If you are in the camp that is holding out some hope that there can be a rebuilding of bridges between captain Erik Karlsson and the Ottawa Senators, yesterday's relatively silent trade deadline would have to be considered a success.
If you are of the opinion that it is only a matter of time, and that a divorce is inevitable for whatever reason, it was simply a stay of execution before the summer.
I am not sure which is tougher to take for a Sens fan, knowing it is coming or wistfully believing it won't happen. I had a conversation with one fan last night who firmly believed that it was going to be worked out, and it is that type of die-hard, heart on your sleeve type of fan that I feel sorry for, because they won't see it coming until it happens and then they feel blindsided.
The truth is, franchise players don't change teams very often and the Senators will be worse off in the short term whenever a trade materializes, and for the long term, who kno.
When that day comes, and I still firmly believe it will, it will be a sad and bitter day in Sensland. Enjoy watching him while you can, as his career in Ottawa could only last another 21 games, which is 21 more than it could have been yesterday.
The next of those 21 games goes down tonight in Washington, the beginning of a 4 game road trip that then sees them head west to Vegas, Arizona and Dallas.
Look for the next 21 games to be an audition of sorts for the entire roster, and make a case to keep the band together. Is a rebuild in order in the summer or will it be just a retool. Obviously Karlsson's status plays a big factor in that decision. Dorion did state in his post-deadline presser that if Karlsson is still a Senator on July 1, the Senators will be making a contract offer.
D-uh.
I think that is a pretty big if, because there is a divide that, although both sides are saying the right things, I am not sure can be bridged and the body language over the last couple of months shows me that.
But I could be wrong...after all I thought the Karlsson era would be over already and he would be playing in Tampa or Vegas today.
Tonight's opponent, the Washington Capitals were silent at the deadline, adding a couple of depth defensemen in Michal Kempny and Jacub Jerabek in the days leading up to the final day. They are in the midst of a race for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division, and they have seen their closest rivals make some significant adds. Pittsburgh added Derick Brassard and the hard-charging Flyers bridged a goaltending issue due to injury by adding Petr Mrazek.
The Caps played in Columbus on Monday night, dropping a 5-1 decision to drop to 4-4-2 in their last 10, while the Flyers took over first place with a 1-0 win over the Habs.
Alex Ovechkin scored his league leading 39th goal in the loss, meaning he will probably net his 40th tonight given Ottawa's propensity to give up milestone goals. It will be the 9th 40-goal season of his career, whether he gets it tonight or not.
Braden Holtby gave up four goals on 16 shots before leaving after the first period in favor of Philip Grubauer, who stopped all 18 shots he faced. I would imagine they will want to get Holtby back into action right away to get back on track.
Mike Condon will get the start for Ottawa, and he will be looking to snap a personal four game losing streak (0-3-1), although his last outing was a solid OT loss against Chicago where he stopped 36 of 38 shots.
Ottawa called up the recently re-signed Jim O'Brien and blueliner Erik Burgdoerfer to replace Johnny Oduya and Nick Shore on the roster.
Ottawa is now just looking for a quick end to the nightmare season, having just 2 regulation wins since their bye week, a span covering 19 games (6-12-1 overall) and are counting down the days until they can break and hit the reset button for next season.