cowen, Lehner. Just goes to show he should have been the one who was open for the expansion draft.

With that being said, it is what it is and our management system isn't competent enough to make anything useful happen, trade or signing wise. So, moving forward I actually think with how well Chabot has developed already, I think we start the season with him and EK and then Dion and Ceci on the next pairing and see how they do, if it doesn't work we can switch it up. But Chabot has had trial by fire before and came out no problem.

Lets see what he's got.
- Maverick1818

I think exposing methot was the only move the team had. It is hard to compare, but methot was nothing at Ceci's age. Ceci should be better than Methot has ever been. He already plays physical and with a lot of grit and he plays very well in the playoffs. I think he choked last season, but its kind of expected of a young defense. He's got 3 to 4 solid years of development before reaching his peek. Also not to forget to mention that Methot is getting older and he had a bigger cap hit and he was also injury prone (once or twice a year). The GM put on his scouting goggles and the possession numbers were better for the team when Karlsson was paired up with Cleasson as opossed to Methot. I am not suggestion Cleasson is better, but I am suggesting that Karlsson made Methot look that good to a certain degree. I feel like Cleasson would also look great next to the best defense in the league.

Or sit out the Free Agent overspending frenzy and see what your prospects can do (i.e. Claesson, Harpur, etc.) If none of them work out, you can add a piece midseason for much less money. I think they're on the right track. Besides, we know that EK's play substantially brought up Methot's level of play. There is every chance it will do the same for the new guys.
- sgoodwin

Thank you for writing this. I totally agree. Methot was very good, but not a cornerstone of the team. Ceci will be more valuable over time. It's honestly not that hard to see.

I believe the Senators are consistently in the middle of the nhl spending average for a ling time now. Mediocrity is good . Middle of the road doesnt offend many people
- spazzbot

LOL. Spending to the cap vs not spending that much you're argument doesn't matter when the GM makes the most with less. The team could have went to the finals and personnaly, I think sens could have easily won against predators. They were pens toughest challenge without a doubt. But hey, you're analogy you're saying... you spend mid league, your rank is mid leauge?

.......

Regarding Chabot and since he regarded as the next big thing, I'm surprised no one has brought up Karlsson's rookie year. That season he played isolated minutes and even had a stint in the AHL. I'm not sure why anyone (in the organization) thinks Chabot will provide more than that. To me, that's a little risky and could be cause for concern.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

This is why I think all of the prospects, including White and Chabot should spend a year in Belleville - coming up as injury replacements only.