I thought one of the more interesting comments made by Bryan Murray yesterday was that the roster as it stands (save perhaps one added piece) is expected to compete for a playoff spot next year.
The actual quote went as follows, stealing a mini-transcription from The 6th Sens
On whether the organization is past the rebuild…“No, we’re past that. We’re going to have a good hockey team here. We’re going to compete. We lose a little bit at center ice. We gain a little bit on the wing. We’ve got a couple young guys coming that are going to be a different brand of player in (Mark) Borowiecki and (Curtis) Lazar – guys like that, they bring real character to the team. I think our team is going to be a real competitive, hardworking group of people. I think the leadership, I’ve talked to Erik Karlsson in the last day or two and all that type of thing, I think we’re going to be well off going forward.…
Of all of the things said yesterday, I found this particular quote objectionable. Not that the loss of Jason Spezza can't be mitigated -- but because the team seems to think they have improved on the wing, and that character is going to add wins in the standings.
The comment about improving on the wings was curious. Ottawa's basically retained the same talent, but swapped Ales Hemsky with Alex Chiasson. It's not even debatable who the better player of the two is. And I get the argument that the younger players are going to develop and perhaps improve -- just as much as I get the argument that guys like Chris Neil and Milan Michalek are going to experience another round of age regression, and the argument that guys like Colin Greening and Zack Smith and Erik Condra just aren't going to produce offensively.
The character thing -- I don't know. I don't know if there's anything I care less about than character. It's great that the team has nice guys like Mark Borowiecki, but the business of sports is winning hockey games, not out-complementing the opposition.
So, as someone who thought there were a million different reasons to move on from Jason Spezza as early as the end of last season: the lineup probably took a step back, but maybe it was a necessary one.
On the other hand, I'm just not convinced this roster is ready to compete -- if not because of the entire second-line being gutted, then for the fact that the defense is the same defense that was a carnival act last season.
Perhaps Bryan Murray's just being optimistic, and that's fine. I do see development and progress coming from a few guys this year.
But, a very good hockey team? I don't think so. Do you?